U2: Rattle and Hum (1988)

A documentary of Irish rock group U2's Fall 1987 tour of North America.

Director:

Phil Joanou

Stars:

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bono	...	Himself
The Edge	...	Himself
Adam Clayton	...	Himself
Larry Mullen Jr.	...	Himself
B.B. King	...	Himself
Phil Joanou	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dennis Bell	...	Himself
Adam Gussow	...	Himself
Jack Hale	...	Himself
Jim Horn	...	Himself
Wayne Jackson	...	Himself (as The Memphis Horns)
Andrew Love	...	Himself (as The Memphis Horns)
Sterling Magee	...	Himself
Joey Miskulin	...	Himself (as Joseph M. Miskulin)
Gayl Murphy	...	Herself (as Press Conference Interviewer)

Storyline

This film documents the 1987 North American tour of the great rock band, U2. Fresh with their success of their best selling album, The Joshua Tree, the band plays monster gigs. Along the way, the band takes the opportunity in indulge in some special musical activities like playing with BB King and performing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking" with a famous church choir. All the while, concert footage of the band's biggest hits on tour is featured while Bono speaks his mind on the problems of his homeland.

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Plot Keywords:

u2 | black & white to color | star spangled banner | concert film | number in title | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 November 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rattle and Hum

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Box Office

Gross USA:

$8,600,823

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures,Midnight Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the band's goals with this film was to recognize its musical roots, which is shown by the large number of homages: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Van Morrison, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Jimi Hendrix are all alluded to directly or indirectly (and the studio recording sessions included further homages to Presley, Dylan, and The Righteous Brothers). Unfortunately, this was not communicated well to the press, leading many critics to misinterpret the homages as an attempt on U2's part to have themselves "ranked among the legends".

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Quotes

[the band is thrilled to be playing with B.B. King]
B.B. King: If we could find somebody to play chords... I'm no good with chords. I'm horrible with chords.
Bono: Um... yeah... well, uh, the Edge can do that.

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Connections

Referenced in Ha die Pa!: Verdacht (1990)

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Soundtracks

Angel of Harlem
Words Bono
Music U2

User Reviews

One of the best Rockumentaries ever

U2 is one of my favorite bands, and to see them at such a unique position in their history has always been a treasure. Before the huge tours, before the renown, and before the Super Bowl, seeing the band as a group of guys still trying to cope with their meteoric rise in popularity. Always a good film to watch, especially the beginning when they do a rendition of Helter Skelter. Some might say the black and white nature of the film makes it dated and old, it helps create a world before their ZOO TV years, where all the bright colors and electronic looping changed the band forever.