Thursday
Aug162018
60 Reasons Cinephiles Should Love Madonna
Thursday, August 16, 2018 at 3:29PM Happy 60th birthday to the coolest bitch in the world since 1958.
Because we are first and foremost a film site, here are 60 reasons you should love Madonna that are at connected to the cinema.
They're listed in no particular order, numbered only so we can keep count because when the subject is Madonna we tend to go on...
- She makes a perfect animated character in the credits sequence of Who's That Girl (1987)
- She's been close friends forever with one of film & television's secret actress weapons, Debi Mazar
- Dick Tracy (1990) is awesome.
- As is Desperately Seeking Susan (1985).
- She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Into the Groove" from Desperately Seeking Susan
- She loves movies
- "Greta Garbo, and Monroe..."
- Madonna played her own pseudo version of Monroe in the music video to "Material Girl" reinterpreting the classic Gentlemen Prefer Blonde's number "Diamond's are a Girl's Best Friend."
- She was into Pedro Almodóvar's filmography before you were.
- She's been married twice and both times it was to a guy whose whole career is movies.
- "Dietrich and Dimaggio..."
- Truth or Dare (1991) is among the greatest self-portraits of all time.
- She deserved a best original song nomination for "Live to Tell" from At Close Range (1986)
- She won Golden Globe Best Actress for Evita (1996) and even though people made fun because she was up against Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996), she was excellent in that movie.
- "Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean... On the cover of a magazine"
- Her song "Like a Virgin" is the subject of the opening scene of one of the great movies of the 1990s, Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Who's That Girl?" from Who's That Girl (1987)
- She's been into female directors since way before it was popular working with Allison Anders (Four Rooms), Susan Siedelman (Desperately Seeking Susan), Mary Harron (music videos), remaking a Lina Wertmuller classic (Swept Away), hiring Sofia Coppola to guest star in her a music video "Deeper and Deeper"), and becoming a director herself (Filth and Wisdom, W.E.)
- She basically made David Fincher famous and look what incredible films he gave us thereafter!
- She's actually worked with more auteurs than you think: also Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Guy Ritchie, John Schlesinger, and the other directors we just mentioned in #16 and #17
- She understood Andrea Riseborough's talent before you did.
- "Grace Kelly, Harlow, Jean. Picture of a beauty queen..."
- She was born on the exact same day as Angela Bassett
The only origin story I want to see is about Madonna and Angela Bassett being born on the same day.
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) June 13, 2018 - "Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, dance on air..."
- She's hilarious in Guy Ritchie's short film Star (2001)
- "They had style, they had grace, Rita Hayworth gave good face..."
- She's been fighting against Hollywood and America's ageism since her early 30s.
- Her song "Lucky Star" is referenced in a fun classroom scene in one of the great movies of the 1980s, Running on Empty (1988)
- She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "This Used to be My Playground" from A League of Their Own (1992)
- "Lauren, Katharine, Lana too..."
- Many of her style icons are golden age actresses: Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Jean Harlow, Dita Parlo
- She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "I'll Remember" from With Honors (1994)
- It's not every day that Meryl Streep has to step aside for another actress but she didn't get Evita when she wanted it. And we believe in spreading the wealth with great roles.
- "Bette Davis, we love you."
- She's had numerous actress friends over the years including Gwyneth Paltrow, Rosie O'Donnell, Jennifer Grey, and Sandra Bernhard
- She loves the awesome Sally Potter movie Orlando (1992)
- She made lots of baby gays curious about Old Hollywood in the 1980s since she was always "borrowing" from old movies in her looks and music videos, even before she started name-checking Old Hollywood in "Vogue"
- 'All the Way' Mae is a great character in a film full of great characters, A League of Their Own (1992).
- While it's true that she's unintentionally hilarious in Body of Evidence (1993) but she's pretty good in Dangerous Game (1993) that same year proving she just needed stronger directors than she often got.
- She takes the cinema's first selfie in 1985. Many follow in her footsteps including Thelma & Louise.
- She's been a champion of gay rights forever -- since way before people were comfortable with people who championed gay rights -- and she kept shoving it in people's faces. See Truth or Dare, the "Sex" book, numerous interviews, AIDS benefits, friendships with gay celebrities (Rupert Everett, Keith Haring, Sandra Bernhard, etcetera), and more...
- She's basically the sidebar subject of the entire documentary Strike a Pose which is about the dancers from her Blonde Ambition tour and what happened to them after fame struck.
- She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Beautiful Stranger from The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
- Joan Cusack's incredible line delivery in Working Girl (1988) when she talks about dancing around alone in her underwear "don't make me Madonna. Never will"
- She has endured small-minded people saying she was "over" since forever. Even before 1988 in point of fact. She'll never be over since she changed the world.
Happy 30th Anniversary of being told by every magazine and critic that you're too old, over-the-hill, and should just go away forever, Madonna!
— Robert Hamer (@robsolonhamer) August 16, 2018 - She doesn't give up. She kept trying to be an actress despite all the pans. And though she's since been panned as a director for W.E. (2011) she's still gonna give it another go.
- There's supposedly a Madonna biopic in the works at Universal.
