The Golden Globes are one of the most popular award shows, and the Best Musical or Comedy category is a favorite for many viewers. Taking a look at the past winners reveals a very impressive list of films. See if any of your favorites are among the winners.
Early Golden Globe Winners for Best Musical or Comedy
It's important to note that the winners for a particular year's movies are not chosen until January of the following year. This means that even though An American in Paris was selected Best Musical or Comedy for 1951, the award was actually presented at the 1952 Golden Globes ceremony. Keep that in mind as you browse through this list.
1951 An American in Paris
This musical follows the complicated escapades of an American artist living and working in Paris. He manages to fall in love with a young woman even as he's being pursued by an influential heiress.
1952 With a Song in My Heart
Aspiring singer Jane Froman is a rising star on her way to success when her plane crashes on the way to a USO show during WWII. She must try to overcome her disability and go on.
1953
No award was presented for Best Musical or Comedy at the 1953 ceremony.
1954 Carmen Jones
A film adaptation of the Broadway musical that re-imagined the opera Carmen, this film features Dorothy Dandridge as the title character and traces her tempestuous love life and tragic end.
1955 Guys and Dolls
An adaptation of the Broadway musical, gambler Nathan Detroit makes a bet with fellow gambler Skye Masterson that Skye can't persuade Sgt. Sarah Brown of the Save a Soul Mission to go to dinner with him.
1956 The King and I
In this musical, British widow Anna and her son move to Siam to teach English to the children of the stubborn, yet somehow lovable king. Culture clashes drive most of storyline.
1957 Les Girls
In this musical comedy, Sybil Wren writes a tell-all book about her days in a dance troupe, including details of affairs between the troop's members. Accusations fly as the story is told from the viewpoints of the three main characters.
Separate Awards Years
For five years, Golden Globes were awarded separately for Best Musical and Best Comedy.
1958 Comedy: Auntie Mame
Mame, an eclectic Bohemian, takes in her nephew Patrick after her brother's death. Patrick is exposed to her unorthodox yet enthusiastic lifestyle against the wishes of the stodgy trustee of the boy's inheritance. Comedy ensues, and love eventually triumphs on all sides.
1958 Musical: Gigi
Bachelor Gaston only intends to make lovely young Gigi his mistress. However, his plans change once he discovers he's in love with her.
1959 Comedy: Some Like It Hot
Seeking to escape town after witnessing a gangland massacre, two jazz musicians disguise themselves as women and join an all-girls band where they both meet and fall for Sugar, the beautiful singer of the band. However, the mobsters are still on their trail.
1959 Musical: Porgy and Bess
Drug addicted Bess must find a new place to live after her violent boyfriend Crown flees town after committing a murder. Only Porgy, a crippled beggar, is willing to take her in. Against the odds the two fall in love, but Crown returns to reclaim Bess with tragic results.
1960 Comedy: The Apartment
A lonely office worker loans his apartment out to his office managers for their extramarital affairs. Meanwhile he secretly yearns for elevator operator Fran who, as it turns out, is having an affair with the office personnel director.
1960 Musical: Song Without End
This is a biographical dramatization of the life of composer Franz Liszt. The story depicts how Liszt's affair with a married countess drove him to give up performing and stick to composing music instead.
1961 Comedy: A Majority of One
A Brooklyn widow and a Japanese businessman meet on an ocean liner. They learn to overcome their personal issues as they fall in love.
1961 Musical: West Side Story
This story follows the same basic story line of Romeo and Juliet, although the setting has been updated to the 1950s tenements of New York City. Tony and Maria fall in love, even though their friends and family are aligned with rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.
1962 Comedy: That Touch of Mink
A career girl looks for marriage, while her wealthy admirer is only interested in an affair. After some hilarious mishaps, she manages to make him jealous enough to ask her to marry him.
1962 Musical: The Music Man
A con man posing as a salesman of musical instruments attempts to defraud an entire town by convincing them to start up a marching band. He tries to seduce the town librarian to keep her from uncovering his plan, but they wind up falling love. He goes legit, stays on, and becomes the town's bandleader.
The Categories Are Once Again Combined
Since 1963, musicals and comedies have once again competed in the same category.
1963 Tom Jones
This story follows the misadventures and sexual escapades of young Tom Jones, who nearly gets himself hanged before it's all over.
1964 My Fair Lady
A musical version of Pygmalion, Professor Henry Higgins attempts to turn cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a proper lady. Adding to the challenge, he bets his friend Colonel Pickering that he can do it in just six months.
1965 The Sound of Music
Maria leaves the convent to become governess to a widower's children. The pair fall in love as the Nazis begin their takeover of Austria, and the family plans their escape.
1966 The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
A Russian submarine accidentally runs aground near a New England town. While trying to find a powerboat to help free the sub, the second-in-command and his crew manage to reveal they are Russians. The locals eventually wind up in a stand off with the Russians, but everyone ends up working together to save a young boy who's in danger of falling to his death.
