HAIR - The Film- Page 2

[Jim Colyer]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:52pm

I saw the movie Hair in a theater in 1979. It is excellent. The problem is that it was 10 years too late. If it had hit the screen in 1969, its impact would have been enormous. It may even have been banned during the Nixon era. By 1979, we were in a different period. People did not want to talk about anything that dealt with Vietnam, pro or con. Hair is a great movie and reflects the mood of the late 1960s very well. The music is super. You are right, Hair is underappreciated.
Jim Colyer music

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:33pm

Like a lot of people have said, it is one of my favorite movie musicals ever. I also think the soundtrack is superior to the broadway cast recording. Everything about that movie is amazing. I wonder what would happen if they re-released it now, like they did Grease a few years back.

[insomniak]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:36pm

Spider, your icon frightens me.

What do you like better about the soundtrack?

[Glebb]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:39pm

I adore Laurie Beechman's performance on the OBC recording of JOSEPH.
Can you help me indentify her in HAIR the movie?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:42pm

I think the only spot you can really find her is during "Black Boys" - she's one of the women.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 12:01am

Insomniak--The voices are better, the orchestrations are tighter and more vibrant, and it is brought together better than the cast recording.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 12:03am

I completely disagree with you - the OBC is the ONLY version for me, as far as CD goes.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 12:05am

I listened to samples at Barnes and Noble and the male voices (especially Burger) is really flat and nassally. It grated on my nerves.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 12:09am

You're basing your opinion on samples you listened to at Barnes and Noble? You can't do that! The original is the best, and so much more meaningful to me than the movie, although the movie, IMO, is spectacular.

[maggied]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 7:39am

Let's not forget the Pointer sis. When the movie came out I loved it. Twenty odd years later, I buy the DVD and love it even more. The cast was amazing. My husband gave me an odd look when I started joining in on the singing, made him watch Hair twice! Whatever happened to Dorsey Wright, the only other movie I remember him in is The Warriors and we all know that was a short role....he was great as Lafayette.

[KindnessofStrangers]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 3:11pm

The film is splendid. I've seen it in on the big screen a couple of times and several numbers (Age of Aquarius and Easy to Be Hard, especially) are absolutely spine-tingling. The choreography is exceptional, as well. The film's energy and momentum loses a bit of steam during the final half hour, but it's certainly one of the truly great film musicals of the past three decades.

[Firefly]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 3:26pm

That has always been one of my favorite movies. It is very different from the stage production (which probably wouldn't have translated to film or 1979), but taken on its own, I still think it is wonderful.

I saw it also when it first came out and while times had changed since 1969, a lot of us (especially teenagers/young adults in liberal big cities!) still were very much aware of the issues of the 60's.

I'm at work now, so I can't check the album (or video) right now for credits, but I also remember Charlayne Woodard (on "White Boys"), Betty Buckley (vocal only - not on camera - on "Walking In Space")...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 3:27pm

I've always liked the film version (especially the choreography), but I do think it is one show that could do with a remake closer to the original script. With today's technology, I would LOVE to see (and don't shoot me for this) Oliver Stone get his hands on this. It really needs a director with inventive vision as well as being historically and politically motivated. It's actually a very good time to bring this show back into the public eye. I think Stone could create some incredibly stunning visuals as well as conjuring the spirit of the original production. Twyla could choreograph again, though I think I'd rather see David Parsons give it a shot.

PS - Rado and Ragni wrote the book and lyrics. The immensely talented Galt MacDermot composed the music.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 11:41am

Does anyone know what ever happened to Cheryl Barnes?

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 12:18pm

I liked the movie version of Hair, but couldn't really love it...I'll probably have to watch it again sometime.

I think one of the problems I had with it is that it just felt so 1979 to me--you could tell it was made a decade after the original stage production, at a time when all the urgency of the issues addressed in the musical was gone. This is probably how the movie version of Rent is going to be seen a few years down the road. That the two films were both made when the material was already "dated" is not necessarily a bad thing--it gives both movies a sort of wisdom about the subject matter, as if the filmmakers were looking back and turning the movie into a love letter to the previous decade--but both Hair and Rent were originally such visceral, from-the-gut, in-the-moment stage productions that there's bound to be something lost when you translate the material to film 10 years later. Both movies have their moments that remind you of the original productions with their wild anger and intensity, but neither one feels completely like you're getting the real deal.