- There's a fun Madonna moment in the new hit documentary Three Identical Strangers (2018)
- She samples dialogue from The Cement Garden (1993) for her single "What It Feels Like For a Girl"
- She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Die Another Day" from Die Another Day (2002)
- Despite never receiving an Oscar nomination despite composing so many great movie songs, two songs that Madonna performed in movies WON the Original Song: "You Must Love Me" from Evita (1996) and "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy (1990)
- There's a great story behind the making of the Desperately Seeking Susan movie poster.
- She often works with Oscar nominee Arianne Phillips, one of the best costume designers of the movies.
- She's so famous she makes other celebrity's starstruck.
- She almost always causes a stir, and memes, and major press cycles when she shows up at film festivals
- "Express Yourself"'s music video is a riff on Fritz Lang's immortal Metropolis (1927)
- She spoke for all of us in 1991 when she obsessed over Antonio Banderas's beauty in Truth or Dare.
- She's name checked in one of The Birdcage's (1996) funniest jokes "you do an eclectic celebration of the dance!"
- She likes to throw cool actors into her music videos like Isabella Rossellini, Debi Mazar, Udo Kier, Danny Aiello, Christopher Walken, Goran Visjnic, Rupert Everett, and Terrence Howard.
- Her best music videos are as classic to their form as Gone With the Wind is to movies
Reader Comments (44)
She will always and forever be my QUEEN.
Love her more than anything. She'll stop when SHE wants to.
Wow - never realized just how Many songs she had that should have at (least) been nominated!! My vote is Crazy For You and Used to Be My Playground as the most egregious of snubs!!
As a gay who doesn't really care all that much for Madonna, this list is everything. Also, lots of deep diving and research here....excellent work.
She sang but did not write "Crazy for You". It was written by John Bettis and Jon Lind.
The fact that she isn't 'seven time Oscar nominee Madonna' at this point is maddening :)
Say what you will about Madonna the actress, but as a pop star she is iconic. And while I don't think Who's That Girl was award-worthy in any way (even the title track), Crazy for You and Beautiful Stranger should've *won* the damn Oscar. (AMPAS' music branch has a serious blot on its reputation as a result of her repeated snubs.)
Happy Birthday, Madge!
P.S. Just realized but totally love that Vogue name checks, for perhaps the first time ever, Lauren Bacall but *not* Humphrey Bogart as well. Way to curate your golden-age-of-Hollywood favorites!
"She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Crazy For You" from Vision Quest (1985)
OR for "Into the Groove" from Desperately Seeking Susan that same year.
She deserved a best original song nomination for "Live to Tell" from At Close Range (1986)
She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Who's That Girl?" from Who's That Girl (1987)
She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "This Used to be My Playground" from A League of Their Own (1992)
She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "I'll Remember" from With Honors (1994)
She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Beautiful Stranger from The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Die Another Day" from Die Another Day (2002)"
So... EIGHT NOMINATIONS? Jesus, AMPAS and Hollywood don't like Madonna! Because if we consider that her FIRST nomination for Album of the Year was in 1999 for 'Ray of Light' and that Like a Prayer and Express Yourself never was nominated for the Grammys...
By the way, today
The King of Rock passed away - Elvis Presley
The Queen of Soul passed away - Aretha Franklin
The Queen of Wakanda born - Angela Bassett
The Queen of Pop born - Madonna
August 16th is The Crown day now? I like that!
p.s.: Remember you all that with the lost of Aretha, we still have as Horcrux of REALLY Good Music
Cher
Elton John
Paul McCartney
Madonna
Bruce Springsteen
Let's all protect them!
Madonna used to be cool but now she's just an aging dinosaur whose attempts to be a filmmaker are just uninspired and boring.
Bless you. Madge forever.
Nat,No 61 Joan Cusacks line from Working Girl where she says likes to dance around her apartment in her underwear but it doesn't make her Madonna.
thevoid99 -- if you feel the need to be ageist, you have misunderstood the whole vibe of this post.
Mark --ooh good one, forgot that.
Mostly cosign, except for praise for the Die Another Day song. I mean, I love that song, but it's definitely not Oscar-worthy. :)
She's so great in Evita. I give her so much credit for having the humility of training her voice for that role, which elevates that performance and in turn the rest of her recording career. Consequently, her vocals on Ray of Light are thrillingly good.
thevoid99 -- You'll be a dinosaur soon too (sooner than you think).
Bow. Down to my Queen.
Forever.........................................
Madonna forever!!! Should have been nominated for Best Actress for Evita but that year the competition was brutal.
The press will say nice things about once she's left us.
Considering what did get nominated in 1985 for Best Original Song:
White Nights "Say You, Say Me" Lionel Richie (music and lyrics) WINNER
Back to the Future "The Power of Love"Johnny Colla & Chris Hayes (music); Huey Lewis (lyrics)
A Chorus Line "Surprise, Surprise" Marvin Hamlisch (music); Edward Kleban (lyrics)
The Color Purple "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)" Quincy Jones & Rod Temperton (music); Jones, Temperton & Richie (lyrics)
White Nights "Separate Lives" Stephen Bishop (music and lyrics)
Yes, Madonna absolutely was robbed. Although Simple Minds should also have been in the conversation for "Don't You Forget About Me" from The Breakfast Club. "Say You, Say Me" won?!?! Barf.
