LogFAQs > #933445043

18. Hair

Genny: 5
Scarlet: 9
Johnbobb: 11
Inviso: 14
KBM: 22
Karo: 29
JONA: 33

Genny - I don't think any of these movies displays such wild moodswings as Hair. There is a scene where a bunch of hippies pool together all the change they presumably begged for just to rent a horse so one of them could make some rich girls uncomfortable by telling them naughty words. There's also a scene where a major character is KIA because of mistaken identity and gets a Vietnam War memorial that his hippie friends visit. I mean it really is all over the place and I can't help but love it. The soundtrack has too many hits to count, but Sodomy is my guilty pleasure. Equal parts fun with its upbeat soundtrack and clever with its social commentary on racial and class disparity, Hair is bizarre in the best way.

Scarlet - Considering where this film falls in history, and more specifically the musical it is based on, you have to respect the cries of protest that Hair embodies and symbolizes in one of the most tumultuous periods of social change in our history. The movie is more of a representation of a movement than a musical in and of itself, but I can respect it as a shred of art that stands for a time. And I do love that Fifth Dimension-style of music.
Best Song: Aquarius

Johnbobb - I'll admit, I'm kind of a sucker for hippie counterculture. Aquarius is a fantastic song.
Favorite song: Aquarius

Inviso - Im honestly surprised at how high I wound up ranking this film, because for like, 80% of its runtime, it was just kinda stupid and aimless, in my opinion. Sure, you had some interesting musical numbers (namely those where the writers feel like theyre throwing everything at the wall for laughs, just to see what sticks), but it just feels like a bunch of characters mashing together with seemingly little purpose for their existence. Its almost like a parody of hippie culture being too wild and untamed. However, that last section really ties the whole film together. Through the whole movie, Berger is portrayed as this reckless hippie leader, who constantly questions authority and comes up with cockamamie schemes, although ultimately hes a good guy. So for him to get utterly fucked over in a prince and the pauper situationits brutal, and suddenly the movie gains new meaning. Suddenly, the message becomes all about the pain and cruelty of the Vietnam War (to the point where no one even really notices Berger taking Claudes place in the army, until after hes already dead.) Thats deep, and fucked up, and it salvages the film just a little.

KBM - Why I Chose It: This 1979 adaptation of the 1968 musical Hair: An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical was met with favorable reviews, and two Golden Globe nominations, for Best Musical or Comedy and New Star of the Year for Treat Williams. Milo Forman was also nominated for a Csar Award for his work. The creators of the original show were less fond of it, lamenting the many changes to the story and score.

My Thoughts: I really, REALLY want to like the movie adaptation of Hair better than I do. It gets the music right, with some of the best recordings of these songs ever done. It gets pretty much else super wrong. By trying to turn Hair into something with a coherent three-act structure, Milo Forman falls into the same trap that Tom Hooper has recently fallen into with his recent adaptation of Cats (except, y'know, this is nowhere near as bad as that). As much as I love the soundtrack this film gave us, the movie turns out to be pretty toothless, at least up until the very very end when Berger dies in Vietnam in place of John Savage (the one change from the show that actually kind of works, although I still prefer Claude being a member of the tribe to begin with instead of a fresh-faced draftee from Oklahoma). Frankly, I think I would have preferred more of just a hang-out slice-of-life movie with hippies being hippies to this somewhat watered-down take on the original show. But, as I said, the music is great across the board, and at least it's a good movie to rock out to, even if the connecting thread isn't there. I'll stick with listening to the soundtrack album though.

Favorite Song: Black Boys/White Boys

Karo - The barely followable plot of this movie is about this country boy who falls in with this 'lovable' group of hippies who commit multiple felonies, bully anyone who stands in the way of their fun (or just because they are there), and basically justify every terrible thing Eric Cartman has said about them.
These dipshits are accompanied by the most bizarre set of songs ever put in a movie, and not really in a good way. One song is just a string of racial epithets, one is a song literally about singing a song (SING! SONG! SING! SONG!), and another that's probably on the playlist of every catholic priest in the country. What a mess.
Due to stupidity on the part of the hippies and incompetence on the part of the military, one of them gets accidentally sent to Vietnam where he finally ceases to be a strain on the planet's oxygen reserves. The movie then abruptly ends with everyone randomly singing antiwar protest songs because of course it would.
After two hours of this shit the only significant thing one takes away is that there was way too many drugs involved in the making of this movie. Because seriously, the writers, composers, actors, everyone, were clearly stoned out of their fucking minds.
If you are like some 70 year old hippie who wants to get all misty eyed (and high) while reminiscing about the good ol' days when you used to pick flowers, take LSD, protest Vietnam, and still had hair, then this movie is for you.
I however, am not, and I want a movie that is more than an incoherent mess of unlikable characters doing arbitrary things while singing about masturbation and zodiac signs.

Score: 36/100

Best Song: 'Hair'

JONA - Is this really an anti-war film? The characters make it seem like the opposite since I wanted to see them get drafted. I really hate the hippies in this movie. They dont even seem like real hippies to me. They are very antagonistic, and they beg for money. The leader of the group even hits Claude. I thought they were supposed to be peaceful. By the time they have the Good Berger take Claudes place its far too late for me to start caring about him. I also found the pacing to be quite slow. At least the songs are pretty good.
Favorite Song: Aquarius