| True Stories | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Byrne |
| Produced by | David Byrne |
| Written by | David Byrne Beth Henley Stephen Tobolowsky |
| Starring | David Byrne John Goodman Spalding Gray Tito Larriva |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | October 10, 1986 |
| Running time | 90 min (USA) |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
True Stories is an American musical film directed by and starring musician David Byrne. Beth Henley (born Elizabeth Becker Henley on May 8, 1952 in Jackson Mississippi) is an American Screenwriter, actress Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is a Tony Award -nominated American Actor. John Stephen Goodman (born June 20 1952 is a Golden Globe - and Emmy -winning American Actor. Spalding Rockwell Gray ( June 5, 1941 &ndash ca January 10, 2004) was an American Actor, Screenwriter, Humberto "Tito" Larriva is a Mexican/American singer musician and actor Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Events 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The musical film is a Film genre in which several Songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative It also stars John Goodman and Swoosie Kurtz, and was released in the US, Canada and Sweden in 1986 (with limited release elsewhere the following year). John Stephen Goodman (born June 20 1952 is a Golden Globe - and Emmy -winning American Actor. Swoosie Kurtz (born September 6 1944 is an American Actress. As of 2008, she stars as Lily Charles in the ABC series Pushing The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar)
The majority of the film's music is supplied by Talking Heads. Talking head Talking Heads was an American New Wave band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991 The soundtrack yielded one of the group's last hit singles, "Wild Wild Life". " Wild Wild Life " was a single from the Talking Heads album True Stories.
Contents |
Concept and Plotlines
The film features Byrne as an unnamed, cowboy-hat-wearing stranger who visits the fictional Texas town of Virgil, where he observes the citizens as they prepare for the Celebration of Special-ness, sponsored by the Varicorp Corporation. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Byrne breaks the fourth wall many times in the movie while he is narrating in his car. The fourth wall is the imaginary wall at the front of the stage in a Proscenium Theater, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play
Among the unique individuals the stranger meets is Louis Fyne, played by John Goodman (in one of his first major film roles) - a Country-Western-singing clean room technician at a local computer manufacturing plant who is unlucky in love. John Stephen Goodman (born June 20 1952 is a Golden Globe - and Emmy -winning American Actor. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. A cleanroom is an environment typically used in Manufacturing or scientific research that has a low level of environmental Pollutants such as dust airborne He also encounters: town leader Earl Culver (played by performance artist Spalding Gray), who never speaks directly to his wife; Miss Rollings (Swoosie Kurtz), who never leaves her bed; Mr. Spalding Rockwell Gray ( June 5, 1941 &ndash ca January 10, 2004) was an American Actor, Screenwriter, Swoosie Kurtz (born September 6 1944 is an American Actress. As of 2008, she stars as Lily Charles in the ABC series Pushing Tucker (Pops Staples of The Staple Singers), a voodoo practitioner whom Louis hires to help him find love; a conspiracy theorist preacher (John Ingle) whose shtick owes a great deal to the Church of the SubGenius (in real life, Byrne is a SubGenius himself); Ramon (played by musician Tito Larriva), who claims telepathic powers; and a character billed only as "The Lying Woman" (Jo Harvey Allen), who recounts fantastic episodes from her history to anyone present. Roebuck "Pops" Staples ( December 28, 1914 &ndash December 19, 2000) was a Mississippi -born Gospel and R&B The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group John Ingle (born May 7, 1928) is an American Actor known for his role as evil patriarch Edward Quartermaine on the ABC daytime drama A shtick ( Yiddish: שטיק) (or schtick) is a comic theme or Gimmick. The Church of the SubGenius is a religious group that satirizes Religion, Conspiracy theory, UFOs and Popular culture. Humberto "Tito" Larriva is a Mexican/American singer musician and actor Jo Harvey Allen is an American writer actress and artist (born 1942 and raised in Lubbock Texas Renowned Latin music legend Esteban "Steve" Jordan and his conjunto perform a song in the film as well. Latin music, includes the music of all countries in Latin America (and the Caribbean) and comes in many varieties Esteban "Steve" Jordan (born February 23 1939) is a Conjunto ( Norteño) and Tejano musician from the United States Conjunto, taken from Spanish, literally meaning "group" from Latin "coniunctus"
Reception
The movie was not a commercial success at the time of its release, and it received a mixed reaction from critics (though some, such as Roger Ebert, delivered glowing reviews). Roger Joseph Ebert (iːbɝt born June 18, 1942) is an American film critic and Screenwriter. The film has achieved its greatest success in home video release, as a cult classic among fans of Byrne's work. Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment A cult film is a Film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans.
Music
True Stories features a number of songs written by Byrne and performed by various members of the cast, as well as by Byrne's band, Talking Heads (the members of which make cameo appearances). Talking head Talking Heads was an American New Wave band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991
Talking Heads released a popular album entitled True Stories in which they perform most of the songs from the film, including songs that were performed by the actors in the movie itself. True Stories is the seventh album released by Talking Heads in 1986 it was released at the same time as the David Byrne film of the same name As such, the album is not generally considered a true soundtrack album. Later, Byrne released an album containing instrumental music from the soundtrack entitled Sounds from True Stories, though it was never released on CD. Sounds from True Stories, subtitled Music for Activities Freaks is the soundtrack to David Byrne 's 1986 film True Stories A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio While several of the cast performances were released as bonus tracks on 12-inch single releases, no full album of cast performances has yet been released. As such, few of the original versions of songs from the film have found release. The Pops Staples version of "Papa Legba" and Tito Larriva's version of "Radio Head" appear as extra tracks on the 2006 Rhino reissue of True Stories; and the John Goodman's version of "People Like Us" was released on the 2006 Rhino release of a Talking Heads Bonus Rarities and Outtakes album, but the rest of the songs whose versions differ between the movie and album (John Ingle's "Puzzling Evidence," Annie McEnroe's "Dream Operator," and St. Humberto "Tito" Larriva is a Mexican/American singer musician and actor True Stories is the seventh album released by Talking Heads in 1986 it was released at the same time as the David Byrne film of the same name Bonus Rarities and Outtakes is a 2006 Compilation album by Talking Heads. Thomas Aquinas School Choir's "Hey Now") are absent.
The music video version of "Wild Wild Life" that debuted on MTV is simply a scene taken from the film, in which many of the film's characters (including John Goodman) lip-synch to the music in a night club; the video version is more risque and features more pop music references/parodies than seen in the film; the Prince and Billy Idol parodies remain in the film version. MTV ( Music Television) is an American Cable television network based in New York City. Lip-sync or Lip-synch (short for lip Synchronization) is a technical term for matching lip movements with voice Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American musician Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad, 30 November 1955, Stanmore, Middlesex) is an English rock Similarly, the video for "Love for Sale" is the same as that seen in the film (in which Kurtz's character is shown watching it on TV), except the video version has additional footage of Talking Heads, more references to recognizable TV commercials of the day, and no intercuts to any of the film characters.
External links
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