Personally, I think she was and is a poor role model for her children. I am very liberal, but if she were my mom I would not have admitted it.
Professionally, she was a great talent. I loved many of her songs. The limited movies she was in, were very good. I thought Evita was a superb acting job.
Yes to #22!
Rdf - she clearly loves her children more than anything. What more can children ask for at the end of day?
Plus to have a mother who works her butt off and fights against the convention and is tough and strong and fearless and lives every ounce of life fully and created a legacy from her humble, most ordinary origins - what an inspiring role model!
Plus, they’ll be loaded...she can adopt me any day.
I also heard that her video for Justify My Love was inspired by Jeanne Moreau's character in Jacques Demy's Bay of Angels. Here's an article that mentions that
http://www.newnownext.com/madonnas-justify-my-love-turns-25/11/2015/
https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/12/entertainment/madonna-surgery-center-malawi/index.html Opening a Pediatrics Hospital in Malawi is bad role modeling?
Teaching your children music and musical instruments is bad role modeling?
Teaching your children not to sit in front of TV all day is bad role modeling?
Teaching your children to take the world at your terms, not others, is bad role modeling?
Teaching your children to love and acknowledge those who are different than you is bad role modeling?
Please explain what is bad role modeling.
Amen to Nat's response to thevoid99!
Gr8 list!!
Juz a minor quib: #31 Shld be Hepburn instead o Katharine.. Cos Queen Maddie is name checking BOTH Kate n Audrey!!
Madonna is THE shit! I agreed to marry my husband based on the promise that we would have ONE hour off Madonna music at the reception well the fooled agreed were 13 years together 8 years married and people at that weeding reception still talk about that hour...Bonne Fête!
-She wanted to remake and star in Agnès Varda’s Cléo de 5 à 7. Varda herself is a fan, saying Madonna very much has the face of a great actress. (Interview included on Criterion release of Cléo).
-“Lucky Star” plays in the Todd Haynes masterpiece [Safe], reportedly the last scene shot.
-A favourite moment from Richard Linklater’s Slacker, a hipster woman tries to sell Madonna’s pap smear: “I mean, it’s a little bit getting closer to the rock god herself...”
-Joan Cusack owes her surprise Oscar nomination to Madonna for this line delivery: “Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will.“
@Mark Not being embarrassed by their Mom! I don't know... maybe I am old fashioned and straight.
@forever1267 I guess you know her much better than I do.
PS I should have read closer about the blog as it pertains to her cinematic virtues.
I am mildly impressed. Music is much better.
Roger & Ken -- i have opted to include the JOan Cusack line in this list (thanks for the reminder) because I had to take out Crazy For You because i forgot she didn't write it.
Claran -- sadly, she doesn't mention Audrey. Just "Katharine"
Thanks for this list. Madonna's such an icon. I was lucky to have an older brother who was into her when we were kids, and so I caught the bug early. I still remember the fun of the summer of '85 in the UK when 'Into the Groove' was No. 1 in the singles charts and 'Holiday' was No. 2.
I've been a fan for ages and it's Always nice to celebrate the achievements of this woman
She was so good in Four Rooms. When she's good in a film, she's very good.
Four Rooms is also really good. People don't talk about it enough. We also need more multi-genre anthology films connected by simple things like setting.
She was really good in Evita. And yes her singing is very in the Ray of light album. That vocal coaching was everything
My fav music video of hers are:
Express Yourself
Nothing Really Maters
Vogue
Frozen
The Power of Goodbye
People that call her things like "aging dinosaur" as if they're immune to aging are delusional lmao. I hope when you're an aging dinosaur someone tries to tell you what you should be based on a number.
Anyway, a true queen and pioneer. She deserves everything and more. I bow down!
I know this is film-only, but she also made several iconic appearances on Saturday Night Live. In the '80s, she hosted a disastrous season finale and came back the next season to say that last year was a dream; in the '90s, she spoofed Justify My Love with Wayne and Garth AND was a convincing BFF of Linda Richman on Coffee Talk; in the last decade, she appeared with her "rival" Lady Gaga in Timberlake/Fallon's "Barry Gibb Talk Show". Many have done SNL *more*, but it was always an EVENT when Madonna showed up.
That coffee talk!!! I get verklempt just thinking about how great it was!
THE MOVIE WAS BUTTAH.
Mark, the best part is that Madonna and Roseanne had no idea about the cameo at the end (only Mike Myers did), so their reaction is genuine!
Can't stand her.
Like a Virgin is part also of one of the best musicals of this century: Moulin Rouge. “ She’s confessing”.
You guys forgot about the references made about Madonna and her musics by Natalie Portman in the movie The Professional. That movie made Natalie a star. It’s a great film in my opinion.
Madonna is the most underrated star in the world. She has been so polemical since they beginning of her career that people hate her for one reason or another. One day we'll miss her and then we'll see how big and talented she was. But we will be late. Let's honour her now that she's alive. Long live the Queen!