Pink Floyd The Wall (film)
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| Pink Floyd The Wall | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Alan Parker |
| Produced by | Alan Marshall |
| Written by | Roger Waters |
| Starring | Bob Geldof |
| Music by | Pink Floyd |
| Distributed by | MGM/UA Entertainment Company (theatrical) Sony Music Video (SMV) Enterprises |
| Release date(s) | August 6, 1982 (New York City) |
| Running time | 95 min |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Pink Floyd The Wall is a 1982 film by British director Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The film is highly metaphorical and is rich in symbolic imagery and sound. It features virtually no dialogue and a non-linear storyline which is explained through Pink Floyd's music.
The film contains fifteen minutes of elaborate animation sequences by the political cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe part of which depict a nightmarish vision of the German bombing campaign over England during World War II set to the song "Goodbye Blue Sky".
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[edit] Plot summary
Pink Floyd The Wall depicts the construction and ultimate demolition of a metaphorical wall. Though the film is highly interpretable, the wall itself clearly reflects a sense of isolation and alienation.
Pink, the tragic hero (and unreliable narrator) of the film, is depicted at various stages of physical and mental development. We first meet Pink as a young English boy growing up in the early 1950's. Young Pink is heavily affected by the death of his father in World War II and the unhealthy relationship with his neurotic mother (who by turns smothers him with attention and ignores him). As the years go on, he becomes a successful rock star in the United States, but remains in a state of mental disarray and disillusionment.
Pink married in the late 1960s, as evidenced by the clothing worn by the wedding party, but over the years, he and his wife grow further and further apart, with Pink concentrating on his music and his wife becoming involved with an anti-nuclear arms group. She eventually has an affair with the leader of the group while Pink is on tour.
After the affair, Pink suffers a breakdown in a Los Angeles hotel room. He shaves off all his body hair (as did Syd Barrett when he was seen in the Wish You Were Here recordings), and sits inside the boundaries of the wall. Doctors are sent in and inject Pink with drugs. The drugs cause Pink to hallucinate at his shows; he then experiences delusions of grandeur in which he believes that he has become the leader of a violent, racist, hate group, bearing strong resemblances to modern Neo-Nazi gangs.
The melody of In the Flesh is re-created as a military march by a fanfare plus church organ with Wagnerian overtones. His concerts have become rallies, with Pink hysterically pointing out minorities in the audience and encouraging his faithful to "put 'em up against the wall." As his hallucinations become more and more frenzied and out-of-control, his conscience finally rebels.
In the final sequence, Pink goes before a bizarre kangaroo court trial, shown entirely in animation. This stage in Pink's life is clearly a symbolic representation of his state of mind. Many people believe that the trial scene of the film bears a strong likeness to the climactic trial scene of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Influences of Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill's musical dramas can also be found in this section (the use of rituals and ceremonies to highlight the action) while the musical structure (i.e. the lines sung by the "witnesses") owe much to Savoy Opera.
The judge (animated as a giant pair of buttocks wearing a British judge's wig and speaking out of the anus), having heard evidence from Pink's mother, school teacher and wife, decrees that Pink should be "exposed before [his] peers" and orders him to "tear down The Wall!"
[edit] Symbolism
One of the greatest symbols in the film is the idea within Pink of being the head of a neo-Nazi organization. Because of the loss of his father, which he felt unreasonably guilty over, the infidelity of his wife, his permanent feeling of loneliness and the countless tragic events that led to his breakdown, Pink ultimately saw himself as a terrible person. And as a child growing up in post-WWII England, it can easily be inferred that the Nazis would have been held up as the greatest evil the world has seen. And with this, Pink's self-image can be seen.
