MovieChat Forums > One-Trick Pony (1980) Discussion > This films deserves more credit than it ...

This films deserves more credit than it got

posted 20 years ago by porlhancock
6 replies | jump to latest

Come on people, you seen this film surely you can see it's a great film!!!

[–] lucksted 18 years ago

I agree, it is a great film, Paul Simon is Paul Simon, who else should he be? He's a great guitar player and song writer/singer and he plays a fella going through the paces of being a veteran musician on the open road. I go from gig to gig too, it's not the same as this movie, it's 20+ years later, but the road is the road. I perform a few tunes from this soundtrack and they go over very well, I think a lot of people haven't heard of this movie, but the ones who have and know what it's like to be in a working group can appreciate it. I think it's a very cool piece of nostalgia (did I spell that right?), the scene of the group coming up with names of dead rock and rollers is erie, only a short time later they could have added John Lennon to their list. I'd acutally like to see it remade, Hollywood is remaking so many movies now-a-days, they should re-do this one. But do it right, just like this film, use real musicians, singers and bands. The music was really played and recorded live, I would like to see maybe a harder edge to it though, a british metal side to it, I could see Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden in the lead. That would be different. Ciao 4 now, Bob II

If it bleeds, we can kill it!

[–] Trenthamfolk 17 years ago

I Love this film... you are so right. I am a massive Simon fan, admittedly :-) C'mon WBR - DVD release wanted!!

[–] buby1987 17 years ago

I saw it when it came out, and I saw it again a year ago. It holds up. It's a great time capsule, and also it shows how hard it is to be a working musician. Very little glamour, just an endless road. The film shows the high level of dedication required to be a professional musician -- sacrifices have to be made for the sake of music, and family life usually gets shortchanged.

Even today, there are many 60's and 70's groups still on the road. They're not trying to make comebacks, they just love to play music. I'm not talking about the big groups like The Police and The Eagles who will make millions in reunion tours, I'm talking about groups like Blue Oyster Cult, who play dozens of concerts a year, year after year.

One thing I thought was interesting -- Jonah trashes the master tape of his comeback LP, because he doesn't want to compromise his vision. What a quaint concept, artistic integrity.

As a huge Paul Simon fan, I bought the soundtrack on vinyl the day it was released in August of 1980. I've still got it on vinyl!

[–] mkotler 13 years ago

I may not be a professional musician or an artist but if I were in Jonah's shoes at this apparent crossroads in his life, I would have let the producers "reinvent" me for modern times and try to make a comeback. Come on, he had nothing to lose! Integrity, inshmegrity - it was either that or go on being poor for who knows how long. Sometimes, musicians can't seem to change with the times and it's the ones that are flexible that continue to have a career, year after year. Ironically, only 6 years after this film was released, Simon would go on to do something radically different with Graceland, and win an Emmy for Album of the Year. Talk about taking chances....

[–] buby1987 13 years ago

That proves that Simon is not Jonah Levin. You're right, musicians need to continue to grow and not repeat themselves. Simon himself said he felt he had run out of creative fuel until he started exploring African music, which led to the creative breakthrough of Graceland. Neil Young and Bob Dylan have enjoyed long careers because they are both willing to explore new terrain and new sounds, instead of becoming nostalgia acts. In effect, long-term success requires you to be a Multi Trick Pony.

[–] bayowolf 10 years ago

There's a difference between changing with the times when the musician (or artist) wants to change (i.e., the artist's vision evolves and he wants to express this change) and changing because some dickhead with dollar signs in his eyes tries to shoehorn the artist into something the dickhead thinks is "trendy". I haven't seen this movie in about 30 years but, IIRC, that was the point of this movie: Jonah has this perfectly good song ("Ace in the Hole") that the label wanted to put strings (the 40-piece type...not the contractual type) on. How do I know it a perfectly good song? Because Paul Simon included the 'Jonah'-version of the song on the album but neglected to put the 'label'-version on.

I guaran-damn-tee you that Paul made Graceland because he wanted to make Graceland. Luckily for him, the public was ready for Graceland...can't say the same for Capeman.

~~Bayowolf
There's a difference between being frank... and being dick.