Can't Stop the Music is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker in her only directed featured film. Written by Allan Carr and Bronté Woodard, the film is a pseudo-biography of the 1970s disco group the Village People loosely based on the actual story of how the group formed. The film also stars Valerie Perrine, Caitlyn Jenner in her film debut, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Sand, Tammy Grimes, June Havoc, Barbara Rush, Altovise Davis, Marilyn Sokol and The Ritchie Family in their only film.

Produced by Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment (formerly EMI Films), distributed by independent distributor Associated Film Distribution (AFD), the film was released after disco's peak. It received largely negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb. Alongside Xanadu, Can't Stop the Music is known for inspiring the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards, winning the first Razzies for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay at the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards.

Songwriter Jack Morell (a reference to Village People creator Jacques Morali) quits his job at a local record store after countless insults and demands by his tough-minded boss and gets a break DJing at local disco Saddle Tramps. His roommate Samantha "Sam" Simpson, a supermodel newly retired at the peak of her success, attends the disco one night. While avoiding advances from the sleazy owner Benny Murray, she sees the crowd's response to a song that he composed for her ("Samantha") and agrees to help him obtain a record deal. Her ex-boyfriend Steve Waits, president of Marrakech Records (a reference to Village People record label Casablanca Records), is more interested in rekindling their romantic relationship than in Jack's music (and more interested in taking business calls than in wooing Samantha), but agrees to listen to a demo.

Deeming Jack's vocals inadequate, Sam recruits neighbor and Saddle Tramps waiter/go-go boy Felipe Rose (the Indian), fellow model David "Scar" Hodo (the construction worker, who daydreams of stardom in the solo number "I Love You to Death"), and Randy Jones (the cowboy) on the streets of Greenwich Village, offering dinner in return for their participation. Meanwhile, Sam's former agent Sydney Channing orders her long-suffering personal assistant, Girl Friday Lulu Brecht, to attend, hoping to lure back the star. Ron White, a lawyer from St. Louis, is mugged by an elderly woman en route to deliver a cake that Sam's sister sent and arrives disconcerted. Brecht gives Jack drugs, which unnerves him when her friend, fellow model and dancer Alicia Edwards, brings singing cop Ray Simpson (the policeman), but Jack records the quartet on "Magic Night". Ron, pawed all night by the man-hungry Brecht, is overwhelmed by the culture shock of it all and leaves.

The next day, Sam encounters Ron, who apologizes, proffers the excuse that he is a Gemini and follows her home. After Sam unintentionally causes Ron to spill leftover lasagna on himself, she and Jack help him remove his trousers; after Jack departs, Sam and Ron spend the night together. Newly interested in helping, Ron offers his Wall Street office to hold auditions. There, Glenn M. Hughes (the leatherman) performs "Danny Boy" atop a piano; he and Alex Briley (the G.I.), a stagehand at a theater where Sam's friend Alicia Edwards works, join the group, now a sextet. They get their name from an offhand remark by Ron's socialite mother Norma. Ron's boss, Richard Montgomery, overwhelmed by the carnival atmosphere, insists that the firm not represent the group, and Ron quits.

Ron suggests a new location for rehearsal space at the YMCA (the ensuing production number features its athletic denizens in various states of undress). That evening, the group cuts a demo ("Liberation") for Marrakech, but Steve sees limited appeal and Sam refuses his paltry contract. Reluctant to use her own savings, they decide to self-finance by throwing a pay-party.

To bankroll the party, Sam acquiesces to Channing's plea to return for a TV advertising campaign for milk, provided the Village People are featured. The lavish number "Milkshake" begins as Sam pours milk for six little boys in the archetypal costumes with the promise that they will grow up to be the Village People. The advertisers reject the concept and refuse to broadcast the spot. Norma then invites the group to debut at her charity fundraiser in San Francisco. Sam lures Steve by promising a romantic weekend, but the inference that she would proceed with the seduction takes Ron aback, and Sam ends their romantic relationship. On his private jet, Steve prepares for a tryst, but rather Jack and his former chorus girl mother Helen arrive to negotiate a contract. Initially reluctant, Helen charms Steve with her kreplach, and eventually they are negotiating the T-shirt merchandising for the Japanese market.

In San Francisco, in the dressing room before the show, Ron, relieved that Sam did not travel or have sexual intercourse with Steve, proposes to her. Montgomery appears, seeking to rehire Ron as a junior partner representing the group. Following a set by The Ritchie Family ("Give Me a Break"), the Village People triumphantly debut before a cheering crowd ("Can't Stop the Music").