Hair

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

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The Age of Aquarius is brought to life by the filmmaker who made Amadeus a household word. Milos Forman directed this version of James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot’s landmark musical in 1979 between his Oscar-winning films One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus. With mixed reviews (Gene Siskel named it that year’s best film) and lukewarm box-office grosses, the film all but disappeared from the collective consciousness. Yet the film beautifully delivers on its promise to bring the ‘60s back to life. Hair re-creates a colorful world of counterculture finding an anvil to pound on: the Vietnam War. Forman and his design team allow the film to wash over you, starting at the free-flowing opening in which masses of hippies, police, and even their horses eagerly groove to the familiar beat of “Aquarius.” In the best work of his career, Treat Williams makes his leading- man debut as Berger, the leader of the Central Park troop who takes draftee Claude (John Savage) under his wing on his trip through New York City and the apex of what the ‘60s was. The new recording of the music is quite fine, with Chicago band member Don Dacus’s rendition of the title song a highlight. As Berger’s pièce de résistance number says, “I’ve Got Life”; so does the film, right down to its poignant declaration to “let the sunshine in.” —Doug Thomas

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Milos Forman’s 1979 film of the 1968 musical Hair is far more watchable than it has any right to be. Controversial though the original stage version might have been at the time, it has not dated well. It was written back when most people thought the Vietnam War was a good idea and long hair on men a signifier of a hopelessly corrupt society, rather than the other way around. By the time the belated movie adaptation arrived attitudes had changed, and what made Hair so unique had become commonplace. However, the exuberance of the performances (led by Treat Williams) and the enduring appeal of some of the songs makes this movie version of Hair, even today, entirely impossible to dislike. —Andrew Mueller