Movie Magic

In my (increasingly rare) downtime away from the guitar, I enjoy watching films, all kinds of films. Among the films I enjoy the most are (naturally) those with an element of music built into the plot.

Sometimes a film doesn't actually centre around music or musicians, but the soundtrack plays an essential part in creating the film's atmosphere, and recalling a period of history. Honourable mention must go to American Graffiti, Dazed And Confused, The Wanderers and Empire Records.

There are wonderful documentaries like Muscle Shoals, 20 Feet From Stardom, B.B. King: The Life of Riley, Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll, Beware Of Mr. Baker and Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, that encapsulate an entire historical music scene, including long-lost clips of original performance or recording footage, interviewing the surviving original musicians, and also allowing today's stars to have their say on the subject. The only negative is that in recent films, Bono from U2 seems to crop up almost every single time - surely the filmmakers can find someone else?

Then there are the mockumentaries, comedies based around an imaginary band or music scene. Many of these come from the imagination of Christopher Guest and the loose company of actors and writers around him. I'm thinking mainly of This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind, both of them hilarious, beautifully acted and containing great music.

Sometimes, a film will contain some of the best surviving footage of a seminal band. for example the otherwise awful Gonks Go Beat includes an enthusiastic mimed performance by the Graham Bond Organisation, with Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Dick Heckstall-Smith. Here's a video clip...

Who can forget The Yardbirds' guitar-smashing performance in Blow-Up? Especially as it was the short-lived line-up featuring both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on guitars.

A good musical performance is sometimes really the only reason to watch an otherwise poor film. For example, Blues Brothers 2000 suffered from studio interference and a hokey, poorly-realised plot. It made an unworthy sequel to The Blues Brothers, the seminal cult comedy. However, the sequel does include this fabulous performance from the ultimate all-star band...

Speaking as a musician, one thing that never fails to annoy me is when filmmakers and/or actors can't be bothered to give a realistic musical performance. They don't have to learn exactly how to play the instruments, but if they could at least put their fingers roughly where the notes would be, that would help!

The worst offender here may be Elvis Presley himself. Now he had no excuse, as he really could play the guitar. When making films, he clearly thinks the audience are too stupid to realise that he's not actually playing correctly. Sometimes, the guitars he holds and strums enthusiastically don't even have strings!

As skilled an actor as Sean Penn is, his turn as a Django-style guitarist in Sweet And Lowdown was spoiled by very ropey guitar miming, as seen in this clip...

In fact, actors ruining films by failing to research how to play instruments is the rule rather than the exception, so it's always refreshing to find films with good musical acting performances. In addition to This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind mentioned above, two of my favourites are Crossroads and That Thing You Do. Here are clips that hopefully prove my point...

Crossroads - nice job Ralph Macchio, formerly known as the Karate Kid! The superb guitar playing was actually by Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Arlen Roth, but Ralph looks like he knows what he's doing.

That Thing You Do - great film, great acting, great '60s pastiche music!

The films I've mentioned are just a few from a huge list. Let me know what I've missed out - your favourites, as well as any with either good or bad acting performances.