Based on the ground-breaking 1968 Broadway musical of the same name, Hair was long considered unfilmable. Under the guidance of noted director Milos Foreman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus) Hair made it to the big screen in 1979. An attempt to recapture the flower children, anti- peace movements, and rebellious youth of the late sixties, the story feels outdated, its music as timeworn as its characters. Still, the choreography is inventive, and the film holds a special place in the hearts of many.
The film’s thin plot involves an Oklahoma farm boy, Claude (John Savage), traveling to New York City to join the army, and serve in the Vietnam War. Why he has to travel all the way from Oklahoma to New York in order to joint up is never explained, but it gives Claude a few unscheduled days in the big city. He meets a group of hippies in Central Park, led by a fellow named Berger (Treat Williams), and including blonde, easy-going Woof (Don Dacus), pregnant flower child Jeannie Ryan (Annie Golden), and angry, righteous Lafayette, also known as “Hud,” (Dorsey Wright). Before long, the conservative Claude finds himself entangled in the groups hijinks, and in love with a society girl, Sheila (Beverly D’Angelo), who seems eager to break out of the upper class conventions under which she lives.
Not a lot of notable things happen in the film, except lots of singing and dancing. If you don’t care for the music, which I admit isn’t my cup of tea, there isn’t much to see here. Familiar songs include: “Age of Aquarius,” “Donna,” “Got Life,” “Manchester England,” “Ain’t Got No,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Let the Sun Shine In,” “Easy To Be Hard” and of course, “Hair.” Some of the songs are undeniably catchy, watching the film today; I couldn’t help but feel like many of them didn’t really capture anything important. I realize I could be all wet, because I know people who still count this soundtrack among film history’s best.
From a story perspective, Hair lacks a strong central character. Screenwriter Michael Weller (Ragtime) seemingly couldn’t decide between Claude and Berger. As a result, both characters are never fully developed, and neither generates any sympathy. We don’t particularly care what happens to them, which takes the sting out of the ending. An ending that’s so unbelievable, that it might not illicit much sympathy even if we did care about the characters.
What might have seemed outrageous in 1967—some brief nudity, a few risqué words—seemed ordinary when the film was released in 1979, seems innocent in 2011. If you’re not a massive fan of musicals, skip this one. Hair fans will be pleased that the film has finally made it to Blu-ray.
Presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio, it seems as though MGM hasn’t done much to clean things up. Hair exhibits specs and dust throughout. While the opening scene shows its age, with washed out colors and notable softness, things get better when the action moves to Central Park. Sharpness and color improve even black levels even out a bit. Flesh tones look accurate, though this is far from a reference quality release.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix presents the score fairly well, though the volume level seems a bit reduced. The orchestra and choral ensembles occupy both fronts and rears during the musical numbers with solo singers (as well as the well recorded dialogue) occupying the center channel. Not a lot has been done with ambient sounds throughout, but there are fleeting instances of surround activity. There are no problematic age-related artifacts to mar the audio experience.
Subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish and French.
The only special feature is the Theatrical Trailer in HD.
