Stream it now Hair 1979

 

A classic for a reason. One of those movies you can just watch over and over without getting tired. Truly a great one.

Conforming Nonconformists

Whenever I encounter a liberal strawman in the media, my automatic response is, "Hey, I went to college with that person!" Obviously, by those standards, I seem to have gone to college with about the entire cast. Except for those who are conservative strawmen. Let's face it; this movie is not as deep as it thinks it is. It is also, apparently, not an adaptation of the original stage show in anything but the most technical sort, but having not seen the original stage show, I cannot speak to that. At any rate, one of the things worth noting is that, whenever there's a musical number, these wild nonconformists start dancing in unison. Now, of course, it's true that it's a convention of the genre, and we're all just sort of supposed to pretend otherwise. However, it is a bit of a symbol, in my mind, for those damned Greeners rebelling against The Man by being just like every other Greener rebelling against The Man. I wasn't around for the Age of Aquarius, but it seems true of every group of nonconformists.

Claude Bukowski (John Savage) is a farm boy from Real America (TM). He is on his way from Oklahoma to New York, for some reason, where he is to be inducted into the army and, presumably, shipped off to Vietnam. It's really as much a plot device as anything else. The point is to hook him up with Crazy Hippies (TM) George Berger (Treat Williams), Jeannie Ryan (Annie Golden), Hud (Dorsey White), and Woof (Don Dacus.) He also falls in love with Beautiful Debutante (TM) Sheila Franklin (Beverly D'Angelo). Hanging over it all is the threat of the Vietnam War (TM). Berger has burned his draft card; Claude is going to enlist. What Claude intended to do on arriving in Manhattan--visit the Empire State Building; take a cruise around the island--is not at all what he ends up doing, but life intervenes.

The film likes contrast--while it's true that Sheila and Jeannie (played by the woman who was Squeaky in the original Off-Broadway production of Assassins!) can be seen as contrasts, there is also how Jeannie deals with her pregnancy as compared to the woman only credited as Hud's fianc

Conseill

as good as musical in such classical broadway form can get. it's dated to the hippie era and vietnam war, and has some universal messages of peace and love. but the universal messages are expected, and i'm simply not a musical fan

A bit corny but like Grease I love it. It does a good job at having something original to say and portraying the hippies in a manner that wasn't completely reverent.

Sends a message about war, love and spirituality, to anyone who watches it. Backed by wonderfully written songs and inventive dancing, Hair, both romanticizes and realistically portrays the lifestyles and beliefs of the "hippie" counter-culture.

I'm not a big musical fan, but this is one of the few I really love. Unlike many other musicals, such as The Sound of Music, none of the songs are about gratuitous stuff. Each song is on social commentary, acumen on war, sexuality, recalcitrance, spirituality, and freedom. Especially the amazing songs such as "Easy To Be Hard," "Age of Aquarius," "Hair," "Flesh Failures/3-5-0-0," "Walking In Space," and "Hare Krishna." Totally revolutionary and wonderful.

A strange film for Milos Forman, but he makes it work. Very stagey feel to it, but that's expected from a stage musical to a film version. Good songs, good singing, and nice story. That's all I could ask for.

Hair is a little tedious because it has many songs, some of them are very good but there are others that don't help to the film. The casting was very good: choosing Treat Williams was a great idea, John Savage does very good his part and Beverly D'angelo was beautiful and charismatic since then. Milos Forman did a good job but I think he can focus on better things. The picture has some funny moments that break with the sequence of song after song.

if the end wouldn't be so shocking, i would say, that this is a type of movie, you don't have to see before you dye. i don't like the music (only "aquarious" is a nice song) and the dance.