The A Mighty Wind soundtrack is cool because it has several songs by the cast that are not included in the film. The Folksmen’s rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” is a highlight.
By the way, I know “dog people” who loved Best in Show. There is a lot of truth in it, same as with the other Guest films.
Not counting Spinal Tap, I’d rate Best in Show tops. I can’t look at a dog show with a straight face every again. 
But I also liked the other Guest films.
Reiner pretty much invented this mockumentary genre (unless you count Zelig – same idea, but it was scripted. Same with Take the Money and Run, which also had a documentary format, but again, not ad libbed) and Guest seems to be the only one continuing it. About the the only other example of the genre I can think of was Rusty Cundlieff’s Fear of a Black Hat (I haven’t seen it, but would love to – it’s Spinal Tap with a rap band).
It’s very difficult to do. Guest is lucky to have a stock company of talented improvisers.
Guffman has the worst example of this of all. I’m thinking of the scene where Corky quits and the crew runs to his house and bangs on his door. Then he’s shown soaking in his bathtub ignoring them.
Haj
I had a passing a passing acquaintance with dog people who ran field trials with borzois, whippets and greyhounds years ago, and wondered about this very point after seeing BIS recently. I thought any dog person with a sense of humor would have loved this movie.
What I love about these movies is that Guest and company straddle a line between laughing at the foilbles of these people, while not laughing at what they take seriously.
The best story about Best in Show is among the trivia at the IMDB:
They used real show dogs for the movie. The owners of the poodle pulled the dog from the film when they discovered it wasn’t going to win. Guest had to find a substitute dog.
That’s why Guest is so reluctant to use the term “mockumentary” to describe his films. He knows there are people out there like this, and he wants you to love his characters and their faults, as opposed to mocking them.
My favorite is Best in Show. I’ve been a sucker for dogs all my life, so that’s partly why I like that one so much. The Parker Posey/Michael Hitchcock couple depresses me, though; I definitely see my parents reflected in some of their interactions.
My friend and I always perform “A Penny for Your Thoughts” from Waiting for Guffman whenever we see each other.
So is there no script at all, save for a general outline of where Guest wants the story to go? That must make for some really tricky acting!
For example, the scene in AMW where Steinbloom is talking to Lars Olfen, the PBN producer: Olfen peppers his speech with a bunch of Yiddish/Hebrew (“The nachas that I’m feeling right now - because your dad, he’s like meshpoche to me…”). It’s a wonder that the actor playing Steinbloom didn’t collapse into giggles when they were filming.
They mention something like this in the commentary track - even though it had been explained that this was just a movie, at least one of the “competitors” was mad that their dog didn’t place higher/didn’t win. Further attempts at describing the nature of the film, that a particular dog wins because it’s in their script, etc. weren’t much help.
I’m not sure how their group does it, but I know that other people who do improv-style (with an outline script) will do rehearsals beforehand. The script tells them what needs to be accomplished in each scene, the actors have a go at it, and come up with decent ideas for lines and other stuff. When they finally get in front of the camera, some scenes might well be “set” beforehand and be acted much as the last rehearsal went, while others will have more flexibility.
I’ve done a lot of improv in college and one of the first things you have to learn is how not to laugh at your fellow performers. These guys are pros. They might break up occaisionally, but in general it shouldn’t be a problem. If it is, they could always do a take two since it’s filmed, but on stage you just have to cover as best you can. And a second take may make it difficult to recapture the funny.
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I am seriously enamored with “A Mighty Wind.”
Is Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest, Catherine O’Hara, etc. as talented as they seem in this movie? Did they perform live as they seemed to? Can anyone point me to a site that gives all of the details?
BTW, I was completely floored that Nigel Tufnel of “Tap” is Christopher Guest and also Alan Barrows in “AMW”, among others. He’s even in “Princess Bride”…
I actually rented out “Best in Show” two nights ago after hearing about it for years (all positive). I had never previously scene any of the other Guest films (except a few snipets over the years).
I really really enjoyed it. I cannot wait to see the others.
Back around 1985, when everybody was doing musical benefits for famine victims in East Africa, Black Sabbath/Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio put together a heavy metal benefit project called (groan) “Hearing Aid.” He insvited loads of famous heavy metal acts to take part in it, and he actually invited Spinal Tap to take part.
According to Mike McKean and Harry Shearer (who did agree to take part), all the real heavy metal stars kept approaching them, saying they LOVED the movie! They all told their own funny stories of stage props that didn’t work correctly, of disastrous gigs, and backstage mishaps (apparenly, every band under the sun has gotten lost in stadium tunnels at one time or another!).
I was hoping this bump meant someone has news of a new Guest movie. >_< Now look at me I’m FREAKING OUT. WHERE’S MY BUSY BEE?!?
Any film news geeks around here? Anyone know if he’s working on a new one?
I have known several people who thought Best in Show was for real.
For my husband and me, the biggest laugh associated with A Mighty Wind came a week after we saw it. We had on PBS and there was a Smothers Brothers/ Folkie special on that was almost exactly like the one in the movie!
Also, we had to make a rule in our house: Kindergarten Caricci is not allowed to sing Big Bottom around his little friends. He totally thinks Spinal Tap is a real band.
We didn’t care for Guffman.
My friends and I regularly perform “A Penny for Your Thoughts” for each other, complete with the awkward dying swan pose at the end. And we do Corky’s weird version of the running man as well. Yeah, we’re dorks.
Well Christopher Guest was a one-time news anchor and regular cast member on Saturday Night Live who made a brief film with Billy Crystal playing the Minckman brothers, inventor of gag gifts (fake vomit, etc).
Harry Shearer was also a regular on SNL at this time and was in a brief filmed ‘mockumentary’ on the show with Martin Short as two pioneers seeking to get Men’s Synchronized Swimming accepted into the Olympics (one of my all-time favorite skits).
Mike McKean, at one time most famous for playing on “Laverne & Shirley”, had two seasons on SNL.
Fred Willard costarred with Martin Mull on Norman Lear’s attempt at an improv show, “Fernwood 2Nite”. For your trivia needs, he has also recently been a ‘regular’ on SNL, as the narrator of the otherwise atrocious skits “Bear City”.
Sneaking this in, but Bryan Doyle-Murray, who was in Waiting for Guffman had a couple of seasons on SNL (you may remember him better as the mayor in Groundhog Day, which featured his only slightly more famous brother, Bill).
Not live, but I think someone mentioned that Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara were regulars on the sketch comedy show, SCTV (which coincidentally featured Martin Short).
I love them all, but BIS is my favorite. No doubt because I used to show dogs and yes, the cast has many of the dog show types nailed.
My favorite is the character played by Parker Posey.
Fred Willard is a dead-on Joe Garagelo - who used to do color for Westminster.
My kids now scream “Go get busy bee” at each other" fequently.
This was supposedly on TV Guide’s website recently (copied from another board; if someone who’s registered can confirm, that’d be great):
I think his Has-Been films (Tap, Wind) are much better than his Never-Were films (Show, Guffman). This will be hitting things closest to home (the movie business) so I hope he doesn’t pull any punches.
Christopher Guest was also one of the driving forces, along with Michael O’Donoghue and John Belushi, of the National Lampoon Radio Hour in the 1970s. As you could imagine, Guest wrote a lot of song parodies and music-related sketches. Rhino has a several-hour “best of” set available that’s well worth buying.