[edit] History
[edit] First steps
Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, a film was intended to be made from it.[1] However, the concept of the film was intended to be live footage from the album's tour, with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes. The film was going to star Waters himself. Unfortunately, EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept.[2]
[edit] Parker becomes involved
The saving grace for the film project was the chance involvement of director Alan Parker. Parker was a fan of Pink Floyd, and while discussing personal business with EMI, asked about the chances of The Wall being adapted to film. He was then directed to Waters. Roger invited him to direct the feature, but Parker declined, and instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer.[3]
Waters, after studying scriptwriting books, began work on the film's screenplay. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art in order to lure investors for the film. While the book depicted Roger in the role of Pink, reality would later set in. After failed screen tests, Roger was removed from the starring role.[4]
To replace Roger, punk musician Bob Geldof was approached. When first asked if he would play the role (while he was traveling by car), Geldof refused, saying, "I've been asked to do this Pink Floyd bloody wall thing, what a load of crap and raw bloody rubbish". Interestingly, the man driving the car he was in was actually Waters' brother John.[5] Since Roger was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped. Waters and Parker were not given much of a choice anyway, because the footage culled from the five Wall concerts that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable.[6]
[edit] Documentary
A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters, originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are on The Wall DVD as extras.
[edit] Production and reception
- The only songs from the album not used in the film are Hey You, although material using the song was filmed and the raw footage was first made available on the DVD release as a deleted scene, and The Show Must Go On.
- Though Waters initially considered himself for the lead role, the film ultimately starred Bob Geldof, whose character Pink was loosely based on the biographies of both Waters and former Pink Floyd vocalist and guitarist Syd Barrett, both of whom were founding members of the band. The film also stars Kevin McKeon as the young Pink, and includes brief appearances by Bob Hoskins and Joanne Whalley.
- Roger Waters has expressed dissatisfaction with the final product of the film, and is reported to have been philosophically at odds with director Alan Parker during filming, who himself walked out of the project on multiple occasions due to the conflict. In a 1988 interview on Australian radio, Waters said: "I was a bit disappointed with it in the end, because at the end of the day I felt no sympathy at all with the lead character... and I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that... it didn't actually give me... as an audience, a chance to get involved with it." [1] Despite Waters' dissatisfaction, the film is considered by many fans to be a worthy interpretation of Pink Floyd's album, and a powerful work of cinema in its own right.
- David Gilmour stated that the making of the film was where the feud between him and Waters started. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on BBC TV and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions".
- The film entered at #28 of the US Box Office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over two months below the top 20 while still in the top 30, before moving up to its peak placing of #3 from the low 20's the previous week.
- The film's original plot was going to comprise of footage of the band playing live at Earls Court in London with Gerald Scarfe's animation sprinkled throughout the film. Alan Parker later nixed the idea. Film footage of the Earls Court shows from 1980 and 1981 have surfaced on bootlegs and look presentable.
- According to the DVD commentary, the reason Waters decided against playing Pink was due to his poor acting skills.
- There is a semi-subliminal image in the bloody pool scene: the soldier/father's face is momentarily replaced with the screaming-face artwork from Scarfe's poster for the film.
- During the wedding scene between Pink and the wife, Roger Waters makes a cameo in the movie as one of the wedding witnesses (he is wearing a red overcoat) just after Pink kisses his wife, he is seen standing on the right side of the screen, and during the next scene while the photographer is taking a snapshot of them, he is seen on the far left. Despite his cameo in the movie, Waters chose to not have his name in the credits. Some versions of the film have Roger's cameo trimmed out of the scene.
- During the scene where Pink finds his father's items during "When the Tigers Broke Free", Pink finds a certificate of appreciation that lists his father's name as J.A. Pinkerton. This can be taken to indicate that Pink's real name is Floyd Pinkerton. But, during the scene where Pink is trying to reach his wife on the phone, you can hear, "... call to Mrs Floyd from Mr Floyd ..." Pink Floyd is probably the character's stage name, therefore.
- During the brief interval within "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", Pink's teacher takes the piece of paper from him and reads it aloud to embarrass him in front of the class - Pink's poem is a mix of the first and second verses of "Money" from The Dark Side of the Moon.
- During the filming of the "One of My Turns" hotel-room-smashing scene, Bob Geldof actually hurt his hand tearing wooden slats out of the wardrobe doors, but was so caught up in moment that he did not stop. The crew were unaware of the injury until the filming finished. You can see in the film Bob briefly stop and look at his hand, and then continue. For the rest of the scene he has a shirt or sheet either held or wrapped around that hand. Ironically, it was not the hand the character injures on a piece of glass at the end of the scene.
