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Guitars in Movies

Wizard of Wailing

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    I posted elsewhere about seeing that scene in Wayne's World where Cassandra remarks excitedly that the '64 Strat has three single coil pickups AND a whammy bar, as if that's a rarity.  Later Wayne plays some arpeggios that sound nothing like Stairway to Heaven, yet is told there will be no Stairway in the guitar store.  Anyway, I can't watch guitar scenes like that in any movie without ranting to my uninterested wife and daughter about the ridiculousness or inaccuracies of the scenes.  Just wondering if there are some guitar scenes in other movies that people on the forum feel compelled to comment on?
 
Computer stuff in movies is far far worse. If you do it right its boring as heck, and people watching have very low expectations.
 
Wizard of Wailing said:
Cassandra remarks excitedly that the '64 Strat has three single coil pickups AND a whammy bar, as if that's a rarity.

I never got that vibe. She was impressed with the features, because not all guitars have single coils or whammy bars. That was basically what made Strats different than other vintage guitars.
 
You say that as if it was he most serious suspension of disbelief up to that point in the movie.
 
    I can suspend disbelief for time travel and Libyan terrorists at the mall, but distortion tone like that in 1955?  That's a bit much.
 
Distortion pedals were given away free with every time travel version of the Deloreans. Marty had one is pocket just in case the situation came up and he needed to use the house amp.
 
    Puppets without real guitars, and Crow is clearly picking behind the bridge on his fake guitar.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhcEXk_pJ9c
 
Wizard of Wailing said:
  Just wondering if there are some guitar scenes in other movies that people on the forum feel compelled to comment on?

Just about every Elvis movie where he does a song. Pathetically unconvincing. No wonder Elvis walked away from doing more of those movies once his contract expired.

Ditto for Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon Beach Party films' musical sequences & Gidget movies that had a song or two in it. All cringeworthy. :help:

 
No kidding. Even the Monkees and the Partridge Family did better.

I remember watching those movies as a kid, and even without knowing jackshit about guitar it was clear they were faking it.

When you can't fool an 8 year old, it's time to re-think what you're doing.
 
I'm a big fan of Top Secret, in which Val Kilmer plays a handsome heartthrob rock star who finds himself caught up in some kind of French Resistance thingy.  The movie intentionally has no regard for history or realism, and so they really play up how ridiculously not-actually-playing-the-guitar ol' Mr. Kilmer is in his singing scenes.


Total guilty pleasure, that movie.


Joe Bob sez, Check it out.
 
Ah well The Monkees had Mike Nesmith & Pete Tork as serious young musos with reputations to protect. So they at least tried to make the miming seem lifelike.  :icon_thumright:

Probably ditto for the Partridge Family with David Cassidy fancying himself as the next Pop Idol of the world & a genuine record contract to boot  :doh: ,  and his Mum, Shirley being a musical actress.

But as a young guy growing up and seeing the repeats of the episodes or those movies on Saturday afternoons, it made my endeavours to be the next rock god of Australia totally belittled... the poor acting was totally beneath my contempt...  :icon_tongue:
 
Re-Pete said:
But as a young guy growing up and seeing the repeats of the episodes or those movies on Saturday afternoons, it made my endeavours to be the next rock god of Australia totally belittled... the poor acting was totally beneath my contempt...  :icon_tongue:

Yeah, but they were motivating. We all knew they weren't the Beatles or the Stones or whoever - they were presented as "us". Joe Sixpack, without the sixpack. If they could do it, anybody could do it! Kinda like inner city kids and basketball. Never mind that only one out of 500,000 makes it - it could be you! If only you had a Gibson...but a Fender was acceptable if you were poor. Then, someday, somebody would recognize how great you were, and give you a pile of Marshall stacks! LOL!
 
Ha ha I get your point. But in reference to them looking like 'us', I never knew anyone's Mum when I was growing up, who looked as hot as Shirley Jones did back then!  :evil4:
 
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