Posted on 01/09/2015 6:13:08 PM PST by Squawk 8888
When This is Spinal Tap came out over 30 years ago, it went over a lot of people’s heads. “Everybody thought it was a real band,” recalled director Rob Reiner. “Everyone said, ‘Why would you make a movie about a band that no one has heard of?’”
It’s hard to believe that lines like “You can’t dust for vomit” failed to come off as anything but a joke. But, to be fair, Hollywood comedies were generally straight-forward affairs in the ‘80s. Think Blues Brothers or Fletch. Fake documentaries weren’t a thing. And This is Spinal Tap looks and feels exactly like a rock documentary– the hagiographic voiceover, the shaky camera, the awkward interviews. The movie was just as unscripted as rock docs like Don’t Look Back, The Song Remains the Same and The Kids Are All Right. The film is not only a parody of the generally overblown silliness of rock and roll, it is also, as Newsweek’s David Ansen notes, “a satire of the documentary form itself, complete with perfectly faded clips from old TV shows of the band in its mod and flower-child incarnations.”
(Excerpt) Read more at openculture.com ...
We watched this when it came out, and didn’t enjoy it. It was too much like Mr. G’s real life. (He’s an engineer)
One example.... (not Mr G’s.... told to us by one who was there). Jeff Porcaro had a producer tell him there just wasn’t enough fire in the last take. He calmly pulled out some lighter fluid, poured it all over the set, then calmly walked out as the drums were blazing.
Woody Allen’s “Take the Money and Run” was also a “fake” documentary
Thanks! Can’t wait to get home and listen to all the links!
I almost never watch movies more than once but I’ve enjoyed ‘Best In Show’ several times.
Me, too. The characters are SO creative. That whole gang of comedians does it for me every time. :)
A close second!
You should buy the album ´break like the wind.´ It´s great.
“Let It Rot”
Bugged. I don’t know those. I’ll have to dig them up tomorrow. Thank you.
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