'Spice World' another take on rock-band movies

February 4, 1998
Web posted at: 10:53 p.m. EST (0353 GMT)

From Correspondent Mark Scheerer

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Spice Girls' new movie "Spice World" continued to hold its own at the box office last weekend, earning $7 million and taking fourth place overall in box office returns, according to industry figures.

It is not the first film to be based on a hot rock or pop group and star the group. "Spice World" reminded just about everybody of the Beatles' 1964 film debut "A Hard Day's Night" -- that is, everybody except the Spice Girls themselves.

"I don't think you can make comparisons, do you?" asked Melanie Chisholm (aka "Sporty Spice"), who said she had seen the Beatles film "a long time ago."

"I know people have," she continued. "But I don't really think that you can."

Of course, the Beatles were all men -- no "girl power" there -- and their first movie was in black and white. But "A Hard Day's Night" and its color follow-up, "Help," became the standards by which all other rock films are judged.

"The Beatles brought a certain wit and cleverness along with the director, Richard Lester, that I don't think you're going to find in 'Spice World,'" said SPIN film critic Steve Erickson.

Honing a public image

Having a rock group portray itself in a movie allows for a narrative structure, however slight, plus plenty of what the fans come to see: performances.

It can also help the bands remold their public image.

Take, for example, the 1968 film "Head," featuring the Monkees. It was meant to show the prefabricated Beatles knockoffs as hipper than their initial image. It had a pretty hip pedigree in its co-writers, director Bob Rafelson and an up-and-coming young actor named Jack Nicholson.

The Sex Pistols went the documentary route in "The Great Rock & Roll Swindle," in which the punk band's creator, Malcolm McLaren, revealed his secrets of media hype.

View the full trailer 2 min. VXtreme video

Scene from the movie 3.7MB/47 sec./240x180 1.8MB/47 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie

And before she became famous for her Brooklyn-accented "Nanny," Fran Drescher had a cameo in the 1984 mock rock documentary "This Is Spinal Tap." The film chronicled a bad rock band's attempts to land a record deal, and their satirically disastrous touring escapades. Since Spinal Tap was a fictional band, and the movie was intended to be a parody, there was no danger that the film would hurt its subjects' reputation.

Bands' priority: A filmmaker who understands them

But for real bands, finding the filmmaker who can do them justice on the big screen can be crucial to the film's success.

"They have to have a sense of the personality of the band," Erickson said, "and they have to have a sense of the audience of the band."

Film critics savaged director Ken Russell's work in the movie version of The Who's rock opera "Tommy," in which The Who and Eric Clapton both appeared.

But many consider the 1980 movie "Can't Stop the Music" to be one of the worst music films ever. Steve Guttenberg, Bruce Jenner and Valerie Perrine made appearances in the movie, which purported to tell the story of the rise of the Village People, who played themselves.

Even in its awfulness, however, it did prove that you can't stop the music -- or the movies about it.

Related stories:

• Spice Girls may be knocked off charts by singing parrot - November 11, 1997
• Spice Girls get dolled up - October 16, 1997
• Too much Spice Girls? - October 12, 1997
• Spice Girls to Charles: Oh, you're so sexy - May 10, 1997

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Internet Movie Database (US)
  • Spice World (1997)
• Spice World (official)
• Virgin Records
  • Official Spice Girls web site

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

---

 

---

Sound off on our message boards & chat

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.