A Mighty Wind
Encyclopedia
A Mighty Wind is a 2003 mockumentary
about a folk music
reunion concert in which three folk bands must reunite for a television performance for the first time in decades. It was directed (and co-written) by Christopher Guest
. The film is thought to reference the 2003 tribute concert to folk music producer Harold Leventhal
that reunited several of the folk groups that Leventhal had managed.
Guest co-stars and utilizes his company of actors from previous films such as This Is Spinal Tap
, Waiting for Guffman
, and Best in Show
for this film. They include Eugene Levy
, Catherine O'Hara
, Michael McKean
, Harry Shearer
, Fred Willard
, Bob Balaban
, Ed Begley, Jr.
, Jennifer Coolidge
, Paul Dooley
, John Michael Higgins
, Michael Hitchcock
, Rachael Harris
, Don Lake
, Jane Lynch
, Larry Miller
, Jim Piddock
, Deborah Theaker
, and Parker Posey
.
A song composed for the film by McKean and wife Annette O'Toole
was nominated for an Academy Award.
The Folksmen
trio consists of Mark Shubb (Harry Shearer
), Alan Barrows (Christopher Guest), and Jerry Palter (Michael McKean
). Their most famous folk song was "Old Joe's Place."
The New Main Street Singers are the second generation of the original Main Street Singers, formed by George Menschell (Paul Dooley
), the sole survivor of the original group. Menschell sings and holds a guitar he cannot play. Performers include Terry Bohner (John Michael Higgins
) and his wife Laurie Bohner (Jane Lynch
). Laurie is a former adult film star and with her husband, is co-founder of Witches in Nature's Colors (WINC), a coven of modern-day witches that worships the power of color. Another member is Sissy Knox (Parker Posey
), a former juvenile delinquent and daughter of one of the original Main Street Singers. They are managed by Mike LaFontaine (Fred Willard
), whose fifteen minutes of fame came by way of a failed 1970s TV sitcom, Wha' Happened?, which lasted less than one season. The group, which is otherwise entirely white, includes one Filipino American
member, Mike Maryama (played by Mark Nonisa).
Mitch Cohen (Eugene Levy
) and Mickey Crabbe (Catherine O'Hara
) are a romantic duo that released seven albums together until their traumatic break-up decades earlier. Their most famous song is "Kiss At the End of the Rainbow," during which the pair would actually kiss on stage.
After the three groups agree to the reunion performance, to be televised live on PBN, they begin rehearsals. The show itself goes off with only two hitches: two acts plan to play the same song, and Mitch temporarily disappears. In the finale, everyone joins together to sing "A Mighty Wind."
Six months after the reunion, Mickey is performing "The Sure-Flo Song" at her husband's trade show booth. Mitch is writing poetry again, claiming to be in a "prolific phase." Folksmen Mark Shubb is living life as a transgender
woman, while still singing in his famous bass voice. LaFontaine is reviving an idea for a sitcom starring the New Main Street Singers. He wants to call it "Supreme Folk" and have each play Supreme Court judges by day, folk singers sharing a house by night.
claimed that many of the songs were written when plane groundings in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks
meant she and husband Michael McKean
had to drive from their home in Los Angeles
to Vancouver
, where O'Toole's television series Smallville
was being filmed.
In the commentary for the DVD release, Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy say that in a scene that was cut from the finished movie, it is explained that Menschell cannot play the guitar, but that just before a performance of the original Main Street Singers, he got a stain on the front of his shirt and covered it up by holding a guitar for the performance, something he continued to do for all subsequent performances.
The Town Hall scenes were filmed at the restored Orpheum Theatre
in Los Angeles.
One of the songs from the movie, "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" was nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Song, and was performed at the 76th Academy Awards
by Levy and O'Hara (in character). The title song won the Grammy Award
for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
at the 46th Grammy Awards.
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
about a folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
reunion concert in which three folk bands must reunite for a television performance for the first time in decades. It was directed (and co-written) by Christopher Guest
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
. The film is thought to reference the 2003 tribute concert to folk music producer Harold Leventhal
Harold Leventhal
Harold Leventhal was an American music manager. He died in 2005 at the age of 86. His career began as a song plugger for Irving Berlin...
that reunited several of the folk groups that Leventhal had managed.
Guest co-stars and utilizes his company of actors from previous films such as This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock musical mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap...
, Waiting for Guffman
Waiting for Guffman
Waiting for Guffman is a mockumentary starring, co-written and directed by Christopher Guest that was released in 1997. Its cast included Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Parker Posey and others who would appear in several of the subsequent mockumentaries directed by Guest.The title of...
, and Best in Show
Best in Show (film)
Best in Show is a 2000 independent film that follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show. The film focuses on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers as they travel to the show and compete. Much of the dialogue was improvised.Christopher Guest directed; he also...
for this film. They include Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
, Catherine O'Hara
Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest...
, Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
, Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
, Fred Willard
Fred Willard
Fred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as...
, Bob Balaban
Bob Balaban
Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
, Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
, Jennifer Coolidge
Jennifer Coolidge
Jennifer Coolidge is an American actress best known for playing "Stifler's mom," the older woman in the film American Pie ; Hilary Duff's stepmother in A Cinderella Story ; Paulette, the manicurist in Legally Blonde and its sequel; the voice of Aunt Fanny in the animated feature Robots ; for her...
, Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley
-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
, John Michael Higgins
John Michael Higgins
John Michael Higgins is an American actor whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's The Late Shift, and a starring role in the American version of Kath & Kim....
