Hair (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Hair is a 1979 American musical anti-war comedy-drama film based on the 1968 Broadway musical Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical about a Vietnam War draftee who meets and befriends a "tribe" of hippies on his way to the army induction center. The hippies introduce him to marijuana, LSD and their environment of unorthodox relationships and draft evasion.
The film was directed by Miloš Forman (who was nominated for a César Award for his work on the film) and adapted for the screen by Michael Weller (who would collaborate with Forman on a second picture, Ragtime, two years later). Cast members include John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, Annie Golden, Dorsey Wright, Don Dacus, Cheryl Barnes and Ronnie Dyson. Dance scenes were choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and were performed by the Tharp's dancers. The film was nominated for two Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture (for Williams).
Plot
Hair is a rock musical focusing on the lives of two young men against the backdrop of the hippie counterculture of the Vietnam era. Claude Hooper Bukowski is a naive Oklahoman sent off to New York City after being drafted by the Army ("Age Of Aquarius"). Before his draft board-appointment, Claude starts a self-guided tour of New York, where he encounters a close-knit "tribe" of hippies led by George Berger. As Claude looks on, the hippies panhandle from a trio of horseback riders including Sheila Franklin, a debutante from Short Hills, New Jersey ("Sodomy"). Claude later catches and mounts a runaway horse, which the hippies have rented, and with which Claude exhibits his riding skills to Sheila ("Donna"). Claude then returns the horse to Berger, who offers to show him around.
That evening, Claude gets stoned on marijuana with Berger and the tribe. He is then introduced to various race and class issues of the 1960s ("Hashish", "Colored Spade", "Manchester", "I'm Black/Ain't Got No"). The next morning, Berger finds a newspaper clipping which gives Sheila's address in Short Hills, New Jersey. The tribe members—LaFayette "Hud" Johnson, Jeannie Ryan (who is pregnant), and "Woof Dacshund"—crash a private dinner party to introduce Claude to Sheila, who secretly enjoys the disruption of her rigid environment ("I Got Life"). After Berger and company are arrested, Claude uses his last $50 to bail Berger out of jail—where Woof's refusal to have his hair cut leads into the title song of the soundtrack ("Hair").
When Sheila is unable to borrow any money from her father, Berger returns to his parents' home. His mother gives him enough cash to bail out his friends. They subsequently attend a peace rally in Central Park, where Claude drops acid for the first time ("Initials", "Electric Blues/Old Fashioned Melody", "Be In"). Just as Jeannie proposes marriage to Claude, in order to keep him out of the Army, Sheila shows up to apologize. Claude's "trip" reflects his inner conflict over which of three worlds he fits in with: his own native Oklahoman farm culture, Sheila's upper-class society, or the hippies' free-wheeling environment.
After snapping out of his acid trip, Claude has a falling-out with Berger and the tribe members, ostensibly due to a practical joke they pull on Sheila (taking her clothes while she's skinny-dipping, which forces her to hail a taxi in just her panties), but also due to their philosophical differences over the war in Vietnam—and over personal versus communal responsibility. After wandering the city ("Where Do I Go?"), Claude finally reports to the draft board (“Black Boys/White Boys”), completes his enlistment, and is shipped off to Nevada for basic training.
It's now Winter in New York when Claude writes to Sheila from Nevada ("Walking In Space"). She, in turn, shares the news with Berger and his friends. Berger devises a scheme to visit Claude in Nevada. Meanwhile, Hud's fiancée—with whom he has a son, LaFayette Jr.—wants to marry as they had apparently planned to earlier ("Easy To Be Hard"). The tribe members trick Sheila's brother Steve out of his car, then head west to visit Claude.
Arriving at the Army training center where Claude is stationed ("Three-Five-Zero-Zero", "Good Morning Starshine"), the hippies are turned away...ostensibly because the base is on alert, but also because the MP on duty doesn't like their looks. (The MP also assumes a condescending attitude toward Berger, caricaturing his perceived vernacular.) Sometime later, Sheila chats up army sergeant Fenton at a local bar. She lures the sergeant, with intimations of sex, to an isolated desert road, acquiring his uniform. The hippies steal Fenton's car, and Berger cuts his hair and puts on the uniform (symbolically becoming a responsible adult), then drives the sergeant's car onto the Army base. He finds Claude and offers to take his place for the next headcount so that Claude can meet Sheila and the others for a going-away picnic they're having for him in the desert.
As fate would have it, just after a disguised Claude slips away to the picnic, the base becomes fully activated with immediate ship-outs for Vietnam. Berger's ruse is never discovered; clearly horrified at the prospect of joining the war, he is herded onto the plane to be shipped out. Claude arrives back to see the barracks empty and frantically runs after Berger's plane but is unable to reach it before it takes off for Southeast Asia ("The Flesh Failures").
Months later, Claude, Sheila, and the tribe gather around Berger's grave in Arlington National Cemetery, whose grave marker shows that he was killed in Vietnam. As "Let the Sunshine In" plays, they mourn the loss of their friend. The movie ends with what appears to be a full-scale peace-protest in Washington, D.C.
Cast
- John Savage as Claude Hooper Bukowski
- Treat Williams as George Berger
- Beverly D'Angelo as Sheila Franklin
- Annie Golden as Jeannie Ryan
- Dorsey Wright as LaFayette "Hud" Johnson
- Don Dacus as Woof Daschund
- Nell Carter as Central Park singer ("Ain't Got No" and "White Boys")
- Cheryl Barnes as Hud's fiancée
- Richard Bright as Sergeant Fenton
- Ellen Foley as Black Boys lead singer
- Miles Chapin as Steve, Sheila’s brother
- Charlotte Rae as Lady in Pink
- Laurie Beechman as Black Boys singer
- Nicholas Ray as the General
- Antonia Rey as Berger's Mother
- Geogre J. Manos as Berger's Father
- Michael Jeter as Woodrow Sheldon
- Renn Woods as The Girl with Flowers (Singer of "Aquarius")
- David Rose as the Acid King (uncredited part)