That Thing They Did

Maybe it was all the publicity about Tom Hanks and the Mr. Rogers movie, but I was reminded of the movie he wrote and directed.  He was a big box office star in 1996 when he was allowed to make That Thing You Do, the bittersweet story of the rise and fall of an American Beatles-like band from Erie, PA in the mid-1960s.

  I'm a sucker for movies about bands, especially if the music is special, and this song--the title tune-- certainly is. Every scene featuring it is joyful.  This clip shows the band discovering the song at a college talent show.  The band, newly minted as the "ONEders" (which everyone mispronounces) lost their drummer when he broke his arm.  That's him opening the scene, getting a program for the show.  They persuaded their percussionist friend to play just this one song for just this one gig.  They rehearsed it as they wrote it, as a mid-tempo ballad.  But when he gets on stage he juices the tempo--you can hear the lead singer trying to keep up with the beat at the beginning of the song.  By the bridge he's gotten into it, helped by the enthusiasm of the dancing audience. They win the top prize and get their first paying gig. It's a moment that changes all their lives.

You'll see Liv Tyler, the dark-haired beauty, who at this point is the lead singer's girlfriend.  You'll also see the blond Charlize Theron doing her makeup, indifferent to her drummer boyfriend's music--she's more interested in him as the heir to a local appliance store.  Tom Hanks cast Theron before her first movie had come out, and she's been a Hanks booster ever since--in fact, she introduced him when he received the DeMille Award at the Golden Globes last week.