1967 The Graduate
Recent college graduate Benjamin lacks ambition, and winds up having an affair with an older, married woman, Mrs. Robinson. Things really get complicated when he falls in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine. Mrs. R. tries to sabotage their relationship, and Elaine heads back to college and her former boyfriend. Ben follows her, breaks up her wedding, and the two run off together.
1968 Oliver!
This musical version of Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist tells the story of a young orphan who winds up living with a gang of young pick pockets who work for a master thief named Fagin. After some misadventures, Oliver is finally taken in by a kindly old gentleman.
1969 The Secret of Santa Vittoria
A battle of wits ensues between the mayor of a wine-making town in Italy and the leader of German occupation forces who wants to take all the wine for himself. The townspeople hide the wine, and the game is on.
1970 MASH
The story follows the antics of a dysfunctional mobile army surgical hospital stationed in Korea. Womanizing Captain Hawkeye Pierce directs many of the hijinks.
1971 Fiddler on the Roof
A poor peasant man can do little more than give his blessing and watch on as each of his three oldest daughters finds a husband and leaves home.
1972 Cabaret
This film chronicles the life of a Bohemian American singer living and performing in Berlin in 1931. She becomes involved in a love triangle with two men, and winds up pregnant. In the end, she has an abortion, loses both lovers, and ends up continuing her life as a cabaret singer.
1973 American Graffiti
Set in 1962, teenagers are looking for fun on the last night of summer. Amongst all the action, one young man meets the woman of his dreams, a drag racer finds himself saddled with a bratty 13-year-old girl, and another young man begins to consider what the future holds for him and his girlfriend.
1974 The Longest Yard
Hotshot pro football player Paul Crewe breaks the law and winds up in prison. He's then coerced into organizing the prisoners' football team to play against the guards. The plot thickens when the crooked warden expects Crewe to help throw the game so the guards win.
1975 The Sunshine Boys
An old vaudeville team reunites for a television show about the history of comedy. It's soon apparent that they can't stand each other, and that's where the real laughs come in.
1976 A Star Is Born
A troubled rock star meets a talented young singer. They fall in love, but his career is fading as hers is taking off. She desperately tries to help him, but she can't prevent his self destruction.
1977 The Goodbye Girl
A former dancer with trust issues is dumped by her boyfriend, only to learn that he has sublet the apartment that she and her daughter still live in. The new tenant, a neurotic actor, agrees to let them stay. The two eventually fall in love, but they have a lot problems to work through before they can have their happy ending.
1978 Heaven Can Wait
Football player Joe Pendleton finds himself in heaven, but he discovers he's not supposed to be there yet. Mr. Jordan, the angel in charge, offers him the chance to go back to earth, although he'll have to go back to a different body since his old one has been cremated.
1979 Breaking Away
A group of high school graduates tries to overcome the snobbery of college students in their hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. Dave, a bicycle racer who idolizes the Italian racing team, thinks his dream has come true when they come to town for a race, but they treat him worse than the college students. Dave convinces his friends to form a team and enter the race with him.
1980 Coal Miner's Daughter
This story follows the life and career of country music star Loretta Lynn. It begins with her life in the hollow with her family and how she becomes a child bride, and then follows her through the early years of her career and how stardom eventually begins to overwhelm her. Loretta's penchant for saying exactly what's on her mind and sometimes misspeaking fuels the humor.
1981 Arthur
Arthur, a congenial drunk who is heir to a fortune, must marry the woman of his family's choosing in order to inherit. However, he meets a penniless, kooky girl and falls in love with her, which complicates matters.
1982 Tootsie
An out-of-work actor who's desperate for work disguises himself as a woman in order to nab a role on a soap opera. Unfortunately, he winds up falling in love with a young woman who befriends the woman he pretends to be, and he must eventually tell everyone the truth about himself. The way he chooses to reveal his true gender is one of the best scenes in the movie.
1983 Yentl
Yentl, a young Jewish girl, wishes to study the Talmud, so she passes herself off as a boy in order to achieve her dream. Things get complicated when she falls in love with a friend, and the girl he loves falls in love with the boy she believes Yentl to be.
1984 Romancing the Stone
A writer named Joan receives a treasure map from her sister, who is being held by corrupt art dealers in Columbia. Joan teams up with Jack, a soldier of fortune, to rescue her sister and search for the treasure.
1985 Prizzi's Honor
Charley, a Prizzi family hit man, throws over his Prizzi girlfriend for a beautiful tax consultant. However, she turns out to be a paid killer, too, and she betrays the Prizzi family. Charley has to decide what to do with her.
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters
This Woody Allan movie follows the lives and romantic entanglements of Hannah, and her sisters Holly and Lee. The women meet each week to catch up with each other's lives.
1987 Hope and Glory
The days of the WWII blitz of London are viewed through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy. The story is based on the recollections of director John Boorman.
1988 Working Girl
The secretary of a Wall Street firm finds she must impersonate her boss. She winds up working her way to the top levels of New York's financial world.
