A lot of people don't appreciate how difficult it is to do what this movie pulls off. In the course of an hour and forty-eight minutes, we hear the title track played probably close to a dozen times, and we don't get sick of it. Imagine how much differently we feel about this movie if it's written around a less catchy-tune.
The filmmakers did a great thing in recording the track DIFFERENTLY for each ambient situation they were in - from this school hall, to a pub, to an outdoor auditorium, etc. That was the greatest wonder about this movie - that they took the time to record the different audio environments, and also the level of skill applied at all those different places. As the group gets more experienced, the song actually gets tighter and slightly more complex as the film progresses. It's brilliant.
Love this, it's my favorite part. Starts out struggling to keep up in the beginning, slowly catching on and settles in about midway through, finally figures it out and is walking the bass by the end.
One thing I really like about this scene is that Steve Zahn's character is very much presented as the fool of the group, Tom Hanks later even says as much, but this scene shows that he's actually got a very good mind for music. He hears the tempo and immediately gets it and knows it's right for the song. Jimmy might be the smartest musically, he writes the songs and music, but Lenny had the better instincts.
I actually think this is the best rendition of the song in the whole movie. Has more of raw, natural sound to it and it is paced faster than the other renditions.
MAN your comment hit me hard. Like so much music today, the original live performance is SO MUCH better than the later, over-produced stuff. And the movie captures this phenomenon PERFECTLY- you could tell even they were sick of their own song towards the end
I love imagining how earth shattering it would've been had this tune actually come out in 1964 . . . Definitely would've given those boys from Liverpool a serious run for their money!!
And correct me if I'm wrong, but this was also the 1st time they all played this song together on film (going by the recent commentary from the cast). Tom Hanks basically shot the entire film in sequence so he could capture the band's evolution and chemistry on screen organically.
As a musician I was fascinated by the progression of the song from the balled Jimmy envisioned it to be to the uptempo pop hit it became, and how realistically it was done. The three part harmonies added later (and represented on stage with the bass player singing), the vocal flourishes on the first note of the verses that turned into a hook of its own, just fantastic attention to detail. And, that song! As someone who tried (unsucessfully) to write a great commercial tune that was simple and catchy but could stand up to repeated listenings, I can tell you it’s VERY hard.
I still get goosebumps every time I re watch this scene amongst others. Truly one of my top 5 movies of all time because of the impact it had on me since I was a child. I will always love this movie.
“That Thing You Do” is one of my top 3 favorite original soundtrack songs ever. RIP Adam Schlesinger. Thank you for this work of genius and happy piece of my childhood. Gone waaaaay too soon ☹️☹️☹️☹️
@@steviesevieria1868 It never fails that every time someone on the internet mentions Jesus or anything else related to faith in god or religion that an Atheist has to try to debunk it. That’s the reason why I don’t mention anything related to Christianity on the internet anymore.
The drummer is the backbone of the band, if he knows the tempo should be faster you should probably follow his cue. Especially if he doesn't give you a choice
I love the way Guy was portrayed as being so into the music, just surfing along with the rhythm, carried away by the beat.😻 “I have led you here sir. For I am Spartacus.“
If Guy had put it to a vote before the show, they wouldn't have been so bold. They had to be shown in front of an audience. Lenny was right to just jump on board, cuing the bass player.
This is the best version of this song played in the entire movie, the tempo, the sound of the instruments, all are very natural, during the movie the song still sound good but never as the first time
Well, it's the "happy accident." The kind of moment where people go, "That was great, how did you do that?" And they go: "I don't know, we just...did it?"
Is it just me? Or does anyone else who ever wanted to be in a band tear up when you see this?! This is one of my favorite of all time movies.. it’s a perfect movie..
I lived in Erie, Pa, when this came out. It was mandatory to go see it. Everyone in the theatre was trying to recognize things downtown or catch all of the references. It was awesome.
It also gives a glimpse of the recording industry and its artists. The companies that don't really care about the talent as long as they are making money off of them, how a band can plunge quickly into obscurity if one or more of the band members (specially the frontman) has an ego..
Great movie. This is my favorite scene. I love how the struggle at the beginning, then it really comes together midway through. For some reason this is my favorite version of the song . The actors practiced the songs more than the actual dialogue from the script .
This argument about the tempo of their song was screenwriter Tom Hanks' loving nod to The Beatles producer George Martin, who famously promised John and Paul that if they turned their slow love ballad "Please Please Me" into an up tempo rocker it would become their first hit record. They did and the song became their first of many #1 hits in Great Britain.
