This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

In director Rob Reiner's very funny, improvisational, low-budget satirical rock-related comedy - it was his debut film. The typical concert film that coined the term "rockumentary" told about the ill-fated, 1982 "Tap Across America" tour by Spinal Tap - one of Europe's loudest bands, in their first US tour in six years. The spoof was so convincing that many viewers were fooled into believing that the band was real although it was entirely bogus and fictional. There were four co-writers for the mostly-improvised film (all of whom also starred in the film): Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Rob Reiner.

The parody music film about the band's comeback tour featured non-stop hilarity, mixing both obvious gags and lampooning in-jokes, as well as many brief star cameos, i.e., Billy Crystal as angry head waiter Morty the Mime, Fran Drescher as tough record company publicist and CEO Bobbi Flekman ("Money talks, and bulls--t walks!"), Bruno Kirby as a limo driver, Paul Shaffer (David Letterman band leader) as Midwest promoter Artie Fufkin, and Patrick MacNee as the vacuous Sir Denis Eton-Hogg - head of Polymer Records and Hoggwood - a camp for pale young boys, plus many others.

The heavy metal British group had numerous tour misadventures, including how they couldn't locate the amphitheatre stage for a performance in Cleveland, being stopped at airport security for wearing "artificial limbs," experiencing numerous show cancellations, non-existent hotel accommodations, mechanical failures, second billing to a puppet show, an 18" Stonehenge prop debacle, failed promotional appearances and a no-show record signing, a two-word previous record album review ("S--t Sandwich"), and group member David's Yoko Ono-like girlfriend Jeanine Pettibone (June Chadwick) - dedicated to yoga and astrology - who sabotaged the group's manager Ian by taking charge and suggesting ridiculous onstage astrology-horoscope costumes and makeup.

With a small budget of $2.5 million, the film had a very quiet theatrical release and grossed only $4.7 million. But quickly, it became a cult favorite on videotape, leading co-writer/actor Christopher Guest to direct a string of other mockumentaries (Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), and A Mighty Wind (2003), which reunited all three Spinal Tap actors as folk singers).

