This is Spinal Tap

(1984 USA Rob Reiner)

Rob Reiner’s directorial debut may not have invented the concept of a ‘mockumentary,’ but it certainly proved to be a successful recipe for humor, laying the groundwork for virtually the entire directorial career of one of the film’s stars, Christopher Guest.

Spinal Tap, a fictitious British heavy metal band, is on tour, promoting their latest album “Smell the Glove.” As in any documentary we have interviews, archival recordings and live concert clips. What starts out so optimistically gradually goes south, as the band has problems with the album cover and stage props, but what seals the deal is when David’s girlfriend, (the Yoko Ono of the story), shows up and begins assuming an ever-increasing role in the management of the band. Nigel, the other co-founder of Spinal Tap, has
never gotten on well with her, and things just go from bad to worse.

The songs are funny, particularly the older clips, as the band was experimenting with musical fads of the 60’s and 70’s, before finding their niche as one of Britain’s loudest bands. Though the four leads are all credited as co-writers, the film was almost completely ad-libbed. Participants were provided a brief outline of what the scene was about, then the cameras started rolling and the actors began riffing on the spot. The cinematographer, (who didn’t understand why people thought it was a comedy), filmed over 100 hours of footage, which then had to be whittled down by three editors. The final product so closely resembles actual documentaries like “Don’t Look Back” and “The Last Waltz” that, originally, many film-goers believed it to be a real band, despite obvious cameos by Billy Crystal, Fred Willard, Howard Hesseman and many many more, which may have been the cause of its lackluster box office numbers.

Once it came out on video, it quickly became a cult hit, with a boatload of quotable lines. “These go to 11.” “There’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.” One of my favorites was when Nigel was dissatisfied with the catering. After bitching about the cocktail bread slices, he looks at some stuffed olives,
“Who’s in here? No one. And then in here, there’s a little guy, so, it’s… it’s a complete catastrophe.”

Trivia: In the 60’s, the film’s two future stars met in real life and played music together. The incident in Cleveland, where the band got lost looking for the stage door, was based on a real-life incident where Tom Petty couldn’t find the stage and ended up on an indoor tennis court.