1989 Driving Miss Daisy
This story chronicles the 25-year relationship, and ultimate friendship, between a stubborn, elderly southern woman and her African American chauffeur. What really bonds them together is the fact that, for one reason or another, they are both outsiders in their southern community.
1990 Green Card
An illegal alien from France needs a green card so he can continue living and working in the USA, and a beautiful young woman can't rent the apartment of her dreams unless she's married. The two strike a mutually convenient deal, but things get complicated very quickly.
1991 Beauty and the Beast
A handsome but selfish prince is magically turned into a hideous beast by a witch. He can only break the spell by learning to love, and being loved in return. That's where the beautiful Belle comes in.
1992 The Player
Life is getting increasingly complicated for a Hollywood studio executive. He wants to dump his girlfriend, an exec from another studio is after his job, and he's receiving death threats from an irate writer.
1993 Mrs. Doubtfire
In order for a divorced man to spend time with his children and be closer to his ex-wife, he disguises himself as an elderly lady in order to take a job as their nanny. The situation kicks into high gear when the ex-wife begins to get serious with another man.
1994 The Lion King
Young Simba is the future of his lion pride. However, things quickly go from good to bad when his father is tragically killed, and his Uncle Scar wants the young cub out of the way for good.
1995 Babe
Seeking to avoid becoming dinner, a little pig tries to prove himself useful by learning to herd sheep. His owner is so impressed that he enters the pig in a herding competition.
1996 Evita
This musical is based on Eva Peron's rise from deepest poverty to celebrity to Argentina's first lady before dying from cancer at the age of 33. The story is narrated by a character named Che, who is loosely based on Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.
1997 As Good As It Gets
This film tracks the intertwining stories of three characters. Melvin is an offensive novelist who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Carol is a struggling single mother with a sick son. Simon is a successful artist whose sexual orientation makes him a target for miscreants.
1998 Shakespeare in Love
A young Shakespeare is suffering from writer's block. He finds his muse in the beautiful Viola, who disguises herself as a man to win the part of Romeo in Shakespeare's as yet unwritten play.
1999 Toy Story 2
Young Andy is headed off to summer camp in this Toy Story sequel. While he's gone, Woody is stolen by an unscrupulous toy collector, and it's up to the rest of the toys to rescue him.
2000 Almost Famous
A teenage would-be journalist gets an amazing opportunity to cover an up-and-coming rock band for Rolling Stone Magazine. He joins the band on tour and learns a lot more than he bargained for.
2001 Moulin Rouge
A young writer in 1890s Paris shares the Bohemian lifestyle of fellow artists at the Moulin Rouge, a combination dance hall, theater and brothel. He falls in love with the theater's star performer, but the course of true love does not run smoothly.
2002 Chicago
Roxie Hart dreams of show biz stardom, but when she finds her boyfriend is only stringing her along with promises of making her a headliner, she shoots him. Velma Kelly, a vaudeville star, murders her husband and sister when she discovers they're having an affair. Both women realize the publicity they're gaining from their arrests can boost their careers, so they compete against each other to capture the spotlight.
2003 Lost in Translation
An American actor in a slump goes to Japan to make a commercial. While there, he meets a young American woman who is traveling with her photographer husband. The actor and woman strike up a friendship, which begins to drift toward a romance.
2004 Sideways
Miles and Jack take a trip to California's wine country the week before Jack's wedding. Jack's looking to make the most of his remaining bachelor days, while Miles is more interested in wine tasting, at least until he meets the lovely Maya.
2005 Walk the Line
This movie tells the story of country music legend Johnny Cash's rise to fame. The story includes his drug addiction and romantic pursuit of June Carter, who would one day become his wife.
2006 Dream Girls
This story was inspired by "girl groups" like the Supremes. It follows the Dreamettes and their trials and tribulations on their way to success.
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
In a musical tale of murder, mayhem, and some highly suspicious meat pies, Sweeney Todd seeks revenge for the fate of his family at the hands of a corrupt judge. Tragically, he winds up killing his long lost wife before he has a chance to recognize her and realize that she has been alive all along.
2008 Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best friends Vicky and Christina head to Barcelona and meet a handsome artist who wants all three of them to go on a romantic vacation together. The situation become even more complicated when the artist's ex-girlfriend re-enters the picture.
2009 The Hangover
A night of bachelor party fun in Las Vegas gets way out of hand. Now the groomsmen must piece together the hazy events of the previous night, find the missing groom and get him back in time for the wedding.
2010 The Kids Are Alright
The child of a lesbian couple seeks to find his biological father. After he finds him, one of his mothers hits it off with the man and has an affair with him. The entire family finds themselves in turmoil when the affair is discovered.
2011 The Artist
This movie is an homage to the silent film era. It tells the story of a superstar on his way down the ladder of success and a young extra on her way up - all due to the advent of talking pictures.
Well Worth Viewing
You may have already watched some of these movies, but there are probably at least a few you haven't seen. If you're truly a fan of comedies and/or musicals, it would be well worth your time to search for the DVDs for these classics and see what you've been missing.