• in the film, fictional cinema verite director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner, the film's actual director), a neophyte documentary film-maker, explained how he had been following for years the members of a rock-group now named Spinal Tap; the heavy metal band was promoting their new LP album "Smell the Glove" on a tour dubbed: "Tapping Into The Millennium"; he explained how he had first encountered the unknown group in 1966 in Greenwich Village, NY, and now the band had become legendary and prominent: ("17 years and 15 albums later") and was named Spinal Tap:
  • "...That band was Britain's now-legendary Spinal Tap... still going strong. And they've earned a distinguished place in rock history as one of England's loudest bands. So in the late fall of 1982, when I heard that Tap was releasing a new album called 'Smell the Glove', and was planning their first tour of the United States in almost six years to promote that album, well, needless to say, I jumped at the chance to make the documentary - the, if you will, 'rockumentary' - that you're about to see. I wanted to capture the- the sights, the sounds, the smells of a hard-working rock band, on the road. And I got that; I got more, a lot more. But hey, enough of my yakkin'; whaddaya say? Let's boogie!"
• the members of the group included:
  • David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), the blonde lead singer
  • Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), the bass player
  • Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), the lead guitarist, and the childhood friend of lead singer Hubbins
  • Viv Savage (David Kaff), a strange troll-like keyboardist
  • Mick Shrimpton (R.J. Parnell), the latest drummer - there had been an endless string of deceased drummers (Joe "Stumpy" Pepys was remembered as having a lethal gardening accident, while Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs choked to death on someone else's vomit; later, a third drummer, Peter "James" Bond, spontaneously combusted and exploded on stage with "a flash of green light")
• after landing at JFK and playing "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" in a NYC venue, the legendary group was interviewed in a garden area by DiBergi about the early days of the band in the East End of London, when they performed as a folk group known as The Originals, The New Originals, and The Thamesmen before becoming Spinal Tap; their first hit song was the flower-power best-selling single: "Listen to the Flower People"; afterwards, they transitioned to playing heavy metal rock 'n' roll
• a record-promotional party and reception was being held to celebrate the group's first album before a scheduled Madison Square Garden NYC performance; the group of players (attired in complete heavy metal regalia) had arrived in America to endorse their newest and controversial album/cover "Smell the Glove"; they were introduced to the "hostess with the mostest" record company publicist and CEO Bobbi Flekman (Fran Drescher); she introduced the band to Sir Denis Eton-Hogg (Patrick MacNee) - head of Polymer Records
• as the band was transported in a limo to their next scheduled gig, they were reading Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr's autobiography "Yes I Can"; however, the limo driver Tommy Pischedda (Bruno Kirby) was more interested in talking about Frank Sinatra ("You know what the title of that book should be? "Yes, I Can If Frank Sinatra Says It's OK". 'Cause Frank calls the shots for all of those guys")
• the group's manager - Ian Faith (Tony Hendra), the band's shifty-eyed, cricket stick-wielding promoter, spoke with band member David St. Hubbins about the release and publicity for their latest album, and their plan to play in Philadelphia, PA" ("a real rock and roll town"); the group of bass guitarists played one of their albums' sexist and vulgar songs: "Big Bottom" at Fidelity Hall in Philadelphia; during more of the interview with DiBergi, it was revealed that previous albums including "Shark Sandwich" and the religious-toned "The Gospel According To Spinal Tap" hadn't been well-received; the two-word review for the earlier album was "S--t Sandwich"
• in Atlanta at the Recording Industry Convention, the group learned that Ian was forced to cancel a show date in Boston: ("I wouldn't worry about it though, it's not a big college town"); there were questions from a Promoter about the group's objectionable and provocative album cover of an in-bondage female smelling a glove; record company publicist Bobbi complained to Ian about the offensive and very sexist nature of the album's cover and how it wouldn't sell well:
  • "You put a greased naked woman on all fours with a dog collar around her neck, and a leash, and a man's arm extended out up to here, holding onto the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it. You don't find that offensive? You don't find that sexist?...it's 1982! Get out of the '60s. We don't have this mentality anymore"
• Ian responded to Bobbi: "Well you should have seen the cover they wanted to do. It wasn't a glove believe me"; Bobbi was notified by Denis Eton-Hogg that the album was rejected and was not going to be released: "Both Sears and K-Mart stores have refused to handle the album," but Bobbi thought that rethinking the objectionable album cover might be a good idea: "Money talks and bulls--t walks..."
• in a garden interview between DiBergi with David and Nigel, Marty asked about why the "make up of your audience seems to be, uh, predominately young boys"; Nigel explained the usual reaction of females to the band: "Really they're quite fearful - that's my theory. They see us on stage with tight trousers we've got, you know, armadillos in our trousers, I mean it's really quite frightening..."
