Almost Famous

scott & pearl jam wrote:

How cool is this movie
I watched like a hundred times
Imagine being on a PJ tour bus like that?
I know its all different now but can you imagine.
Going to everyshow, highlites, downfalls, all the posters , PJ first t-shirt...lol


Scott

One of my favorite movies:)

Great Movie..............I can't even count how many times SENROCK and I have sat our asses down and watched this movie!!

We actually watched it Saturday Night and then popped in Imagine in Cornice........yeah, we had a great night that included a fried pickle!

PissBottleMan wrote:

"Jesus, man, can you change the station? I've had a--had a rough night, and I hate the fucking Eagles, man."

PBM

HA! I have a tape with both Almost Famous and The Big Lebowski on it... too bad my VCR doesn't work anymore.

THe film was based on Cameron Crowe's experiences touring with LOADS of different bands, not one single band. A lot of it is talked about in the Director's Commentary (finally a director's commentary worth watching!!!), with a few odds and ends in the IMDB trivia page.

The scene where William is pulled into the group psyching thing before the gig was based on Vedder pulling Crowe into a similar situation with Pearl Jam.

The scene where the guys almost die on a plane is based on when Crowe was on tour with The Who and his plane almost crashed (the only other passenger was the merch guy, none of the band were on board).

The band is called Stillwater, because Stillwater was the first band that Crowe ever toured with.

Much of the band interaction is based on Led Zepp (Crowe said that he actually approached Page and Plant for permission because he felt a bit guilty about it) but has elements of other bands there.

The Golden God scene is based on Crowe's time with the Allman Brothers.

The scene where Russell phones up William's mum is based on a time where the guys from Deep Purple phoned up Crowe's mum.

William's relationship with Lester Bangs was based on Crowe's relationship with the real Lester Bangs

The bands interview with Kyle Gas at the radio station (in the extended edition) is based on a radio interview with Neil Young where the radio presenter fell asleep mid-interview so Neil talked a bit on the mic and then walked out.


Etc. etc. There's lots of little bits of Crowe's life in there, it's quite amazing he fit it all together. He talks through most of the stories on the director's commentary, but I'm sure there's plenty more little things that he hasn't delved into.

definitly one of my all time favorite movies
never knew that about mike! now it goes even higher on my list

MakeMeCry43 wrote:

It is a great movie! Real nice from Cameron Crowe and yeah, I believe that he based the movie by different groups, but the most one I heard of was Allman Bros. and Led Zeppelin, I haven't heard of PJ, but if so, then that's really really cool!

I'm sorry, I just had to comment on your post PJpixie! A fried Pickle?! Haha, that must've been one hell of a night! How do you fry a pickle? :P

And yeah, Noonie, that's a true story about the bus leaving without Eddie, it was a lollapalooza gig and he ran all the way I think, He didn't even hitch hike and Eddie was kinda late, so I read that Chris Cornell was going to stall the crowd until he got there....Something like that, It's on here: TwoFeetThick.com (Lollapalooza '92 Retrospective).

There is this Bar in Fullerton CA called SLIDEBAR that makes them........they are incredible!! I have no idea how they do it but SENROCK swears she is gonna perfect the recipe for me so It won't cost me $20 every time i crave one!

Summer's coming. The best time to watch this movie.

Hey Fowls! Thanks a whole lot for those detailed tidbits! I have never gotten it on DVD, I always watch it when it comes on TV, but it'd be really cool to hear Crowe's commentary on the movie, it's really a great movie, I can't stop complimenting it enough! And wow, to have to think that Crowe actually met all those bands and lived through all those adventures, what an amazing time he must've had! Man! I would give anything to have toured and covered for all those bands....Especially PJ, I think after that I'd die satisfied Anyone get goosebumps at the Tiny Dancer scene? It's just such good scene, really shows how music can bring people together.

Noway PJpixie! I thought the whole fried pickle thing was an accident, I can't believe they actually make it! But lol, it actually sounds delish, heh, if I ever come down there, I'm definetly going to the SLIDEBAR Or when Senrock perfects the recipe, let her send one my way :P

SOLAT319 wrote:

Love the movie as many do on this board.However, that Kate Hudson chick was way too bland for that 'Penny Lane' character. Now I imagine a lot of you thought she was "fucking brilliant" or whatever but to me, she was just not up to par. Although I can't think of anybody else. Maybe Scarlett Johanson would have been a good pick but I don't think she was around back then.

Sarah Polley was originally supposed to play Penny Lane, but early into rehersals she realized that the movie was going to be a very big commercial success in the US and would launch whatever actress who played the role into the limelight in a big way... and she didn't want that for her career. So she left the movie and it went to Kate Hudson, who is now famous for it....