You're tearing me apart.

Huh?
"the spoof of gritty English crime dramas no American can understand"

Yeah, I realized I'd got that wrong as soon as I hit post. What I should have said was it used songs that were old but were of the period in which it is set, like Singin' in the Rain, as well as new tunes.

1-5. Louis Armstrong

I love Kiss Me Kate. I love the dance sequence with Tommy Rall/Ann Miller, Bobby Van/his partner (gah), and Bob Fosse/Carol Haney.
Tommy Rall, unjustly forgotten.
http://www.youtube.com/watc…
And a little more Rall and Fosse:
http://www.youtube.com/watc…
Not the clip I wanted, but at least it's not fouled with the wrong…

Singin' in the Rain also has what may be the best pun ever committed to film:
Cosmo Brown: What's this one about?
Don Lockwood: It's a French revolution story…
Cosmo Brown: Don't tell me. You're a French aristocrat, she's a simple girl of the people, and she won't even give you a tumbrel. Hah!

Rent a copy of That's Entertainment. It's Cliff's Notes for the movie musical.

Somewhere above I posted a link to the great black and white dance number Astaire and Powell did. Fantastic.
It's a shame Powell seems mostly forgotten now. She was one of the biggest stars of her era, bigger than Astaire at the time.
Here's another clip from the same film:
http://www.youtube.com/watc…

Moulin Rouge, set in the past, used modern songs.
Singin' in the Rain, set in the present, used songs from the past.
Seems to be a pretty big difference to me.
Also, Moulin Rouge used quick cuts to cover for dancers who couldn't dance. Blcch.

One of Fred's finest, with the great Eleanor Powell:
http://www.youtube.com/watc…
On a glass floor, no less.

http://www.youtube.com/watc…

If Dean Martin had played Sky Masterson, it would have worked a lot better. But I doubt if Frank would have allowed that.

I think that was the point, that the clowns weren't supposed to do it. Nor travel in packs.

Pepper spray, Claudia. And if you really want to make a statement, pop for the anti-grizzly pepper spray. Pricey, but it makes your point in a way that no one can misunderstand.

Burt Lancaster had circus skills.

Buster Keaton—like Yakima Canutt, but without the horses.

Perhaps it was what's called "high" rather than aged. Meat that's just crossed the border into spoilage.
Supposedly the Lake poets ate high meat because it can have hallucinatory properties. I have no idea if this is true.

Momofuku?

There are some guts that even dogs won't eat. I bought some sort of cow innards some time back, and the dogs wouldn't touch it. It was white and sort of bristly looking, may have been tripe (stomach lining?). The dog that will eat anything ran away when I tried to make her taste it. I ended up picking it up with a…

Basically
Jennifer Aniston in a can?