• in one of the film's hilarious sequences, at Chapel Hill, NC after performing "Hell Hole" in the Vandermint Auditorium, an angry Nigel spoke to Ian backstage about his problem with the "miniature bread" slices, because the meat slices were hanging out of the sandwiches
• after performing, sometime later in Nigel's guitar room, he showed off and bragged about all of his guitar-instruments and technical audio equipment to rockumentary film-maker DiBergi: "The sustain, listen to it"; when DiBergi responded: "I'm not hearing anything" - Nigel added: "Well, you would though, if it were playing"; and then in the famous "These go to 11" scene, Nigel also praised his very special Marshall amp to Marty - boasting that the amplifier could go "one louder" up to a volume setting of eleven: ("Eleven. Exactly. One louder"); he gave a response ("These go to 11") to DiBergi's query about why they just didn't make 10 louder:
  • "Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?"
• in the lobby of a Memphis, TN hotel where they were booked for their next gig, Ian was amongst the group of fourteen who were informed by the clerk Smitty that there had been a serious mistake regarding their reservations: "You wanted seven, uh, suites....Yes w-we-he mistakenly put you on the seventh floor with one suite"; and then they found out that their Memphis gig had been cancelled: "Memphis show cancelled due to lack of advertising funds"
• in Ian's office, Marty asked if the group's popularity, evidenced by their bookings in smaller venues, was waning; Ian rationalized: "I just think that the, uh, their appeal is becoming more selective"; there were also many notifications of show cancellations in other mid-western cities; in reaction, they trashed their hotel room; however, they were encouraged that one of their older songs, "Listen To The Flower People" was being played on the local radio station; meanwhile, on the phone with his longtime girlfriend Jeanine (June Chadwick), David encouraged her to travel with them once they arrived in Milwaukee: "No, she's coming on the road, she's going to travel with us, gonna go on the road with us," although it appeared to displease Nigel
• at the gravesite of Elvis Presley at Graceland in Memphis, the band members sang a version of "Heartbreak Hotel" without knowing the lyrics or harmonizing together
• at their next venue, Shank Hall in Milwaukee, WI, the group played one of their old songs: "Gimme Some Money"; Jeanine appeared and joined up with David and the group, although Nigel was disappointed; afterwards, Ian announced the decision to release the objectionable album (and its cover); unwisely, he had promoted a change in the design cover - it would be entirely-black, the opposite of The Beatles' 'White Album': (Ian: "It's going to be that simple, beautiful, classic!"); Nigel criticized it: "It's like a black mirror," and David also reacted negatively:
  • "Well, I think it looks like death, it looks like mourning...I think we're stuck with a very, very stupid and a very, and a very dismal looking album, this is depressing....This is something you wear around your arm, you don't put this on your f--king turntable"
• Ian was hopeful that the album's release would turn their fortunes around: "I frankly think that this is the turning point, okay? I think, I think this is, we're on our way now....It's time, time to kick arse!"
• later, as he played the piano, Nigel explained to Marty how he had created a memorable song fusing Bach and Mozart (or M-ach) "Lick My Love Pump" with offensive lyrics
• in a scene at an airplane security checkpoint, bass player Derek Smalls became embarrassed after being asked by the female Airport Security Officer (Gloria Gifford): "Do you have any artificial plates or limbs?..."; when he set off the metal detector, he was caught with a cucumber wrapped in aluminum foil stuffed into his pants
• in their hotel room in Chicago, IL, the band was introduced to the local record promoter Artie Fufkin (Paul Shaffer) of Polymer Records, but were interrupted by the delivery of food from a Room Service Guy (Archie Hahn) - who reacted: "Oh, thank god, civilization! Where do I put this?"
• the next day during a record-signing at Disc 'n' Dat in Chicago, no one showed up, and Artie immediately blamed himself for oversaturing the radio airwaves: "We saturated, we over saturated. That's what it is, It's me, I did it, I f--ked up. I f--ked up the timing, that's all. I f--ked up the timing, I've got no timing, I've got no timing, I've got no timing"; he asked for Nigel to punish him: "Do me a favor, just kick my ass, okay? Kick this ass for a man, that's all, kick my ass, enjoy! C'mon, I'm not asking, I'm telling with this, kick my ass!"
• at their next stop at the Xanadu Star Theater in Cleveland, OH, as they proceeded to the stage from the basement's dressing room, and even asked directions from a Janitor (Wonderful Smith), the band became hopelessly lost, following a convoluted route through a maze-like group of corridors and walkways
• at the Season's Restaurant, David's girlfriend Jeanine criticized the band's lack of success on the poor job of mixing the vocals on the album, and mispronounced Dolby: ("You couldn't hear the lyrics on all of it...you don't do heavy metal in dobly"), aggravating Nigel in particular; and then Jeanine proposed newly-designed costumes ("fashioned after the signs of the Zodiac") for the band members; Ian was perturbed by the idea: "Have you any idea what it will cost to dress up the band as animals?"; as an alternate suggestion, Nigel proposed to David that they could enhance their on-stage production value and performances with the construction of a Stonehenge monolith monument (a three-rock Trilithon); the specifications for construction were doodled on a bar napkin to be delivered by Ian to the artist- designer

