Kids might sneak a play of this soundtrack for the kick of hearing four-letter words rarely put to music. But adults, especially those who grew up on Broadway melodies, love the South Park movie score for its fond, roguish evocations of songs from Oklahoma, Fiddler on the Roof and Les Miserables. Parker’s not-so-secret sin is that—virtually alone among heterosexuals under 50—he loves the grand ambitions and soaring chords of the old songs. He stashes versions of them in the TV episodes of South Park (who can forget Cartman’s rousingly lurid gospel number “Body of Christ”?) and, abetted by super-arranger Marc Shaiman, packed a dozen fabulous parodies into the movie. Actually, parody schmarody. These are terrific songs—the finest, sassiest full movie musical score since the disbanding of the Freed Unit at MGM.
All-TIME 100 Movies
TIME's Richard Corliss updates our All-TIME 100 list of the greatest films made since 1923 — the beginning of TIME — with 20 new entries
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Full List
Behind the List
A - C
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God
- The Apu Trilogy
- The Awful Truth
- Baby Face
- Bande à part
- Barry Lyndon
- Berlin Alexanderplatz
- Blade Runner
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Brazil
- Bride of Frankenstein
- Camille
- Casablanca
- Charade
- Children of Paradise
- Chinatown
- Chungking Express
- Citizen Kane
- City Lights
- City of God
- Closely Watched Trains
- The Crime of Monsieur Lange
- The Crowd
D - F
G - J
K - M
N - P
Q - S
T - Z
Great Performances
Guilty Pleasures
- Gone With the Wind, 1939, Victor Fleming, U.S.
- Tenth Avenue Angel, 1949, Roy Rowland, U.S.
- Sailor Beware, 1951, Hal Walker, U.S.
- Diabolique (Les Diaboliques), 1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot, France
- School Girl, 1971, David Reberg, U.S
- There’s Something About Mary,1998, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, U.S.
- Anatomy of a Murder, 1959, Otto Preminger, U.S.
- Gun Crazy, 1949, Joseph H. Lewis, U.S.
- The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1957, Jack Arnold, U.S.
- Joe Versus the Volcano, 1990, John Patrick Shanley, U.S.
10 Best Soundtracks
Talkback