6. Cosmo Brown - Singin' in the Rain
When it comes to musicals, I think that most people would agree that their main objective is just to make people feel good. Singing, dancing, gurning for the camera...it's hard to be down while you're watching a movie musical. To that end, Donald O'Connor as Cosmo Brown succeeds spectacularly. You can't watch him in this film without a goofy grin ending up plastered across your face. Especially when he does his classic Make 'Em Laugh routine. It's slapstick humor at its finest, combined with surprisingly impressive athleticism and great comic timing. It's a joy to watch, and all of his manic energy almost tires me out. In fact, the legend goes that after filming this sequence, O'Connor (who at this point smoked four packs of cigarettes a day) had to spend a week in bed recovering. Unfortunately, the initial footage was destroyed, and the poor guy had to do it all over again!