- In the hotel-trashing sequence, the actress playing the young female groupie didn't know that Bob Geldof was going to throw the bottle of wine at her. Therefore, her reaction of ducking before it smashed on the wall was genuine.
- The music video for Muse's "Hysteria" is almost a complete reference of this movie, notably the hotel-trashing scene with the groupie ("One of My Turns", "Another Brick in the Wall part III"), the opening sequence, the telephone sequences and the blurred shots from Pink's point of view when dragged through the hotel corridor (Comfortably Numb).
- During the scenes in which Pink becomes a skinhead leader, real neo-Nazis were used as extras in rallies. Director Alan Parker lost his voice shouting "cut" on certain scenes; also, animator Gerald Scarfe felt things were getting out of hand when some turned up with his crossed-hammers symbol shaved into their heads. Today, the crossed hammers have been adopted as the logo of the racist group Hammerskins.
- During the scene in which Pink is sitting in the bathroom stall reading his poetry book, just before he begins the lyrics to "Stop", he recites: "Do you remember me? How we used to be? Do you think we should be closer?", which are lyrics from "Your Possible Pasts", the second track of The Final Cut, released one year after the movie. After a brief pause, Pink then begins to recite: "And I reached out my hand, just to touch your soft hair; to make sure in the darkness, that you were still there; and I have to admit, I just was a little afraid..." These are lyrics from "5:11 AM (The Moment of Clarity)", the last track on Waters's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, released two years after the movie.
- The war movie that Pink watches on the hotel room's television is the classic World War II film The Dam Busters (1954). Dialogue stating that the dog's name is Nigger is deliberately included, although UK television screenings typically omit the scene (and U.S. versions redub the name as "Trigger").
- This is one of the few movies with the Los Angeles Police Department AMC Matador police car.
- In the first few frames of the "defecation" toward the end of the Trial, the prosecutor and another character from the beginning of the animated sequence come flying out with the excrement. This is only noticeable while watching the sequence at a slower speed.
- The film does not feature the "loop" found on the album, which begins with Roger Waters saying "...we came in" and ends with "Isn't this where...". However, it is included, after a fashion, on the DVD as an easter egg. The DVD commentary track ends as the credits begin to roll, but if it is left playing, the line "Isn't this where we came in?" is heard (in one piece) after the credits.
- Several sequences feature Bob Hoskins (playing Pink Floyd's manager trying to downplay the artist's alienation). Hollywood's famed composer and conductor Michael Kamen is briefly shown conducting the fanfare that plays the "fascistic" version of "In the Flesh".
- The hotel manager was played by actor Michael Ensign, who would play a hotel manager in the movie Ghostbusters.
- The gun seen in the animation sequence for "Empty Spaces" is a German MP-40 machine pistol.
- The song "Empty Spaces" was replaced with its longer version, "What Shall We Do Now," which was the version that was originally supposed to be on the album, but was cut for time.
[edit] Popular culture
[edit] Appropriation by white power groups
The film directly inspired two of the most well known White Power organizations in the U.S. In 1984 while being shown as a weekly cult Midnight Movie at the Alexandria theater in San Francisco, Bob "Blitz" Heick announced "this is what we should be doing" in reference to the rally sequences during Waiting for the Worms. The local skinheads began treating the film as an ersatz rally itself, saluting the screen and chanting. In one instance the management stopped the film midway in response to crowd rowdiness. The theater stopped running the film after only a few showings.
Heick started the American Front that year and eventually began wearing a similar black shirt during rallies in the late 80s through the mid 90s.
In 1988 the Dallas Texas based Confederate Hammer Skins adopted the "Hammer Cross" emblem as their logo. They later grew into a worldwide organization now known as The Hammerskin Nation.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets. Dell Publishing, 225.
- ^ Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets. Dell Publishing, 244.
- ^ Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets. Dell Publishing, 244-245.
- ^ Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets. Dell Publishing, 245-246.
- ^ Mason, Nick (2004). Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books.
- ^ Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets. Dell Publishing, 246.
[edit] Chart Positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Australian ARIA DVD Chart | #10 |
[edit] External links
- A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd The Wall by Bret Urick