Yep, that is true. Also, John Lennon once said that he wanted his song "Help" to be played slowly. I'm not sure if I would have preferred that. I love the song as it is. That's what makes a great songwriting partnership. They complement and build off each other's ideas.
But it also sets the plot point that Jimmy wrote their big hit at a much slower tempo and was forced continuously to play it at the "hit" speed. This sets it up for when they finally hit the big time studio, and once again he's being told what to do causing him to freak out and quit. That way, his quitting the band doesn't come out of nowhere.
andyinoregon, Turning "Please Please Me" into an up-tempo number was John Lennon's idea. Regardless, George Martin knew a great idea and a great #1 song when he heard it.
@@jasona9 McCartney stated in 1995's Antholoogy series that it was George Martin who suggested they change the slow tempo, and Martin elsewhere says it was his request as well.
I liked how the lead was mad but got dragged into the fast tempo, the other guitarist “got it” right away and was having fun, and the bassist was confused the entire time.
My favorite thing about this movie is that The Bassist is never named. He's only ever "The bass (TB) player." It's so true. There's always that one guy in a band who nobody knows. "U2 is great! I love Bono and the Edge and...uh... that dude."
This. Is. Gold!! When you are more talented than you thought, what an awesome twist!! Just by the drummer changing the tempo, their lives were never the same. Guys didn't know neither imagined in their wildest dreams they had a Billboard Top Ten literally in their hands and they had no friggin idea, love this movie so much!!! 😭
Watched this movie for the 6th time a few years ago and noticed Adam Schlesinger's name in the credits. Did some research and couldn't believe how many great songs this amazing man wrote. Became a big fan right away and now he's been taken from us way too soon. RIP Adam. Your songs will live forever.
Giovanni Ribisi, he’s a very active actor even now. He’s in both Ted movies. Fun fact, he’s my exes moms ex boyfriends nephew, my exes mom used to babysit him in the 80s.
Great movie! It really captured that part of America before everything changed. I love the scene where they hear their song on the radio for the first time in the appliance store.
this is one of those rare movies that makes me laugh through the whole thing out of love for the characters and appreciation of their little moments and quirks. It's more than a brash comedy, because the humor comes out of appreciating the story and the characters rather than raw jokes. Chad in the corner complaining about the drumming being too fast, Lenny turning around and calling Guy a lucky man, and Guy having the time of his life on the drums, are all great moments in this scene that make me laugh and bring a smile to my face. This is one of the best feel-good movies.
This movie is so great and feels so genuine because it draws inspiration from, and mirrors, real bands from the era . . . Like The Four Seasons popularity exploding after Bob Gaudio replaced a band member who could no longer be in the band, providing the missing "it" factor they needed. How the song "That Thing You Do" actually became popular in the real world, like how The Monkees were a tv show about a band that then crossed the lines into the music industry. Etc etc
Idk why but this version has always been my favorite of them all through the movie. The studio version & live version at the end are great of course too but there’s something about this one even though it’s off tempo sounding. It for some reason sounds so good naturally to me that has always left me like wow! What a fun film. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It’s the favourite because it’s the fastest performance of the song. It becomes more polished but slower. That disappointed me when I listened to the soundtrack.
Lenny is the true hero of the band! Guy made it fast, but if you think about it Lenny was the one who jumped on board right away, got Jimmy to leave Guy alone and start singing, adjusted his playing the quickest, added the singing harmonies - if he hadn't been there it would have ended with Jimmy just yelling at Guy and probably storming off.
GREAT movie. Really genuinely captures the feeling / atmosphere of the early 1960's in the USA from a young person of that era's viewpoint (I was there, am 65 years young now...)
Mack Noeth, This is my favorite version too. Very raw! Great harmony in the lead and back-up vocals. Mike Viola is on the lead vocals. I wonder who sang back-up? Jonathan Schaech didn't sing for himself, I doubt Steve Zahn did either.
I can't stop laughing seeing Lenny smiling and enjoying this fastest tempo, quite the opposite of Jimmy who was taking himself way too seriously. But seeing him leading Jimmy to go a bit faster with that amused smile on his face is pure gold!
Great song, has the school gym vibe. Was in a band in high school so this is fun. I love the fact that they are playing budget gear for this version: Silvertone, Sears guitars, amps, Danelectro and then later in the movie they are all geared up with Fender guitars and amps.
