Hair (film)

Infobox Film
name = Hair


director = Miloš Forman
producer = Michael Butler
Lester Persky
writer = Gerome Ragni (musical book
James Rado (book)
Michael Weller (screenplay)
starring = John Savage
Treat Williams
Beverly D'Angelo
Annie Golden
Dorsey Wright
Donnie Dacus
Nell Carter
Cheryl Barnes
Richard Bright
music = Galt MacDermot
cinematography = Miroslav Ondíek
editing =
distributor = United Artists
released = March 14 1979
runtime = 121 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:
imdb_id = 79261

"Hair" is a 1979 film adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical of the same title about a Vietnam war draftee who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center. The hippies introduce him to their environment of marijuana, acid, unorthodox relationships and wedding songs.

The film was directed by Miloš Forman, who was nominated for a César Award for his work on the film. Cast members include Treat Williams, John Savage, Beverly D'Angelo, Don Dacus of the rock band Chicago, Annie Golden, Dorsey Wright, Nell Carter, Ellen Foley as well as Johnny Maestro, Jim Rosica and Fred Ferrara of the rock group The Brooklyn Bridge. Dance scenes were choreographed by Twyla Tharp and performed by the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation. The film was nominated for a Best Picture Golden Globe Award, and Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Male.

In this adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, a naive farm boy from Oklahoma named Claude (John Savage) heads to New York City to enlist in the Army and serve in the Vietnam War. In Central Park, he meets a troupe of free-spirited hippies led by a young man named Berger (Treat Williams), who introduce him to a debutante (Beverly D'Angelo). Inevitably, Claude is sent off to boot camp in Nevada, but Berger and his band of merry pranksters do what they can to rescue Claude from a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Changes from original version

A few verses from "Manchester, England" and a small portion of "Walking In Space" have been removed. The film omits the songs "The Bed", "Dead End", "Oh Great God of Power", "I Believe in Love", "Going Down", "Abie Baby," "Air," "My Conviction," "Frank Mills," and "What a Piece of Work is Man" from the musical. The latter five songs were originally recorded for the film, but were eventually cut, as they slowed the pace of the film. They can be found on the motion picture soundtrack album, although they were omitted on the 1990 reissue. While the songs "Don't Put It Down" and "Somebody To Love" are not specifically sung by characters in the movie, they are both used as background or instrumental music for scenes at the army base. There are several other differences from songs in the movie and as they appear on the soundtrack, mainly in omitted verses and different orchestrations.

The plot is changed in the film. Many of the songs have been shortened, sped up, rearranged, or assigned to different characters to allow for the differences in plot. Opinions are mixed as to whether the film was an improvement over the stage show.

In the original stage show, the character Claude Bukowski is a hippie who eventually joins the army and is sent to Vietnam. In the movie, the plot was changed so that Claude comes to New York City from Oklahoma after he is drafted and befriends a group of hippies before being sent to Army training camp. They introduce him to their psychedelically-inspired style of living, and eventually drive to Nevada to visit him at a training camp. In the play, Claude is from "dirty, mucky, polluted Flushing," in Queens, but wishes he was from "Manchester, England," which explained why he sang a song with that title. The song remains in the film, though with a joking introduction by Berger - "he just got off the boat" - to make it apply to Oklahoma native Claude.

In the musical, Sheila Franklin is a hippie who falls in love with Berger, not Claude. Jeannie was "knocked up" by a speed freak, not by either Woof or Hud.

Arguably, the most extreme change is Berger's death in the finale. In the original play it is Claude who dies in Vietnam.

Original writers James Rado and Gerome Ragni were unhappy with the film.Horn, pp. 117-18] They thought that Forman failed to capture the essence of "Hair"; that hippies were portrayed as "oddballs" and "some sort of aberration" without any connection to the peace movement. Both are quoted as saying: "Any resemblance between the 1979 film and the original Biltmore version, other than some of the songs, the names of the characters, and a common title, eludes us." In their view, the screen version of "Hair" has not yet been produced.

oundtrack

# "Aquarius"
# "Sodomy"
# "Donna"
# "Hashish"
# "Colored Spade"
# "Manchester, England"
# "I'm Black/Ain't Got No"
# "Party Music"
# "I Got Life"
# "Hair"
# "L.B.J."
# "Electric Blues/Old Fashioned Melody"

# "Hare Krishna"
# "Where Do I Go?"
# "Black Boys"
# "White Boys"
# "Walking In Space (My Body)"
# "Easy To Be Hard"
# "Three-Five-Zero-Zero"
# "Good Morning Starshine"
# "Somebody To Love"
# "Don't Put It Down"
# "The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In"

; Songs on the soundtrack, but not in the film
# "Abie Baby/Fourscore"
# "Air"
# "My Conviction"
# "Frank Mills
# "What A Piece Of Work Is Man"

ee also

*"Hair" - the live stage musical

References

External links

*imdb title|79261|Hair