Specifications for the Stonehenge Prop Doodled On a Bar Napkin	A Miniature Stonehenge Stage Prop Was Lowered to the Stage
The Disastrous Stonehenge Finale

• shortly later, Ian met with the Artist who had built the Stonehenge triptychs at a height of 18 inches; Ian was flabbergasted: "This is the piece?... Are you telling me that this is it? This is scenery? Have you ever been to Stonehenge?", but the Artist defensively asserted: "Ian, I was supposed to build it 18 inches high!...Look, look, look. This is what I was asked to build. 18 inches, right here, it's specified, 18 inches. I was given this napkin, I mean"; Ian responded: "Forget this. F--k the napkin!"; apparently, Nigel had mixed up inches with feet; there was no time to adjust the construction
• during the disastrous Stonehenge finale, an undersized stage prop - an 18 inch miniature Stonehenge monolith monument was lowered to the stage from the rafters and dwarfed by a pair of midgets cavorting around it; the stage prop was almost knocked down by two Little Druid dancers (Chris Romano and Daniel Rodgers) in Celtic costumes
• afterwards in the hotel room, a blame-shifting discussion was led by David:
  • "I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object."
• Ian tried to downplay the disaster to David: "I really think you're just making a much too big thing out of it....Nigel gave me a drawing that said 18 inches....Now, whether or not he knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem. I do what I'm told"; David countered: "But you're not as confused as him are you? I mean it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel is"; Ian answered him: "It's my job to do what I'm asked to do by the creative element of this band. And that's what I did"
• when Ian was ganged up on by David and Jeanine and blamed for his poor management, he attempted to explain his impossible work schedule and duties:
  • "For one thing that goes wrong, one-one single thing that goes wrong, a hundred things go right. Do you know what I spend my time doing? I sleep two or three hours a night. There's no sex and drugs for Ian, David. Do you know what I do? I find lost luggage. I locate mandolin strings in the middle of Austin....You know? I prise the rent out of the local Hebrews. That's what I do!"
• ultimately, Ian promptly quit when it was suggested by David that his girlfriend Jeanine should replace him and they would co-manage the band: ("I am not managing it with you or any other woman, especially one that dresses like an Australian's nightmare. So f--k you!!!")
• during a brief interview session in a storeroom between DiBergi and Nigel, Nigel admitted his strong relationship with David: ("We're closer than brothers. Brothers always fight, sort of disagreements, and all that. We really have a relationship that's way, way past that")
• due to the cancellation of their original gig, the group proceeded to the Miramar Air Force Base in San Diego, CA for the base's monthly "at-ease weekend"; Jeanine introduced the group to Air Force Lieutenant Bob Hookstratten (Fred Willard), and although the lieutenant suggested that they play "a couple of slow numbers," the band played the raunchy song "Sex Farm" for the straight audience; in addition, during the show, Nigel became frustrated with an equipment malfunction (his equipment was broadcasting the base's ATC signals) and he walked off the stage and quit; afterwards, while under "heavy sedation," David claimed he wasn't too upset by Nigel's departure, rationalizing that in "the world of rock and roll," there would always be changes; he ended by vowing: "No, we, we shan't work together again"
• next, while playing in Stockton, CA within the Themeland Amusement Park, the band discovered that they had been booked as the opening act for a puppet show; due to Nigel's absence, their musical pieces were severely limited to about 10 minutes worth of music; Derek unwisely suggested that the band - re-invented and re-named Spinal Tap Mach 2 - play an experimental "Jazz Odyssey"; it was an utter disaster
• as their tour was winding down, an end-of-tour party was held in Los Angeles, CA for the group before their final gig; when asked by a Rolling Stone Reporter (Zane Buzby) if this was the end of the line for the group, David vaguely philosophized: "I don't really think that the end can be assessed, uh, as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like..."; Derek spoke about how he didn't want to be a 45 year-old playing for audiences half his age; David and Derek pondered about shutting down Spinal Tap and experimenting with a 'Jack the Ripper' musical titled "Saucy Jack"
• before taking the stage for their last gig, Nigel arrived with news he had heard from Ian that their raunchy song "Sex Farm" had become a major hit song in Japan; he was considering rejoining Spinal Tap; he proposed extending their tour to Japan; Jeanine was displeased when David allowed Nigel to join the group onstage as the lead guitarist - and the group's performance was electrifying
• as the film concluded, Ian had been rehired as the group's manager, and Spinal Tap was performing to sold-out crowds in Japan; Spinal Tap had hired a new drummer - Joe "Mama" Besser (Fred Asparagus)
• the last line of the film came during the outtakes comprising the end credits - Nigel responded when asked by DiBergi if he would be happy being a shoe salesman: "Well, I don't know. What are the hours?"