h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

yesterday I saw parts of the Spinal Tap movie on a friend's DVD - we had already seen "Matrix", so he said he would just show me some scenes. We ended up seeing about two thirds of the film and spent as much time looking for "this hilarious scene that you just got to see!" - anyway, I just wondered: When was the film made?

I am almost certainly at a reasonable point of probablility to state with only a modicum of uncertainty that I believe Tap was made in 1982.

More interesting Tap trivia:
-all the dialogue was unwritten. Actors knew the basic setup of the scene, and the members of Tap each had access to a common base of 'band history' to prevent contradiction, but individual actors (such as Fran Drescher, who plays Bobbi Flekman, or Paul Shaffer, who plays Artie Fufkin)were completely winging it with their lines.
-the movie was filmed by an acclaimed cameraman who had much documentary experience. This accounts for the uncanny eye he had for developing situations and the true 'documentary' feel of the movie.
-although David, Nigel, and Derek are all Americans, their accents were not questioned when they went to visit the UK.

Tap has got to be one of the greatest movies of all time. There is a sequel.

The band has actually gone on tour and sold records. There are also some quite nice eleven inch action figures available at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately, 'Jim', the big skull with the horns omnipresent on the Tap stage, is not for sale.

Spinal Tap of course has their own website chock full of information and fascinating downloads such as the original performance of 'Gimme Some Money'.

If you are a musician you will especially like watching this movie. Great pains were taken to make sure the video of the boys playing matched the music of the boys playing. They truly do play their own instruments, and wrote or cowrote all the songs. You will also enjoy Derek's completely redundant and useless double-necked BC Rich bass guitar. It would be interesting to find out how much that thing weighs.

Everyone has their own favourite bit of Tap. I think for myself I enjoyed the '11' scene and also the end bits where Nigel is discussing various topics as fish and haberdashers. "Do you wear black?-what size please?'" Another classic moment is when David is discussing 'the end' with a reporter. You'll just have to find these for yourself!

Everyone also has a favourite Tap song. Mine are GSM and Stonehenge.

Hope this was helpful!