OurStage's Top Ten Fictional Music Movies
posted in: Features
OurStage’s Top Ten Fictional Music Movies: There are many film scripts that invent bands as part of the narrative. Most are just an afterthought, and many more are forgettable and awful, even as a figment of a screenwriter’s imagination. These films created the best, funniest, most realistic, lived-in bands in film.
10. Light of Day (1987)
Who in 1987 wasn’t waiting for the Michael J. Fox – Joan Jett big screen pairing? The only question was what the vehicle would be. A rom-com? Sci-fi thriller? A Tango & Cash“esque buddy cop action-comedy? A Back to the Future sequel where Marty meets The Runaways in 1977? What we actually got was an unexpectedly gritty family drama, centering on the relationship between brother and sister Joe and Patty (Fox and Jett), who perform together in a struggling E Street-esque bar band called The Barbusters. I have just told you the worst part of the movie. The band is called The Barbusters. This blow is softened by the appearance of the great Michael McKean as a band member”one of McKean’s THREE appearances on this list.
Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, wrote and directed this film and in fact commissioned a song by Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen came back with Born In The U.S.A. but decided to keep that one for himself. Too bad, it could have been a hit. The Barbusters do a decent job with his alternate effort, the title song, Light of Day.” And, hey, look, Michael J. Fox can sing. This begs the question”what the hell, Robert Zemeckis? The idea that it’s Fox’ voice singing Johnny B. Goode in Back to the Future is the least credible part of a movie about a time traveling DeLorean that runs on plutonium.
9. 8 Mile (2002)
People say that Eminem was basically playing himself in this film about an aspiring rapper from Detroit with a fucked-up mom and few prospects aside from an innate and unique lyrical flow. But it’s a mistake to go into this thinking it’s the Eminem Story. Em and director Curtis Hanson wisely keep the character of B-Rabbit sullen and low-key. The rapper is not a great actor, but he plays this one just right, with visibly crippling insecurity and remarkably restrained rage. The cleverness of the “improvised” rhymes staged on street corners and at club battles is just short of believable, but (spoiler alert) at the end, when B-Rabbit destroys all comers with Eminem’s signature delivery, disbelief is easily suspended. This won an Oscar for the great lead song Lose Yourself.
8. A Mighty Wind (2003)
Christopher Guest‘s mockumentary skewers the seriousness and self-importance of aging ’60s-era folk musicians while simultaneously paying homage to the music. What makes this a great movie is that it is hysterically funny, with thoroughly well-developed characters that stop short of being completely absurd”with a few notable and well-placed exceptions (Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge spring to mind). A Mighty Wind is the story of a reunion concert that brings together the once-shining lights of a genre of music that was at a time vibrant and important. As these musicians failed to evolve, their music lost relevancy and you get the sense that they all struggle with what that means for them as people. The barely-contained disdain with which traditionalists The Folksmen regard the Up With People-esque pop-folk of The New Main Street Singers is just one of several underlying layers of the history of these people. But the sweetness and melancholy of the Mitch and Mickey storyline is the heart of this film. As such, their songs”written primarily by Eugene Levy (Mitch), Catherine O’Hara (Mickey), Michael McKean (who plays one of The Folksmen) and McKean’s real-life wife Annette O’Toole ” are the most affecting. McKean and O’Toole were nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars for A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow.
7. That Thing You Do! (1996)
Tom Hanks‘ debut feature film as a writer and director is spectacularly watchable. It is not deep or very meaningful, but it’s damn hard to turn off. It’s the John Grisham paperback of movies. Hanks takes a secondary role here as an A&R man for an out-of-nowhere band that suddenly scores a hit record during the height of ’60s-teen-idol fever. Everything about this movie is well-executed, the dialogue, the costumes and especially the music and performances. The actors who play the members of The Wonders (one-hit Wonders, see?) said that they were taught how to play the instruments for their roles. Actors always say that, but in this case, damn, these guys really learned how to play. Tom Everett Scott looks like a natural on the drums. Hanks got lucky after commissioning a song and getting Adam Schlesinger‘s (Fountains of Wayne) That Thing You Do!” an incredibly catchy and pitch-perfect ’60s pop gem, sung by Mike Viola (who has gone on to write and perform in a variety of Judd Apatow productions). You don’t have to wait for it, either. The song (another Oscar nominee, by the way) is played early and often throughout. And it’s actually pretty thrilling every time. If you’re into that kind of thing. Which I am.
