IF you love movies and you love music, then there's nothing better than movies about music. The world of rock 'n' roll is an ideal breeding ground for film. Where there's rock, there's often passion, drama and tension - all key ingredients in great cinema. Here are five excellent narrative films about rock and pop. The list doesn't include any documentaries and concert films. We've saved them for another list at a later date.
< i>A Hard Day's Night (1964)
IN 1964, The Beatles were everwhere - on the radio, on TV, on your lunchbox and, with the release of A Hard Day's Night, in cinemas. Richard Lester's film captures the manic spirit of Beatlemania wonderfully, especially in the opening scenes where the band find themselves chased through the streets. It also captured the Fab Four as four likeable Liverpudlian's perplexed by the mayhem around them. Heavy with humour, particular courtesy of Paul's "grandfather'' (Wilfrid Brambell), the movie not only summed up their hectic lifestyle, but it was also hugely influential on rock movies. And then there are the songs - the title track, Can't Buy Me Love, I Wanna Be Your Man, All My Loving, She Loves You and many more.
Here's the first seven minutes of the film:
Almost Famous (2000)
CAMERON Crowe recalled his days as a 15-year-old writing for Rolling Stone magazine in this charming coming-of-age tale. Through the eyes of writer and rock fan William (Patrick Fugit), we get an outsider's insight into the world of '60s rock 'n' roll. He tags along on the tour bus of fictional band Stillwater (a mish-mash of Crowe's time on the road with The Eagles, The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd). All the cliches are here - the groupies, the drugs, the creative differences - and they're shown with humour and heart. But it's William's passion for the music and "Band-Aide'' Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) that drives this quintessential snapshot of a long-gone era of rock.
*****
Also worth checking out, if you get through the other five:
*The sombre tale of Joy Division's Ian Curtis in Control (2008)
*The mythic Bob Dylan vignettes of I'm Not There (2008)
*The downfall of punk in Sid & Nancy (1986)
*Pink Floyd's absurd The Wall (1982)
*The Who's equally absurd rock-opera Tommy (1974)
*Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991)
*Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line (2005)
*The hiliarous music bio-pic send-up Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2008)
*The summary of Manchester's mad music contributions in 24 Hour Party People (2002)
*Eminem playing Eminem in the excellent 8 Mile (2002).
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