Hair starring John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly DAngelo, Annie Golden, Dorsey Wright

  One Heck Of A Musical Memoir That Is Brighter, Sharper And More Insightful Than Most

The Age of Aquarius is brought to life by the filmmaker who made Amadeus a household word. Milos Forman directed this version of James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermots landmark musical in 1979 between his Oscar-winning films One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus. With mixed reviews (Gene Siskel named it that years best film) and lukewarm box-office grosses, the film all but disappeared from the collective consciousness. Yet the film beautifully delivers on its promise to bring the 60s back to life. Hair re-creates a colorful world of counterculture finding an anvil to pound on: the Vietnam War. Forman and his design team allow the film to wash over you, starting at the free-flowing opening in which masses of hippies, police, and even their horses eagerly groove to the familiar beat of Aquarius. In the best work of his career, Treat Williams makes his leading- man debut as Berger, the leader of the Central Park

troop who takes draftee Claude (John Savage) under his wing on his trip through New York City and the apex of what the 60s was. The new recording of the music is quite fine, with Chicago band member Don Dacuss rendition of the title song a highlight. As Bergers pièce de résistance number says, Ive Got Life; so does the film, right down to its poignant declaration to let the sunshine in. --Doug Thomas

Hair is easily one of the most evocative movie musicals Ive ever seen. The acting is terrific; the choreography is outstanding and the cinematography by Twyla Tharp works wonders for the film. The songs are incredibly catchy, too. The casting is exceptionally well done and overall this stuns me even if the two original authors James Rado and Gerome Ragni didnt like Milos Formans adaptation of their stage play to the big screen. In addition, the quality of the print is very good.

When the action starts, we meet Claude Bukowski (John Savage) who has been drafted into the Vietnam War; he leaves his native Oklahoma to go to New York City for his physical exam and initial induction into the military. Once Claude gets to Manhattan, however, his plan for two days of sightseeing rapidly goes in another direction when he sees a beautiful young woman horseback riding in Central Park and meets a group of free thinking, loving hippies who hang out in Central Park. Despite Claudes initial resistance, he soon takes a liking to the hippies (although Lord knows the hippies and Claude dont seem to have that much in common) and the hippies like Claude, too. The hippie group includes George Berger (Treat Williams) who is essentially their leader, the colorful Jeannie (Annie Golden), Hud aka Lafayette (Dorsey Wright), Woof (Don Dacus) and, at times, a few others singing and dancing their way along for the ride.

To spice things up, there are all sorts of antics, like the hippies hiding Sheilas clothing when she impulsively skinny dips in a Central Park lake with Claude; and there are the predictable yet very well done scenes of the hippies doing drugs and asking for a little spare change so they can rent a horse and show off a bit when they next encounter Sheila and her snooty horseback riding friends. Berger, the hippies and Claude even wind up crashing a party in Sheilas honor so that Claude can see Sheila once more before hes drafted.

But Hair gives us so much more. Its a fond, fun and nostalgic look back at the latter half of the 1960s, a time when quite a few young people sincerely believed that they could change the world by protesting, questioning authority and leading their lives free of the typical social norms and mores of society. Hippies honestly believed that taking certain drugs was a relaxing experience that led to better self-understanding; some psychotherapists even encouraged their patients to take LSD for better group therapy experiences at a time when LSD was actually still legal. (LSD was legal until 1967.) Unfortunately, the hippies were unable to change the governments mind about the war in Vietnam. They simply lacked the power to change the governments policy on Vietnam. Since the

latter part of the 1960s there has never been such a hopeful time for so many young Americans.

The DVD comes with a widescreen version on one side and the standard fullscreen version on the other side. There extras are a bit disappointing; we get a stills gallery of what is basically advertising for the movie along with the original theatrical trailer. I would have liked at least a directors commentary; and another commentary by Treat Williams would have been awesome.

Hair remains one of the best musicals ever--its current Broadway revival forty years after the original production proves this is both powerful and memorable. I highly recommend this movie for people interested in an era when young Americans had much less cynicism and so much more hope for the future than they do in our times; and people who like high quality control movie musicals will not be disappointed.

History

Hair was conceived by actors James Rado and Gerome Ragni. The two met in 1964 when they performed together in the Off-Broadway flop Hang Down Your Head and Diet, and they began writing Hair together in late 1964. The main characters were autobiographical, with Rado's Claude being a pensive romantic and Ragni's Berger an extrovert. Their close relationship, including its volatility, was reflected in the musical. Rado explained, "We were great friends. It was a passionate kind of relationship that we directed into creativity, into writing, into creating this piece. We put the drama between us on stage."
Rado described the inspiration for Hair as "a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. We knew this group of kids in the East Village who were dropping out and dodging the draft, and there were also lots of articles in the press about how kids were being kicked out of school for growing their hair long". He recalled, "There was so much excitement in the streets and the parks and the hippie areas, and we thought if we could transmit this excitement to the stage it would be wonderful.... We hung out with them and went to their Be-Ins [and] let our hair grow." Many cast members (Shelley Plimpton in particular) were recruited right off the street. Rado said, "It was very important historically, and if we hadn't written it, there'd not be any examples. You could read about it and see film clips, but you'd never experience it. We thought, 'This is happening in the streets,' and we wanted to bring it to the stage."
Rado and Ragni came from different artistic backgrounds. In college, Rado wrote musical revues and aspired to be a Broadway composer in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition. He went on to study acting with Lee Strasberg. Ragni, on the other hand, was an active member of The Open Theater, one of several groups, mostly Off-off Broadway, that were developing experimental theatre techniques.[9] He introduced Rado to the modern theatre styles and methods being developed at The Open Theater.[10] In 1966, while the two were developing Hair, Ragni performed in The Open Theater's production of Megan Terry's play, Viet Rock, a story about young men being deployed to the Vietnam War. In addition to the war theme, Viet Rock employed the improvisational exercises being used in the experimental theatre scene and later used in the development of Hair.
Rado and Ragni brought their drafts of the show to producer Eric Blau who, through common friend Nat Shapiro, connected the two with Canadian composer Galt MacDermot.[12] MacDermot had won a Grammy Award in 1961 for his composition "African Waltz" (recorded by Cannonball Adderley).The composer's lifestyle was in marked contrast to his co-creators: "I had short hair, a wife, and, at that point, four children, and I lived on Staten Island." "I never even heard of a hippie when I met Rado and Ragni."[4] But he shared their enthusiasm to do a rock and roll show. "We work independently," explained MacDermot in May 1968. "I prefer it that way. They hand me the material. I set it to music." MacDermot wrote the first score in three weeks, starting with the songs "I Got Life", "Ain't Got No", "Where Do I Go" and the title song. He first wrote "Aquarius" as an unconventional art piece, but later rewrote it into an uplifting anthem.