"It was fun."
"Cuz, they make you feel cool, and hey I met you. You, are not cool."
Most of Cameron Crowe’s films are memorable for one reason or another. His first film “Say Anything…” had that great Peter Gabriel song and the iconic John Cusack pose. You know the one, where he’s holding that enormous boom box over his head, playing, well, that great Peter Gabriel song. Next was “Singles” whose soundtrack was on everyone’s CD player in the early 90’s. Next up was “Jerry Maguire” something about showing somebody the money comes to mind. After that, there were not so many memorable films like “Vanilla Sky” which I still enjoy and the much underrated “Elizabethtown”. However in the fall of 2000, Crowe gave us the film that he was destined to make, mostly because he lived it. “Almost Famous” is my favorite movie about a fictional band. Now there are real band movies, like “Eddie and the Cruisers”, “The Commitments”, and of course “This is Spinal Tap”. And to be fair this is a film about a boy walking into a grown up world, filled with people who haven’t quite grown up themselves. But this story of William Miller and his time on tour with the band Stillwater in 1973 is something special and there is no other band movie like it.
The film
opens with an almost baby Michael Angarano (Sky High, Red State) as young
William Miller and his mother played by the brilliant Frances McDormand (Fargo)
who is a very independent school teacher who pounds in education and the
non-commercialization of all things America into her children. This causes William’s older sister Anita
(Zooey Deschanel) to leave home to become a stewardess. Next we find a 15 year-old William now played
by newcomer Patrick Fugit, who has aspirations of being a great Rock writer, or
Rock journalist like the almost famous Lester Bangs who steals every scene he’s
in, and why not he’s played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. William stumbles his way into writing a piece
on the up and coming band Stillwater for Rolling Stone Magazine. This gets him involved in the world of 70’s
touring. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Young
William is like a beacon of innocent light that shines around the dark edges of
the almost famous band Stillwater which consists of the power duo of Russell
and Jeff brought to magnificent light by Billy Crudup (Big Fish) and Jason Lee
(Chasing Amy) respectively. Also in the
mix is almost famous and semi-retired Kate Hudson in her breakout role as the original
(not groupie), ‘Band-aid’ Penny Lane. As
William struggles to get his interview with the band as they hop from city to
city, he learns lessons of life and love that will change him forever… almost.
I can’t say
enough how perfect this movie is. The
original music, the acting, the writing, the memorable scenes throughout, all of
it is amazing to me. Then I saw the
“Bootleg Cut”, or “Untitled” as it’s known by its original title. This version, which can be found on both DVD
and BluRay is an extra 36 minutes of awesome!
Anymore time spent in this semi-fictional world is time well spent. The
character of Penny Lane is expanded, you get more scenes with the band, all of
Jason Lee’s stuff is gold, you get more of the unrecognizable Jimmy Fallon and
you get more fantastic scenes like this one with William and Polexia, an 18
year-old Anna Paquin:
Polexia-Do
you smoke?
William-
No… But, I grow it.
Polexia-
You’re funny. If only you were taller,
and English, and rich, and a guitar-player, and older.
William- I’d
be somebody else.
Polexia-
Good point.
That’s just
a taste of what’s on that version of the film, and I’ve seen it so often, I
forgot what the old version was missing, I only watch the “Bootleg Cut” as
should you. If you like the movie you’ll
love it after you see the way Crowe intended.
Plus you get a bonus cut scene where you can play along “Stairway to
Heaven” in its entirety. And if nothing
else you get to see one of the best scenes in any movie. Ever…
--Robert L.
Castillo
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