Give me a head of hair! (Hair (DVD))

Member Name: Donnabroom

Product:	Hair (DVD)
Date:	10/03/06 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic film, awesome acting and superb music .

Disadvantages: Not everyone's cup of tea.

Set in 1968 "Hair" tells the story of an Oklahoma farmboy, (Claude), and his adventures with a "tribe" of hippies in New York on his way to join the Army and head to Vietnam. It one of the greatest musicals in my humble opinion and has everything that a film set during this difficult period of America's history should have.

Claude leaves the ranch in Oklahoma where he grew up and right from the start you get the opinion that he has had a very sheltered life. His father gives him $50 for emergencies and Claude quickly hides this in his boot. He gets on the bus and heads towards his destiny.

Once in New York Claude has a few days to sight-see before he joins up and plans on seeing the Statue of Liberty and all the other famous New York landmarks. In Central Park he bumps into a "tribe" of hippies, (Berger, Woof, Hud and Genie), who ask him for change. Still in central park you get the second most important meeting, Claude sees a beautiful woman, (Shelia), on a horse and falls instantly in love.

Shelia and her friends remain aloof and ignore both the hippies and Claude but that isn't the last we see of her.

I don't want to tell you anything else about the plot as every second is fantastic and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who does want to watch the film, (and I hope you all watch it).

The film has many themes; race, war, drugs, class and friendship. Each one is demonstrated beautifully and there are many humorous and moving scenes. I would recommend a big box of tissues with this film if you are prone to a cry!

As you watch it you realise that it is just as relevant today as it ever was and the messages given should taken up by a new generation. You get the feeling that politics have not moved on at all

This is a musical and the songs are genius. The first song, (after the opening sequence), is the stunning "Age of Aquarius". This is sung by the beautiful Ren Woods, she is stood in central park with her arms spread and daisies pushed into her Afro. It is a really beautiful scene and gives me goose bumps every time I see it.

Donna is one of my favourite songs in this movie because that's my name and it's really high energy.

Where do I go is a beautiful song and is basically Claude questioning himself on whether or not to go to Vietnam.

Easy to be hard is easily the most beautiful song from any musical ever. It shows Hud's wife breaking her heart because of the way he treats her and their young son. She is just stood in the street singing and the song has so much power. This is one of the points where most people will cry.

The song list in order is:

1) Opening Sequence
2) Aquarius
3) Sodomy
4) Donna
5) Hashish
6) Coloured Spade
7) Manchester England
8) I'm Black
9) Ain't Got No
10) I Got Life
11) Hair
12) LBJ/LSD
13) Old Fashioned Melody
14) Electric Blues
15) Wedding Ceremony
16) Hare Krishna
17) Where Do I Go?
18) Black Boys
19) White Boys
20) Walking In Space
21) Easy To Be Hard
22) Good Morning Starshine
23) Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)
24) End Credits

You can get a full cast list at www.imdb.com/title/tt0079261.

Claude is played by John Savage, (who has been in a lot of TV shows and films such as Star Trek Voyager and The Deer Hunter). He is so perfect for the role he could have been born solely for this role. His laugh is fantastic and endears you to him really quickly. He plays the role of a patriotic young American who wants to do the right thing by his country but does not know what is right.

Burger is played by Treat Williams, (who was in Miss Congeniality 2). The chemistry between him and John Savage is great. They seem to bounce off one another and it is really fun to watch. (I'm finding it hard to describe their performances without giving the plot away)! Needless to say he is fantastic as Burger and I love him!

The other characters are equally well cast and all the performances are well above average. (Beverly D'Angelo is stunningly beautiful as Shelia).

Because this film was made in 1979 there is only the film and the original theatrical trailer on the disc.

The film was directed by Milos Forman and the screenplay was written by Michael Weller.

The film is rating 15 and has a running time of 1 hour 55 minutes. It is in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish and has Subtitles in English, Swedish, German, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Polish.

The film was distributed by MGM, (www.mgmuk.com).

I personally think everybody should watch this film at least once and in fact I believe they should show it in schools, (we were shown Apocalypse Now), as it is a great record of American social history. If you get the chance to watch you should defiantly do so.

I got my copy form Amazon for only £5.97 and they have used copies from £3.63. I think this is a bargain. You can also get the soundtrack from Amazon for £5.97.

Summary: The story of a tribe of hippies with dancing, singing and flying women!