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

In his autobiography "Is That It?", Bob Geldof tells the story of how he was first told about the project by his agent while riding in a taxi, and how he didn't want to do it because he didn't like the music of Pink Floyd. Roger Waters knows this story, not because he read it in Geldof's book, but because the taxi driver was actually Roger Waters' brother.

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Goofs

When the young Pink finds his father's service revolver and ammunition in his mother's bedroom, the ammunition has a metal jacket (i.e. the actual "bullet" part has a brass casing over it). When he dishes them out to his friends in the railway embankment the rounds are ordinary lead rounds without he brass casing.

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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

Referenced in Pink Floyd: The Final Cut (1983)

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Soundtracks

"Don't Leave Me Now"
Written by Roger Waters
Performed by Pink Floyd

User Reviews

Superb, clever and highly entertaining.

If you like Pink Floyd, you'll love the movie regardless of what you think the cinematic value of the film is. To me, Roger Water's ability to express himself is outrageously smart. He is a genius. His English is masterful and the way he expresses how he feels is just mind-blowing. I am sure that every one of us has felt exactly the same as Pink/Roger felt at some point of our life but have never been able to successfully explain it. It is therefore my opinion that the lyrics are what make this film great. As a movie, it also translates those feelings well. All the actors were superb. Alan Parker managed to pull the whole thing together cleverly and all in all it is an excellent choice for a late night stoner's kick back - brilliant.