[Mb-hair] My wife's first time watching the Hair movie

Sun Oct 9 18:40:28 PDT 2005

Hair was the second play I did.. the first being HMS Pinafore... (Bah ha ha ha Sorry.. I didn't even know who Gilbert and Sulivan were but wanted to get into theatre.) I had seen the movie Hair when I was younger and before the audition.. I rented it... I liked it.. (but that was all I knew of Hair.. having never seen it on stage.) I remember really liking Woof's hair.. because he reminded me of Neil Smith (original Alice Cooper drummer) I liked the way Berger was so crazy and I really liked (and still do) the dramatic scene between Hud and his fiancee.. though diturbing that he would turn his back on his child to go play with his friends.. I think that for many people in the world (today anyway) that is not an uncommon scene played out daily.. But the thing I dug the most about that scene was the the way the song fit what was going on and the way the cinimatographer played the long shot of Hud walking off with Berger and Co.. and then them talking him into going back to her.
 . (that
 is how I remember it anyway..) I also remember getting choked up when Flesh Failures started.. (From the first time I saw the movie to now after seeing it done on numberous stages.. That remains my favorite song and it always gets me) Now... after doing the play twice and seeing it done many times over.. I like the rest of you dig the stage version much more... I don't feel the movie shows the amount of love that a true hippie tribe should have for one another and never saw what Berger, (who I felt was a pretty cool guy) saw in Beverly D Angelo's Sheila... Then again... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. I didn't notice the other things that you noticed.. ie: The running across the street from the Jail into Central Park... BUt that is interesting.... I am sure if I watched it today I wouldn't like it as much but I bet I would still like it. 

Oh funny story.. Upon watching it the second time in 97, (two nights before auditions) I went to the audition and tried out for Berger... As I turned in my audition notice... I remember saying to Leo.. "I won't cut my hair though." (as in the Movie Berger cuts his) Leo, Smiled and said, "I wouldn't want you to brother," I got the role and was excited but then I found I didn't get to sing half the songs I thought I did... (as in the movie Berger sings alot of teh Claude songs.) 

I told Leo on our return from La Mama... That had I not gotten the Berger role.. I was not sure I would have taken a supporting role.. (not that I was or am sitting on any high horse, but.. it's just that I lived aways away from the theatre and I wasn't sure it would have been worth my driving to.) ... Today... I'd take any role... as Hair was so much more than a play... It was becoming one with the tribe it was.... becoming a true hippy.

JIM

Sean Courtney <dauber at banana-and-louie.org> wrote:
First of all...a warning to anybody on this list who hasn't seen the 1979
movie...this account of my Saturday evening might have a spoiler or two....

Okay...so I'm taking Monday off to share a three-day weekend with my wife,
who as a teacher has Columbus Day off...and Lisa suggested watching a DVD to
pass part of the evening together. I said cool, but I don't have anything
I'm dying to watch right now, so you pick. She went through our DVD
collection and said "Hmm...you think I should see Hair?" She had gone with
Tioga Joe and me to see a pretty....blah...production here in Jersey a few
years ago...

Now...Lisa is not a Hair fan, really, but does appreciate it and its
importance and does want to see a truly good production of one. Before
seeing the movie tonight, she did see that one production and read the 1969 book
(and therefore knows the basic plot of the stage show),
went to the reunion with me, and knows a lot about '60s pop culture. Having
said that, here are her comments about the movie, all of which she asked me
to share with you folks....most of this she couldn't even say without
breaking into laughter -- and I don't mean that in a good way, either! :)

- First, the choreography. During "Aquarius" she said it was "way too
ballet," "too West Side Story," and "fruity", but she always thought the choreography was supposed to be a bit more free-form.

- Poor setting up of the plot...During the first several scenes, you have no
idea who most of the main characters are, their relationship to each other,
or even what time period it's supposed to be -- you can only assume the late
1960s because it's well-known that it's a period piece [when I typed that, I
accidentally typed "peace" -- not bad, eh? :) ] for that time...

- "You're supposed to LIKE the hippies, right?" she said. Lisa felt that the
main characters were pretty hostile to each other -- Woof and Hud at each
other during the "Colored Spade" scene, Hud and his fiancé¥¬ Berger and
Claude toward the end of the movie, etc. And the fact that you're not given
a good intro to the characters just adds to that separation between the
viewer and the rapport with the characters.

- It's established that Shelia lives in Short Hills. Why would a girl from Short Hills, NJ be, in full riding gear, riding a horse in Central Park?
Especially when 1) there aren't any facilities in Manhattan for residents to
keep horses? (or are there?) and 2) when there are plenty of places in and
around Short Hills for that kind of thing?

Other comments from the better half:

- "The first 20 minutes of the movie is more about horses than hippies!"

- "Claude seemed to lose his Oklahoma accent over the course of the film."

- "It was just bad. It was just really bad."

- "I could have lived without seeing Beverly D'Angelo's tits several times."

- "Hair is not supposed to leave you with a bleah feeling, right?"

- "Claude had this look on his face like he had to take a dump."

- "It was pretty obvious that a lot of the men were wearing wigs."

- "Berger looked like a Muppet."

- "Berger was also extremely annoying. When he was trying to con the MP, I
wanted the MP to take out a gun and shoot him! I laughed at the ending when
Berger's being marched off with the troops because he screwed himself over."

As you can see, Lisa didn't like the movie. At all. Period. And you know
what? I loved it when I first saw it as a 15-year-old in 1990, but every
time I saw it again, especially after I first saw a stage production in
1996, it got worse and worse. And I keep noticing things that just don't
make sense:
- how they get arrested in Short Hills and run across the street from jail
into Central Park...
- The army scene when that Washington rally somehow interferes with the PA
system in Nevada....what the hell sense does that make?!
- So Berger and company hang out with Claude for, what, 40 hours or so? So
they barely know the guy, yet months after he leaves for the army they drive
across the country, with Berger sacrificing his hair, just to see him for a
couple of hours???

Strange....very strange...

--
dauber at banana-and-louie.org
* ICQ: 28677921 * YIM: dau_ber * AIM: ddaauubbeerr

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