6. Cry Baby (1990)
John Waters, Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop, Traci Lords, Ricki Lake, Troy Donahue, Mink Stole ” how could this film possibly fail. Waters’ tale of a juvenile delinquent singer trying to woo a confused good girl uses all the conventions of ’50s and ’60s-era anti-establishment, anti-hero stories, like Rebel Without a Cause. It is homage and parody, combining those well-worn tropes with Elvis-style vehicle films. The Drapes (greasers), led by Depp’s Cry-Baby, have a raucous rockabilly band. Depp doesn’t sing, but the voice he lip syncs to (James Intveld) is totally believable, as is Amy Locane‘s (Allison the good girl) pouty purr, provided by Rachel Sweet. Especially amusing is the rival squares’ vocal quartet (one of whom is voiced by The Eagles‘ Timothy B. Schmit) doing songs like Sha Boom and Mr. Sandman. A lot of the soundtrack was produced by the legendary Al Kooper (Bob Dylan, Blood Sweat & Tears), but he was ultimately canned and they brought on the also legendary Dave Alvin (X, The Blasters). An embarrassment of riches.
5. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
The aforementioned Mike Viola, along with Marshall Crenshaw, writer Jake Kasdan and star John C. Reilly came up with much of the music for this story of a singer who lives out an exaggerated version of the familiar rock bio-pic archetype. Reilly’s Dewey Cox, tormented by his father’s rejection and having accidentally cut his brother in half with a machete, goes from ’50s Johnny Cash and steps onto pretty much every major musical side-street as he tries to stay relevant. This includes Beatles-style psychedelia (he is seen hanging with The Beatles in India), meth-fueled and Brian Wilson-inspired studio obsession, Dylanesque social consciousness, variety-show cheese, Elvis comeback special-era revival and end-of-life introspection. The music is great and authentic (Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks himself created the music for the Brian Wilson flip-out scene) and is a roadmap for the development of the character. Other highlights include the title track, the double-entendre-riddled Let’s Duet, and the downright awesome Guilty As Charged.
4. The Blues Brothers (1980)
The signature John Belushi “ Dan Ackroyd film is, of course, a comedy classic. But the heart of the movie, and the entire concept of The Blues Brothers routine (as developed on Saturday Night Live), is a genuine love for classic soul and R&B music. The cameos by James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, as well as Steve Cropper and members of the Stax house band (also part of the original SNL band) really make this movie worth repeated watchings (and you’ll always have plenty of opportunities to see it. It must cost next to nothing to air on cable. A friend of mine once said TBS’ old slogan Movies For Guys Who Like Movies should be changed to Movies For Guys Who Like The Blues Brothers). I, for one, like the performance of Aretha’s Think even more than the original track. I know, blasphemy.
3. The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)
“Their trousers were tight… Their legend will last a lunchtime…”
I am one of those sane people who realize that The Beatles were the greatest band ever. Rutles masterminds Eric Idle (Monty Python) and Neil Innes are another two of those people. Disagreeing with this is your choice, but it should not prevent your enjoyment of All You Need Is Cash (in fact, you might like it even more), which perfectly distills the essence of The Beatles phenomenon and adroitly illustrates the fact that their story, as much as their music, is as much a set of archetypes as any work of fiction has ever produced. From the relationship between Lennon and McCartney to the entrance of Yoko and the ultimate split, The Rutles absolutely nail the universally familiar story of the Fab Four (in their version, The Prefab Four). The songs, by Innes, are such well-done parodies of specific Beatles songs that they are instantly recognizable. Look for cameos by George Harrison, Mick Jagger and Bill Murray as Bill Murray the K (after self-proclaimed Fifth Beatle, New York DJ Murray the K).
2. Almost Famous (2000)
This is Cameron Crowe‘s heartfelt, semi-autobiographical ode to both rock and roll and to his own coming of age. Crowe has an extraordinary passion for music, elevated even further here by the fact that the film’s soundtrack is the music of his childhood. Rock and roll is the connection that binds the bulk of these characters together. The fictional band, Stillwater, is a family, with typical family divisions, but leader Russell (Billy Crudup) reveals at one point that music is the ONLY thing keeping them together. Ancillary events and characters pay tribute to greats like Bowie, Peter Frampton (who worked on the film) and Humble Pie, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, Black Sabbath, and more. Patrick Fugit‘s William (the stand-in for Crowe) finally gets his interview with Russell at the end: What do you love about music? Russell answers, To begin with? Everything. This is a movie for people who understand what that means.
1. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
The poster for this movie reads, The funniest rock movie ever made! Without doubt. This entry marks Michael McKean’s third appearance on this list, and he is one of the writers, along with the other primary “members” of the band Spinal Tap ” Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer ” as well as director Rob Reiner (who appears as documentarian Marty DiBergi). The majority of dialogue is improvised, setting the paradigm for Guest’s own future efforts like Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind. There is so much greatness in this film about an opportunistic band that ultimately morphed into over-the-top metal-mongers Spinal Tap, but many rock stars of the time have said that they were unable to laugh at it because it hit too close to home. The songs, by the writers of the film, are absurd and hysterical and really good. Big Bottom, Hell Hole, Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight and Stonehenge are all classics. 1984 was the epicenter of ridiculous commercial stadium rock band excess, and This Is Spinal Tap captures that moment, where the love for music is subsumed to ego and the trappings of spectacle, success and fame. Get any decent rock band drunk and they will recite this movie for you, start-to-finish.