T.B. Player is playing a Danelectro Short Horn Bass ( Lenny is also technically playing a danelectro ( sold as a Silvertone) ( I mostly play Danelectro’s because they were originally headquartered in the town in New Jersey where I was born.. still live in jersey but farther south)
@@rexoates3353 Two hottest girls in the movie were the girl in the skin tight yellow bathing suit in the Capn Geech and the Shrimp Shack scene, and Chelly Chantreline. TB Player was a dawg!!
As a drummer watching this i was like “COME ON! LETS GO! PICK IT UP!” And of course, LOVING it! Guy had played the song with the guys before, he understood that it wasn’t working very well, he then made a decision that would change not only the tempo of the song but the story of the band. It was the absolute right decision
I was in a band back in 1964 ... We were booked into the Enlisted Men's club at Mayport Naval Station, FLorida, on a Sunday afternoon. We took two cars, and good thing, as the car with most of the gear got a flat tire. So we shuttled everything back and forth with the other car, and we were late setting up. We were also already tired, hot and sweaty. The crowd was more than annoyed that we started late. We played an instrumental to get warmed up. NO response from a huge, packed house. Then we played DC5's "Glad All Over" and the place instantly exploded with cheers and applause the second we finished the song. What a trip that was. This song reminds me of that, but no Liv Tyler ...
@Mick Jagger Anything by the DC5 (Dave Clark Five) is a gem. Also check out "Bits and Pieces", "Can't You See That She's Mine", and "Anyway You Want It", all amazing rockers. And one of the most beautiful ballads, "Because".
This scene reminds me of a place, and the kids in it, of the crowd in Palatka, Florida in 1965, when I was in a group called, "Dawn and the Daybreaks" ... A for-real, Happy Days gig. Loved it, my favorite place to ever play, across a 35 year weekend playing career.
"I am Spartacus". Every time I watch this movie or listen to the soundtrack, I am amazed at the music written for this movie. Music written in 95-96 for a movie set in 1964 that is so authentic, so genuine. All of it sounds like it's from that period.
Technically not a ballad haha. It was a ballad when Jimmy wrote it but Guy turned it into a Merseybeat style rocker! But yea I can totally see this being a hit in the summer of ‘64.
@@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820 thank you for the correction (not sarcasm). I genuinely appreciate it so I don't go around calling things ballads that aren't ballads lol
@@CMonty Ah don’t worry about it man, it’s no big deal, I’m just a huge music lover who gets really technical with these things sometimes haha. A good example of a ballad from these guys would be the B-side of “That Thing You Do” from the movie, “All My Only Dreams”, it’s a great song too!
@@chasbodaniels1744 The next step, of course, is when everybody gets "locked in" to what the others are doing or are going to do, and you can just feel that they're going to do something new and you give them the space to do it. I was playing keyboard in a band for a while, and you'd almost instinctively lay back when you felt the drummer or lead was about to do something they hadn't done before. It also means that if someone screws something up, you can cover it. Many years ago when I was in college, I was in the pit for our yearly musical, and most of us had played together going back to jr. high and high school. One night, the girl singing one of the big numbers in the show started singing about three bars too soon. Not four, where it would have made musical sense if you were going to come in early, but three. I swear, you could feel all 20 of us take a deep breath, and then jump as a unit to where we needed to be
I think Tom Hanks had once mentioned somewhere that he actually had The Dave Clark Five in mind for the inspiration for The Wonders. The Dave Clark Five were the foremost rivals of The Beatles during that period. I love 'Thank Thing You Do". Such a great fun movie.
@@07foxmulder Ultimately, yes. But both the Dave Clark Five AND The Searchers, were giving The Beatles a run for their money through most of 1964. And The Rolling Stones were in the thick of it, as well (albeit, often times, copying what The Beatles had already written and reocorded).
I love the different reactions immediately after Guy starts the tempo faster. Jimmy is obviously irked because that's not what he wrote/rehearsed, T.B. Player is completely like a deer caught in headlights and only gets into the grove in the final chorus (lol), and Lenny (the member whose there for the fun) absolutely loves the vibe and encourages Jimmy to immediately go ahead and even compliments Guy's drumming later. Just love it.
Amo esse filme! Essa é uma das melhores cenas, junto com aquela que eles ouvem a música a primeira vez no rádio. Quando eu era criança fiquei obcecada por esse filme e essa música, só queria que eles fossem uma banda de verdade.
This song just connected me even without watching the movie , it made me realise a band plays for the people and not for themselves or a single person in the band ,, we have to be together if we are a band
