Stop Making Sense (1984)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writers:

Jonathan Demme (writer)
Talking Heads (writer)

Release Date:

16 November 1984 (West Germany)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

Why stop making sense? Why a movie? Why a big suit? Where do the odd movements come from? What will the band do next?

Plot:

An innovative concert movie for the rock group The Talking Heads.

Plot Keywords:

Band | Concert | Musician | Concert Film | Stage

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Bernie Worrell	...	Keyboards
Alex Weir	...	Guitar and Vocals
Steven Scales	...	Percussion (as Steve Scales)
Lynn Mabry	...	Backing Vocals
Ednah Holt	...	Backing Vocals (as Edna Holt)
Tina Weymouth	...	Bass, Percussion and Vocals
Jerry Harrison	...	Guitar, Keyboards and Vocals
Chris Frantz	...	Drums and Vocals
David Byrne	...	Vocals and Guitar

Directed by
Jonathan Demme

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jonathan Demme		writer
Talking Heads		writer

Produced by
Gary Goetzman	....	producer
Gary Kurfirst	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Chris Frantz
Jerry Harrison
Talking Heads
Tina Weymouth

Cinematography by
Jordan Cronenweth

Film Editing by
Lisa Day

Sound Department
Rick Coberly	....	sound
Walter A. Gest	....	sound re-recordist
Stan Horine	....	sound
Steve Maslow	....	sound re-recording mixer
Charles Butch Watson	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Sandy McLeod	....	visual consultant

Camera and Electrical Department
Mike Chevalier	....	camera operator
Dave Friedman	....	still photographer
John Graham	....	film loader
Ernest Holzman	....	assistant camera
Johnny E. Jensen	....	camera operator
Bernie Schwartz	....	grip
Robert Seaman	....	camera operator
Greg Walters	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Catherine Peacock	....	assistant film editor
Barbara Pokras	....	additional editor

Other crew
John Chimples	....	slide wrangler
Pablo Ferro	....	title designer: main title sequence
Sandy McLeod	....	visual consultant
W. Thomas Snyder	....	production coordinator

Thanks
Nick Newton	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Music Television (MTV)
• Talking Heads

Distributors

• Cinecom Pictures (1984) (USA) (theatrical)
• Palm Pictures (1999) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Island Alive
• Kinetique
• LW Editora (Brazil) (DVD)
• Palace Video (1985) (UK) (VHS)
• Palace Video (1985) (UK) (video) (Betamax)
• Polygram TV (Australia)
• Tantra DMPC Ltd.
• Triple M
• Vídeo Ban (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (1999 re-release) | Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Pantages Theater - 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Music Television (MTV)

Trivia:

David Byrne's staggering during the latter part of "Psycho Killer" was directly inspired by Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding (1951) during the song "I Left My Hat In Haiti".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As stated above the concert was edited together from three shows, and it being a "live" show, things not planned happened. The first night, David Byrne puts on the baseball cap that's thrown up on stage from the audience, so the next night it can be seen next to the drums so that he can put it on again.

Quotes:

David Byrne: I've got a tape I want to play.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Weird Science (1985)

Soundtrack:

What A Day That Was

THE Great Concert Film

All concert films should be as innovative, energetic and just plain fun as Stop Making Sense. With Jonathan Demme as director, the concert has a weird and wonderful theatrical look, with David Byrne arriving onstage at the beginning, armed with an acoustic guitar. Gradually, the other members of the band join him and the stage sets become highly unusual. For visuals, nothing matches the odd behavior of Byrne and quirky but (for the most part) great songs of the Talking Heads better than Demme's approach to filming. The movie has such a terrific build up (at one point Byrne actually runs around the stage repeatedly) that you cannot help but move with it. I can't believe concert films that followed did not even attempt to match this film's innovativeness. A great movie, even if you've never heard of the Talking Heads.