The character development in the movie version of Rent makes it a stronger movie musical in my eyes than Hair--you feel such a strong bond between the cast members that you feel like you're watching a real group of friends (which, really, you are), and in turn the whole begins to feel more like a real product of the 1990s/1980s (although it never quite gets there). I can honestly say, though, that I really didn't feel much for the characters in the movie version of Hair, and so that led me to be even more distracted by the fact that the movie overall didn't feel authentically 1960s.

In any case, like I said, I need to watch Hair again. I did enjoy it, I just didn't feel it.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:01pm

I seem to recall Cheryl Barnes doing Star Search, obviously well after the film.

I remember being blown away by her the first time I saw Hair, which I've always loved. I think Foreman did a great job. Ren Woods' Aquarius as well...beautifully shot and sung.

...oops...did some searching and came up with this...not a confirmation, though:
http://www.tvguide.com/Movies/FlickChick/default.htm?cmsRedir=true&rmDate=02212002&cmsGuid={BF439121-DC94-4A4F-90D5-3ED3714D87D0}&cmsSrch=true

Updated On: 8/21/06 at 01:01 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:25pm

The timing of the film was wrong. In 1979, we were still enjoying the feel good effects of Grease. Grease was huge. We had just come through the disco era and the war issues that Hair raised were a downer.

I like the Hair movie better than the stage show. The stage show has not aged well.

[TimeSuckage]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:27pm

I'm surprised no one has brought up Betty Buckley as the voice of the Asian girl singing "Walking in Space."

Cheryl Barnes and Treat Williams rock. Treat is simply electric - the phrase "jumps off the screen" is thrown around a lot, but boy, does he ever.

I like the decision to make Berger the sacrificial lamb. I think it made a poignant statement about the draft and the pointless loss of life.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 1:37pm

Ahead of, or behind the times...

I never flipping knew that Buckley sang WIS! I cant believe I never picked up on that!

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:02pm

doodle---I remember being surprised that Cheryl Barnes was allowed to compete on Star Search (supposedly the show was for amateur up-and-coming talent) AFTER she had made a big impression (so said many critics of the day) in the movie "Hair."

...And she ended up winning the big prize money for singing that year, regardless.

Fine... but I would hardly call her "amateur" when she did Star Search.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:04pm

Doodle, "tho" is not an English word.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:25pm

Thanks, CKeaton...I corrected it.

I remember it exactly the same way, b12b...that it didnt seem fair. I dont remember her winning, though.

I also remember Andrea Frierson losing the finals.

[maggied]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:44pm

I tell you, everytime I watch my "Hair" DVD I stay glued to my TV screen until the very end. No potty breaks allowed....well, that reference to tvguide.com was kinda old, but it helped alot. I don't even remember Cheryl Barnes on Star Search, although I was a frequent viewer. I was mesmerized by her performance on "Hair". I now know that Michael Jeter passed away a couple of years ago. We all know that Beverly and Al are no longer together, and Al is always in court over visitation rights of their twins and Dorsey Wright's current picture is on www.warriorsmovie.co.uk (interesting site, by the way, for those of us who also loved "the warriors"....)

[elmore3003]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:53pm

I had friends who worked on the film, and I wish the DVD release included the songs cut from the film: "Air" danced on top of cars in a traffic jam on the Brooklyn Bridge, Charlotte Rae's "My Conviction," and any one of the three different locations where "Frank Mills" was filmed, including in front of the Waverly Theatre on 6th Avenue.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 2:57pm

doodle--I remember her winning the $100K, because I threw something at the TV and ranted to anyone who'd listen to me. (nothing too violent)

I was happy for her, but it really didn't seem fair.

I think she MIGHT have even won the $250K "grand prize." THAT I'm not positive about... but the $100K? Definitely remember when it happened.

EDIT: And future Miss America winner Suzette Charles (the runner-up who took over when Vanessa Williams stepped down?) sang one of the cut songs in the movie "Hair." I think it was "Frank Mills," but I may be wrong about that. It wasn't exactly fair for her to come off as an amateur in the talent competition AFTER singing that song on the Hair soundtrack, either.

Updated On: 8/21/06 at 02:57 PM