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Got Netflix? Don't Miss "Bathtubs Over Broadway"


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I had no idea this movie existed, let alone the subject matter.

 

It leaves Netflix on November 9 so you have very few days left to see it.

 

The topic is "Industrial Musicals" from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Thrill to the musical "The Bathrooms Are Coming!" To a sexpot hawking Purina Pet Chow! But most of all, it gives you pause when you realize that there was real talent working on these, making real money, and being totally dedicated to their craft - even if it was in service to a distributor meeting for John Deere tractors.

 

My description makes the movie sound less interesting, emotional, and fascinating than it is, so here are some quotes from Rotten Tomatoes (where it got a 100% from critics and 91% from audience reviews)...

 

"Bathtubs Over Broadway pulls back the curtains on a delightfully entertaining -- and surprisingly affecting -- glimpse into a largely forgotten corner of pop culture."

 

"Another reminder that top-drawer musical-theater talent has long been more abundant in America than prestigious paying gigs, and that great actors can make you cry when they're singing about car-key blanks."

 

"Truly one of the most delightful and one of the most entertaining feature docs to come my way in a very long time."

 

"Even if you feel like nothing about the subject matter of Bathtubs Over Broadway would interest you, I think you might be surprised how much watching another person get so excited about something gets under your skin in such a revitalizing manner."

 

"It's not hyperbole to say that this film is a celebration of the wonders humanity can achieve, whether the entire world or just a hundred people from sales are taking notice."

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This sounds like my kind of good time. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

You of all people will LOVE it, guaranteed.

 

Maybe it will inspire you to produce the musical "No More Cloudy Days!" at NAMM, where nubile women and buff dudes extol the virtues of the Cloudlifter during the climactic closing number, while a giant fake sun rises slowly behind the dancers.

 

And have Christina Aguilera sing "Lift Me Up" as she sits on a pyramid of Cloudlifters, surrounded by giant dancing microphones. Yeah, that's the ticket!

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I"m in! Now, all we need is a NAMM show.

 

Maybe not! After watching the new episode of The Mandalorian, I realized we could probably do a digital fakery of the production...all we need is one of those cool LED background panels Disney uses :) I bet they'll be affordable in under 5 years.

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  • 1 year later...
I'm not the biggest fan of documentary movies, but after reading your post I decided to watch it. There's also a 100% rating on rotten tomatoes. I'm usually quite suspicious about the so-called experts and their reviews and criticism, but this time they weren't wrong. Of course, the main reason to watch was to see the culture and performance of industrial musicians of the past, and I wasn't disappointed. The main surprise was the flow of the movie, its intensity, and its humor. You usually don't find doc movies to be that generic and humorous, but they managed to make it. Not the biggest fan of netflix and don't even have a subscription there, watched the movie on roomba.tv instead, but I must admit they made a great job this time.
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I'm usually quite suspicious about the so-called experts and their reviews and criticism, but this time they weren't wrong.

 

When I want to know if a movie is worth seeing, I ask the people who hang out in this forum. They haven't been wrong yet :)

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Just watched this. It took a few minutes to get the gist, but once it clicked I was hooked.

 

What an incredible time capsule. Who knew industrial theater existed? Not me.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, Craig. Glad I saw this.

 

Because I've been in media (and to some degree marketing) all my life, I can't watch a commercial without thinking about the process behind it...the teams of people competing with each other, the politics, the budget, what the casting all asked for, all that stuff.

 

Maybe the next documentary should take five well-known ad campaigns, and dig into the story behind them. I'd love to know who was behind the VW Beetle ad "And if you run out of gas, it's easy to push." Or their "Think Small" campaign, for that matter. Also "We Try Harder" and "Have You Driven a Ford...Lately?," which I still think is some of the best ad copy of all time.

 

I'd be willing to be that whoever came up with "Just do it" was almost fired. "It's too simple...no branding...sounds like you're resigned to something" but of course, it ended up being a huge success.

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