Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)

A troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.

Director:

Alan Parker

Writers:

Roger Waters (album "The Wall"), Roger Waters (screenplay)

Stars:

Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, James Laurenson

Won 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bob Geldof	...	Pink
Christine Hargreaves	...	Pink's Mother
James Laurenson	...	J.A. Pinkerton (Pink's Father)
Eleanor David	...	Pink's Wife
Kevin McKeon	...	Young Pink
Bob Hoskins	...	Rock and Roll Manager
David Bingham	...	Little Pink
Jenny Wright	...	American Groupie
Alex McAvoy	...	Teacher
Ellis Dale	...	English Doctor
James Hazeldine	...	Lover
Ray Mort	...	Playground Father
Margery Mason	...	Teacher's Wife (as Marjorie Mason)
Robert Bridges	...	American Doctor
Michael Ensign	...	Hotel Manager

Storyline

The movie tells the story of rock singer "Pink" who is sitting in his hotel room in Los Angeles, burnt out from the music business and only able to perform on stage with the help of drugs. Based on the 1979 double album "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, the film begins in Pink's youth where he is crushed by the love of his mother. Several years later he is punished by the teachers in school because he is starting to write poems. Slowly he begins to build a wall around himself to be protected from the world outside. The film shows all this in massive and epic pictures until the very end where he tears down the wall and breaks free.

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Plot Keywords:

wall | rock star | drugs | sex | teacher | 

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Taglines:

Pink Floyd The Wall. Now The Film.

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Genres:

Drama | Musical

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 August 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pink Floyd: The Wall

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 2,384,861 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Goldcrest Films International, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Tin Blue

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Speak and Spell during the song "Mother" actually spells out KEYNSHAM. A town in southwest England between Bristol and Bath, and also the name of an album by 'The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band'.

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Goofs

As the jackbooted thugs march in a tunnel with Pink at the head, between the drug overdose and the fascist rally, they march left right left right. The visions cuts and the sound continues, left right left right. Cut back to the boots and now they are right left right left, one step out of time with the constant marching sound.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Pink: [singing] So ya, thought ya might like to, go to the show. To feel the warm thrill of confusing that space cadet glow. Tell me is something eluding you sunshine? Is this not what you expected to see? If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes, you'll just have to crawl your way through this disguise!

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Connections

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

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Soundtracks

"In the Flesh"
Written by Roger Waters
Performed by Pink Floyd

User Reviews

The Human Condition

If for whatever reason you should find yourself in the company of aliens from the planet Nietsche , a planet whose inhabitants have gone beyond what can be described as human nature so much so that they have no knowledge of what being human is , then show them this film that explains everything

The story starts with the Anzio landings that sees the death of Pink's father . As Plato said " Only the dead have seen the end of war " and that is bitterly true , man will always be man and man will always kill man until the end of time

Pink goes to school and education is a double edged sword . It has the potential to educate young humans but as often happens these young humans find themselves being used as victims of whatever mood the teacher is in . Someone must pay for authorities inaquequacies

Pink leaves school and falls in love , but love is the sharpest and most double edged sword in all of creation . It inspires but it also destroys us . Despite hundreds of millions of human beings being killed in wars , genocide and purges there is nothing so personally painful or as cruel as the betrayal by a lover . The darkest pits of Hell can not be as hellish or as sadistic as infidelity

As Pink descends further into his personal madness we see him take his revenge . Humans are sexual beings and perhaps this is what makes us both demons and avenging angels . Irony is to the fore as he stops becoming a victim and turns into unfeeling fascist dictator . Someone must pay for all the wrongs Pink has endured and it's the innocent that must suffer

You could go to the planet Nietsche with all the written works of every human philosopher who ever lived and that still wouldn't be enough to explain what it's like to be human . As it stands Alan Parker and Roger Waters have made a cogent film explaining why humans are the way they are and how they react to the surrounding universe . It's a film whose soundtrack is every bit as powerful as the human condition