HAIR (1979) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: MILOŠ FORMAN / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL WELLER / STARRING: JOHN SAVAGE, TREAT WILLIAMS, BEVERLY D’ANGELO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Hair was a film adapted from the anti-war musical of the late 1960s, which became known for tracks such as Age of Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine, and Let the Sunshine In. Another point of interest was the film, directed by Miloš Forman, came between his acclaimed films One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Ragtime (1981). Now getting a bumper Blu-ray treatment, we take a look at the new release…
The film opens on Claude (Savage), a young man who is visiting the Army office in New York from Oklahoma having been drafted into the Army to serve in Vietnam. Claude then has a chance meeting with George (Williams) and his merry band of hippies. The friendship then takes Claude on a (figurative and literal) trip into 1960s counterculture: drugs, free love, racial equality and many more new ideas and experiences for him, which even help him to find to love with socialite Sheila (D’Angelo). However, when Claude enlists for the war out of spite, his new friends must race to his military station before everything changes forever.
What drives the film are the characters Claude and George; their relationship and the affect they have on each other; you see the small town boy Claude have his mind opened to a much wider world (some of assisted it by acid, some of it not) and seeing that those in authority are not always right, meanwhile, we see George, who is lead hippy and the epitome of counterculture, brought down a peg or two when he has to visit his very square parents for help. But, as a consequence of such strong leads, other characters simply fade into the background. Elsewhere, the some of the songs are staged to a tee from Age of Aquarius (which includes dancing horses!) to Let the Sunshine In which plays out over the film’s ending. In addition to the film, extras include: an interview with legendary director Nicholas Ray on his role as the General in the film, a short documentary on San Francisco from Anthony Stern, soundtracked by Pink Floyd, and Aquarius, a psychedelic animation.
In short, Hair is a film with strong leads with some strong songs in its soundtrack but it will only pique the interest of those who are already fans.
