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 |
| Narrated by | Pink Floyd |
| Starring | Bob Geldof Christine Hargreaves Eleanor David Alex McAvoy Bob Hoskins Michael Ensign |
| Music by | Pink Floyd |
| Cinematography | Peter Biziou |
| Editing by | Gerry Hambling |
| Distributed by | MGM/UA Entertainment Company (theatrical) Sony Music Video (SMV) Enterprises |
| Release date(s) | August 6, 1982 (New York City) |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $22,244,207 |
| Preceded by | Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972) |
| Followed by | Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) |
| Allmovie 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 very little dialogue and is mainly driven by Pink Floyd's music. Although it features a linear storyline, in many ways The Wall more resembles a long-form music video than a traditional narrative feature film.
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". More famous than this, however, is the "Hammer March".
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[edit] Plot summary
The film 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. Pink is first seen sitting lethargically by himself in a hotel room. During the following scenes, it is revealed that Pink's father was killed during World War II when he was a young boy.
The movie then flashes back to Pink as a young English boy growing up in the early 1950s. Throughout his childhood, Pink longs for a father figure, and is devastated to learn of his father's death through a certificate sent by "Kind Old King George". Pink bids farewell to his "blue sky" and begins construction on his wall. Later, Pink is seen along with two cronies laying cartridges from his father's service weapon on a railroad, where he is caught by a domineering teacher.
The scene then switches over to Pink's school, where he is humiliated by the teacher for writing poems in class. The poems that the teacher reads aloud are lyrics from "Money" from the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon. Pink is also affected by his overprotective mother, who aims to lower his sexuality and tries not to let anyone dirty get near him. Despite this, Pink eventually gets married, but over the years, he and his wife grow further and further apart, with Pink concentrating on his music; his wife becomes involved with an anti-nuclear arms group, and eventually has an affair with the leader of the group while Pink is on tour. During this point it is revealed that Pink's last name is Floyd, giving him the same name as the group
When Pink learns of the affair, he fills in the gaps in his wall with expensive materialistic possessions. Mirroring his wife's infidelity, Pink (now a rock star) turns to a sexually willing groupie (Jenny Wright), inviting her to his hotel room despite his initial exasperation with her. Following the groupie's theatrical ramblings concerning his hotel room, Pink falls into another one of his television-induced trances, only to eventually have an emotional breakdown, trashing the hotel room and driving the groupie away. After years of repressed rage and mental anguish, Pink declares that he doesn't need anything at all, and completes his wall.
Behind his freshly completed wall, Pink slowly begins to lose his mind to metaphorical worms eating into his brain. He begins to see the drawbacks of isolating himself from society, and tries vainly to reconnect with the outside world. After failing to do so, Pink locks himself within his hotel room, and spends his days creating an odd shrine out of his ruined possessions. Eventually, Pink shaves off all of his body hair, giving birth to his fascist alter-ego.
While watching The Dam Busters on television, Pink, discovering what he has become, falls into a catatonic state, during which he attempts to reconnect with the past and reverse the fading of his roots. At a train station, Pink is told that human connection is the only way to bring down his wall. However, Pink continues to dwell on the bricks in his wall, unaware of his manager knocking at the door of his hotel room. In the real world, Pink's manager, along with the hotel manager and some paramedics, discover Pink in his catatonic trance, and inject him with drugs to snap him out of it.
The drugs cause Pink to hallucinate, causing him to believe that he is a fascist dictator, and that his concert has become a hate rally, in which the melody of In the Flesh is recreated as a military march by a fanfare plus church organ with Wagnerian overtones. Upon his orders, Pink's followers proceed to tear apart the houses and restaurants of minorities and generally destroy everything in their path. At the climax of his rule, Pink's conscience finally rebels. In the final sequence, Pink goes before a bizarre kangaroo court trial, shown entirely in animation. 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, schoolmaster and wife, decrees that Pink should be "exposed before [his] peers" and orders him to "tear down [his] Wall."
[edit] History
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. EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept.[2]
Director Alan Parker, a fan of Pink Floyd, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer.[3] Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Roger in the role of Pink, after screen tests, Roger was removed from the starring role.[4] and replaced with the edgy punk musician Bob Geldof.
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.[5]
[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] Video release and rights issues
The film was originally released on VHS and LaserDisc on the former MGM/UA Home Video in 1983[citation needed], and continued on with what became MGM Home Entertainment until around 2000 (it was originally not part of MGM's pre-1986 library acquired by Turner Entertainment). The following year, after Turner merged with Time Warner, the film was incorporated into Turner's holdings, but since Sony Music had, by that time, owned some rights to the film (along with Roger Waters' production company, Tin Blue, Ltd., and music publishing company Kimbridge Music), the video rights were transferred from MGM to Sony Music Video, and all current video releases are from Sony Music[citation needed]. However, Warner Bros. (via Turner) remains the television and theatrical rights holder for the film[citation needed].
[edit] Production and reception
Song changes from album:
- When the Tigers Broke Free 1 - added
- In the Flesh? - extended/re-mixed/lead vocal re-recorded by Geldof
- The Thin Ice - extended/re-mixed with additional piano overdub in second verse
- Another Brick in the Wall 1 - unchanged
- When the Tigers Broke Free 2 - added
- Goodbye Blue Sky - re-mixed (moved positions)
- The Happiest Days of Our Lives - re-mixed
- Another Brick in the Wall 2 - re-mixed with extra lead guitar
- Mother - re-recorded completely with exception of guitar solo/lyrics changed
- Empty Spaces - deleted, in favor of:
- What Shall We Do Now? - added
- Young Lust - unchanged but with screams added and phone call part removed
- One of My Turns - re-mixed
- Don't Leave Me Now - shortened
- Another Brick in the Wall 3- re-recorded completely at a faster tempo
- Goodbye Cruel World - unchanged
- Hey You - not included
- Is There Anybody Out There? - classical guitar re-recorded
- Nobody Home - vocals re-mixed
- Vera - unchanged
- Bring the Boys Back Home - re-recorded completely with brass band and Welsh male voice choir/extended, Roger Waters' lead vocals removed
- Comfortably Numb - re-mixed with screams added/bass line partially different from album
- The Show Must Go On - not included
- In the Flesh - re-recorded completely with brass band and Geldof on lead vocal
- Run Like Hell - re-mixed/shortened
- Waiting for the Worms - shortened but with extended coda
- Stop - re-recorded completely featuring Geldof unaccompanied on lead vocal Note: The audio in the background of this scene is of Gary Yudman's Introduction from the Wall Live at Earl's Court.
- The Trial - re-mixed
- Outside the Wall - re-recorded completely with brass band and Welsh male voice choir/extended
The only songs from the album not used in the film are Hey You and The Show Must Go On. Most of the Hey You footage was later edited into the film, and raw footage of the intact sequence was first made available on the DVD release as a deleted scene. Roger Waters has expressed dissatisfaction with the final product of the film[citation needed], and is reported[weasel words] 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.
David Gilmour stated (on both the In the Studio with Redbeard episodes of A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) 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.
[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.
- ^ 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
- Pink Floyd The Wall at the Internet Movie Database
- Pink Floyd The Wall at Rotten Tomatoes
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