, Michael Hitchcock
Michael Hitchcock
Michael Hitchcock is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and television producer.In 2011, Hitchcock became a writer and consulting producer for season 3 of the FOX television series Glee, where he had guest starred in season 1 as rival glee club director Dalton Rumba.As an actor, he has...
, Rachael Harris
Rachael Harris
Rachael Elaine Harris is an American actress and comedian.-Early life:Harris was born in Worthington, Ohio. She graduated from Worthington High School...
, Don Lake
Don Lake
Don Lake is a Canadian actor, film and television writer, and television producer. He is frequently cast by director Christopher Guest, and is also a close friend and the collaborative partner of Bonnie Hunt....
, Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
, Larry Miller
Larry Miller (actor)
Lawrence J. "Larry" Miller is an American actor, voice artist, comedian, podcaster, and columnist.-Early life:Miller was born in Valley Stream, New York, attended Valley Stream South High School graduating in 1971. He attended Amherst College...
, Jim Piddock
Jim Piddock
James Anthony "Jim" Piddock is an English actor, writer, and producer who began his career on the stage in England, before emigrating to the U.S. in 1981.-Life and career:...
, Deborah Theaker
Deborah Theaker
Deborah Theaker is a Canadian actress.Theaker is best known as Casey Edison on the Lucasfilm science fiction satire Maniac Mansion which ran from 1990 until 1993. In 1985, Theaker graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and later moved to Toronto, where she became a member of The Second...
, and Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
.
A song composed for the film by McKean and wife Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
was nominated for an Academy Award.
Plot
When influential folk music producer Irving Steinbloom dies, his children organize a memorial concert featuring his three most famous acts: The Folksmen, The New Main Street Singers, and Mitch & Mickey.The Folksmen
The Folksmen
The Folksmen are a fictitious American folk music trio, conceived and performed by actors/comedians/musicians Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. Originally created in 1984 for a TV comedy sketch, the Folksmen have subsequently maintained an intermittent public presence for more...
trio consists of Mark Shubb (Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
), Alan Barrows (Christopher Guest), and Jerry Palter (Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
). Their most famous folk song was "Old Joe's Place."
The New Main Street Singers are the second generation of the original Main Street Singers, formed by George Menschell (Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley
-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
), the sole survivor of the original group. Menschell sings and holds a guitar he cannot play. Performers include Terry Bohner (John Michael Higgins
John Michael Higgins
John Michael Higgins is an American actor whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's The Late Shift, and a starring role in the American version of Kath & Kim....
) and his wife Laurie Bohner (Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
). Laurie is a former adult film star and with her husband, is co-founder of Witches in Nature's Colors (WINC), a coven of modern-day witches that worships the power of color. Another member is Sissy Knox (Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
), a former juvenile delinquent and daughter of one of the original Main Street Singers. They are managed by Mike LaFontaine (Fred Willard
Fred Willard
Fred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as...
), whose fifteen minutes of fame came by way of a failed 1970s TV sitcom, Wha' Happened?, which lasted less than one season. The group, which is otherwise entirely white, includes one Filipino American
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
member, Mike Maryama (played by Mark Nonisa).
Mitch Cohen (Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
) and Mickey Crabbe (Catherine O'Hara
Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest...
) are a romantic duo that released seven albums together until their traumatic break-up decades earlier. Their most famous song is "Kiss At the End of the Rainbow," during which the pair would actually kiss on stage.
After the three groups agree to the reunion performance, to be televised live on PBN, they begin rehearsals. The show itself goes off with only two hitches: two acts plan to play the same song, and Mitch temporarily disappears. In the finale, everyone joins together to sing "A Mighty Wind."
Six months after the reunion, Mickey is performing "The Sure-Flo Song" at her husband's trade show booth. Mitch is writing poetry again, claiming to be in a "prolific phase." Folksmen Mark Shubb is living life as a transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
woman, while still singing in his famous bass voice. LaFontaine is reviving an idea for a sitcom starring the New Main Street Singers. He wants to call it "Supreme Folk" and have each play Supreme Court judges by day, folk singers sharing a house by night.
Production
In an interview about the film, Annette O'TooleAnnette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
claimed that many of the songs were written when plane groundings in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
meant she and husband Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
had to drive from their home in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, where O'Toole's television series Smallville
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
was being filmed.
In the commentary for the DVD release, Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy say that in a scene that was cut from the finished movie, it is explained that Menschell cannot play the guitar, but that just before a performance of the original Main Street Singers, he got a stain on the front of his shirt and covered it up by holding a guitar for the performance, something he continued to do for all subsequent performances.
The Town Hall scenes were filmed at the restored Orpheum Theatre
Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Orpheum Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, California, opened on February 15, 1926, as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the historical movie palaces in the city.The...
in Los Angeles.
Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews. Movie review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of critics gave the movie a positive review, with the consensus, "Though not as uproariously funny as Guest's previous movies, A Mighty Wind is also more heartfelt." Roger Moore called the film "mature, heartfelt and keenly observed." Roger Ebert, on the other hand, stated that "The edge is missing from Guest's usual style," giving the film two-and-a-half stars out of four.One of the songs from the movie, "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" was nominated for the Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Song, and was performed at the 76th Academy Awards
76th Academy Awards
The 76th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films of 2003 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 29, 2004 . The show was produced by Joe Roth and was hosted for the eighth time by comedian Billy Crystal.The...
by Levy and O'Hara (in character). The title song won the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media has been awarded since 1988 and is awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media...
at the 46th Grammy Awards.