One-Trick Pony | |
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Directed by | Robert M. Young |
Written by | Paul Simon |
Produced by | Michael Tannen |
Starring | Paul Simon Blair Brown Rip Torn Joan Hackett |
Cinematography | Dick Bush |
Edited by | Edward Beyer Barry Malkin David Ray |
Music by | Paul Simon |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $843,215 [1] |
One-Trick Pony is a 1980 feature film written by and starring Paul Simon and directed by Robert M. Young. It also stars Blair Brown, Rip Torn, Joan Hackett, Mare Winningham, Michael Pearlman, Lou Reed, and Allen Garfield (credited under his birth name, Allen Goorwitz). [2] Receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film bombed at the box office.
The song "Late in the Evening" from the film's soundtrack hit number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the title song peaked at number 40. [3] After years of being available only on videocassette and laserdisc, One-Trick Pony was released by Warner Bros. on DVD in 2009. [4]
Paul Simon plays Jonah Levin, a once-popular folk-rock musician who has not had a hit in ten years, and now opens for bands like the B-52's (Levin's bandmates are played by musicians Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, Tony Levin, and Richard Tee, all of whom similarly backed Simon on One-Trick Pony's soundtrack album). He is trying to record a new album, but faces a number of obstacles, including an indifferent record-company executive (Rip Torn) who is pressuring him to create a hit record with the help of a trendy producer (Lou Reed). Jonah is also trying to restore his relationship with his estranged wife, Marion (Blair Brown), and young son, Matty (Michael Pearlman). [5]
The title derives from a colloquial American expression meaning a person specializing in only one area, having only one talent, or of limited ability. [6] [7]
The film is not considered autobiographical, though the story makes use some of Simon's experiences in the music business. [8] There has been some disagreement on the story's underpinning. Biographer Laura Jackson felt that the film may have been based on experiences in Simon's professional and personal life, [9] though Dave Marsh in a Rolling Stone review saw similarities with Simon's personality, but not with his life and career. [10] However, the character of Walter Fox, the record company executive portrayed by Rip Torn, is regarded as reflecting some of Simon's experiences in moving away from CBS Records, his former label, in the 1970s. [10] (Simon went to Warner Bros. Records at the time of the film's release. The label, at the time owned by the film's distributor, acquired the masters of Simon's CBS catalog that same year.) The film featured one of the last appearances of the original members of The Lovin' Spoonful, in a simulated TV show appearance.
The Paul Simon album One-Trick Pony was released concurrently with the movie. All of the songs on the album are featured in the film, though some are presented with a slightly different mix, such as "Jonah", which features a harmonica solo (probably by Toots Thielemans) that is missing from the album version. The film also features "Soft Parachutes", Jonah Levin's sole hit as a recording artist, which is included as a bonus track on the album's 2004 reissue.
Reviews for the film were mixed. Writing in the New York Times , critic Janet Maslin called the movie "an odd mixture of inordinately graceful touches and sweeping, clumsy ones". [5] Stephen Holden in Rolling Stone called it "a morose little art film". [11] However, critic Roger Ebert praised the film as "a wonderful movie, an affectionate character study with a lot of good music in it". [12] The film was commercially unsuccessful, grossing less than $900,000 [1] despite a budget of $8 million. [13]
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter. He is one of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century, with a career spanning six decades. He is among the most acclaimed musicians in popular music and one of the world's best-selling music artists, noted both for his solo work and work with Art Garfunkel. He and his schoolfriend Garfunkel, whom he met 1956, came to prominence in the 1960s as Simon & Garfunkel. Their blend of folk and rock, in hits such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "America" and "The Boxer", served as a soundtrack to the counterculture movement. Their final album before disbanding, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), is among the bestselling of all time.
John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and scored a U.S. No. 1 hit in 1976 with "Welcome Back."
Hearts and Bones is the sixth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was released in 1983 by Warner Bros. Records.
Anthony Frederick Levin is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (1981–2021) and Peter Gabriel. He is also a member of Liquid Tension Experiment, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (1998–2000) and HoBoLeMa (2008–2010). He has led his own band, Stick Men, since 2010.
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Marsh Turner in Cross Creek (1983). Torn's portrayal of Artie the producer on The Larry Sanders Show received six Emmy Award nominations, winning in 1996. He also won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Series, and two CableACE Awards for his work on the show. Torn is also known for his roles as Zed in the Men in Black franchise (1997–2002) and Patches O'Houlihan in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004).
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer, received an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007.
Miracle Mile is a 1988 American apocalyptic thriller drama film written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt and starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. The film depicts the panic surrounding a supposed doomsday brought on by a sudden outbreak of war and its oncoming nuclear holocaust. The story takes place in a single day and mostly in real-time. It is titled after the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles where most of the events take place.
Georgia is a 1995 American independent film directed by Ulu Grosbard. It follows a barroom punk singer who has a complicated relationship with her older sister.
Stephen Kendall Gadd is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. Gadd's performances on Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "Late in the Evening" and Steely Dan's "Aja" are examples of his style. He has worked with other popular musicians from many genres including Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Eric Clapton and Michel Petrucciani.
Mary Megan Winningham, known professionally as Mare Winningham, is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Tony Awards.
One-Trick Pony is the fifth solo studio album by Paul Simon released in 1980. It was Simon's first album for Warner Bros. Records, and his first new studio album since 1975's Still Crazy After All These Years. His back catalog from Columbia Records would also move to Warner Bros. as a result of his signing with the label.
"Soft Parachutes" is a song written by Paul Simon and performed in his 1980 film One-Trick Pony. The song is reminiscent of his early material, which covered issues such as war and the civil rights movement. The song was written for the film, in which Simon's character, Jonah Levin, is asked to play his anti-war ballad "Soft Parachutes" at a reunion show of 1960s stars. The song is available on the soundtrack reissue of One-Trick Pony.
Richard Edward Tee was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", "Slip Slidin' Away", "Just the Two of Us", "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow ", "Crackerbox Palace", "Tell Her About It", "Don't Give Up" and many others.
Hugh Carmine McCracken was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally an arranger and record producer.
Steve Boone is an American bass guitarist and music producer, best-known as a member of the American folk-rock group the Lovin' Spoonful. Steve co-wrote two of the groups' biggest hits, "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" and "Summer in the City".
"Late in the Evening" is a song by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the lead single from his fifth studio album, One-Trick Pony (1980), released on Warner Bros. Records.
Paul Simon in Concert is a live concert video recording by Paul Simon and his touring band, recorded in Philadelphia during his 1980 tour in support of his One-Trick Pony album.
One-Trick Pony may refer to:
One Bad Habit is a vocal album by Michael Franks, released in 1980 by Warner Bros. Records. It was Franks' sixth studio album and the first to receive significant radio play in the United States.
In the Blue Light is the fourteenth solo studio album by American folk rock singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Produced by Paul Simon and Roy Halee, it was released on September 7, 2018, through Legacy Recordings. The album consists of re-recordings of lesser-known songs from Simon's catalog, often altering their original arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics. The songs were recorded with guests including the instrumental ensemble yMusic, guitarist Bill Frisell, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and Bryce Dessner. The album's title is a reference to the lyrics in the song "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns" from the 1980 album One-Trick Pony.