This is Spinal Tap
@teamfreak16 (43421)
Denver, Colorado
August 16, 2016 6:16pm CST
Occasionally, I like to break away from music to cover some of my favorite movies, mostly 80's comedies. This time, I get to do both, with Rob Reiner's 1984 rock and roll mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.
Director Marti Di Bergi (Reiner) is filming a documentary about his favorite band, British heavy metal group Spinal Tap, who is undergoing a US tour.
To say that Spinal Tap--guitarist/vocalist David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean,) guitarist/vocalist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest,) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) is unlucky is putting it mildly. What can go wrong, goes hilariously wrong. They get lost backstage in Cleveland. Their Seattle gig gets rescheduled to an Air Force base. Props are a problem all tour long.
In addition to great comedic chemistry between the stars (much of the dialogue was adlibbe,) they also wrote, composed, and performed the music. For this to work, the music had to be good, and it was. Meanwhile, there are laughs aplenty.
Look for lots of cameo's, including Billy Crystal, Fred Willard, and Paul Shafer.
Kudos to Rob Reiner for making this 80's comedy classic!
8 people like this
6 responses
@msiduri (5687)
• United States
16 Aug 16
I haven't seen this movie for a long time (...I think it WAS the 80s) but it was so funny. It's classic. OK. You've talked me into seeing if I can find it some place. One reason to never date a drummer. Oh, yeah, another is that my husband might be a bit upset.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
16 Aug 16
Dating a Spinal Tap drummer would certainly be a short relationship!
2 people like this
@msiduri (5687)
• United States
17 Aug 16
@teamfreak16 Yeah, but he'd go out with a bang.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
17 Aug 16
@msiduri - If he doesn't die in a bizarre gardening accident first!
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
17 Aug 16
Really? I've probably seen it at least 50 times. Therefore, I can quote most of the movie.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
17 Aug 16
@Ronrybs - I can quote the hell out of Monty Python.
1 person likes this
@Ronrybs (17844)
• London, England
17 Aug 16
@teamfreak16 I do that with Monty Python and Red Dwarf!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (62180)
• United States
16 Aug 16
Ah, the 18" Stonehenge....
And next month, it's McLean Stevenson reads Robert Louis Stevenson!
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
16 Aug 16
"The works of Washington Irving read by someone called Dr. J." Love it!
1 person likes this
@asfarasiknow (3341)
• Bournemouth, England
17 Aug 16
An absolute timeless classic with so many memorable moments and quotable lines. One of my favourites has always been David St. Hubbins saying he believes virtually everything he reads and that makes him a more selective human being. Groundbreaking movie as well: without Spinal Tap there would have been no The Office and so many other mockumentaries.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
17 Aug 16
So many people quote Nigel, but David has a lot of quotable lines as well. They're just not "These go to eleven."
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
17 Aug 16
Another example of the great movies of the 80s!
1 person likes this
