One Trick Pony

One Trick Pony (1980)

Rock & roll will give you some laughs but it won't do you any favors.

An aging rock star trying to put together a new album in the face of an indifferent record label and a talentless producer. At the same time, he's struggling to save his failing marriage.

Date of release
1980-10-03
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (13)
Runtime
1h 38m
Genres
Drama
Director
Robert M. Young

Casting

Interesting facts

One-Trick Pony is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert M. Young and written by and starring Paul Simon. It also stars Blair Brown, Rip Torn, Joan Hackett, Mare Winningham, Michael Pearlman, Lou Reed in his feature film debut, and Allen Garfield. Receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film bombed at the box office.

Production

The title derives from a colloquial American expression meaning a person specializing in only one area, having only one talent, or of limited ability.

The film is not considered autobiographical, though the story uses some of Simon's experiences in the music business. There has been some disagreement on the story's underpinning. Biographer Laura Jackson felt the film may have been based on experiences in Simon's professional and personal life, though Dave Marsh in a Rolling Stone review saw similarities with Simon's personality, but not with his life and career.

The Paul Simon album One-Trick Pony was released concurrently with the movie. All of the songs on the album are featured in the film, though some have a slightly different mix, such as "Jonah", which features a harmonica solo (probably by Toots Thielemans) that is missing from the album version. The film also features "Soft Parachutes", Jonah Levin's sole hit as a recording artist, which is included as a bonus track on the album's 2004 reissue.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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