As a play, the musical "Hair" had a long run. It
gathered several awards and many of the tunes became hits. Most notable
were "Aquarius," "Let the Sun Shine In," and "Good Morning Starshine."
It had controversy as a play. Some of the songs were suggestive and
used impolite language. (One song is titled "Sodomy.") It has an
anti-establishment theme, an anti-war theme, and some of the musical
numbers were considered strange.
In 1979, they put it all into an $11 million dollar movie. All the
crazy stuff is now on DVD. The only extra is the glimpse of theater
posters of "Hair."
There is a plot. But from seeing the movie trailer, and reading the
reviews, it is often obscured by the superlatives used. This is the
plot. Claude goes to New York from Oklahoma. He is due to go into the
Army soon. He meets some hippies and sees a pretty woman from the high
society. The hippy group, led by George Burger, make him their friend
and help him meet Sheila the pretty lady from high society. Claude goes
off to the Army and is stationed in Nevada. He writes Sheila. She shows
the letter to the hippy group and they decide it would a fun to visit
him in Nevada. To sneak Claude off the base, Burger stands in for
Claude. Just as Claude gets back on base from a visit with his friends,
his company is flying to Viet Nam. Burger is still in Claude's uniform
and dies in Viet Nam.
With "Hair" you must remember the musical numbers are not in the show to
develop the plot. The musical numbers are entertainment and an exercise
in theatrics. The movie did manage to grab two Golden Globe awards and
two other awards. As a movie, it shows a glimpse of the 60's era
lifestyle of being hippy.
If you are in the mood for an anti-establishment film and want to see
some entertaining musical numbers, this might just be the movie. The
best tunes have been re-done by others over the years. Nowadays, the
forceful, free-for-all style of "Hair" is perhaps merely odd by today's
standards. There is partial nudity in the film, and the suggestive
language is only in the musical numbers.
It didn't really help nor hurt the careers of the actors. John Savage
who plays Claude will be in "The Drop" in 2003. Treat Williams who
plays Berger was in the TV series Everwood. Beverly D'Angelo played
Sheila. She has a family now, and has only taken a few bit parts
recently.
