Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story how did I miss this?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Raylinds, Jul 22, 2021.

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  1. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    Last night I was looking for a movie to watch on Prime and ran into Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story and had to watch it as a lifelong fan of The Monkees. Apparently it was made in 2000 so i missed this for over 20 years. I thought it was pretty well done, but I don't know how accurate it is. I did notice they parked their car in front of an ATM in one scene. This was supposed to be 1965, and there were no ATMs in the U.S. until 1969. I enjoyed it a lot, though.

    With all the Monkees fans here, I am surprised I never saw anything about this movie. Is it because it is not liked by most fans? Is it extremely inaccurate? I would love to hear opinions about it.
     
  2. BobT

    BobT Resident Monkeeman

    I liked it- it was a fun movie, but not very accurate. They made Bert Schneider and Bob Rafleson one person in the movie, and the end was total BS, but it was fun to see a movie based on The Monkees. It was widely advertised at the time- guess you must have been on vacation or something :shrug::D
     
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  3. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
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  4. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    I remember watching it when it was new. I think it aired on VH-1, but I could be wrong about that. The actors portraying The Beatles were obviously wearing wigs and fake mustaches, but aside from that it was fun, although you can never expect historical accuracy in any musical biopic.
     
  5. bubba-ho-tep

    bubba-ho-tep Resident Ne'er-Do-Well

    Location:
    San Tan Valley, AZ
    I recall being very unimpressed with this when I first watched it on VH1. I tried to give it another shot on Prime a couple of weeks ago but couldn't make it through the first 20 minutes. Creative license is one thing, but this was pretty ridiculous.
     
  6. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    Now that I think about it back in 2000 I had just moved to Chicago, I was single and spent most of my time going to blues clubs with co-workers and didn't watch much TV. Now that I'm old and married, those days are behind me. I guess it's time to break out the DVDs of the show.
     
  7. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Saw The Monkees one and The Beach Boys one.
    The latter is somewhat better and a more enjoyable watch but there is a darkness underlying the whole story and it's different in that it's more about Dennis Wilson than the group.
     
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  8. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    It was indeed on VH-1 - part of a series of television movies they produced, which were biopics of pop stars. They did another one on Meatloaf and I think there may have been one on Ricky Nelson, as well. This was twenty years ago; my memory is a little rusty.

    I haven’t watched the movie since then, but I remember it being entertaining and pretty silly. There’s a scene where a fellow actor at the audition recognizes Micky as “Circus Boy” from television, and a scene where sheet music is changed with wite-out (get it?).

    One of the big dramatic moments involves Davy complaining that the lyrics to “Daydream Believer” don’t make any sense (which is odd - the words are pretty coherent to me). That moment was featured prominently in VH-1’s commercials advertising the movie.

    I remember VH-1 also airing a documentary about The Monkees in conjunction with the movie. It may have been an episode of Behind the Music, but I’m not sure. The documentary included a great moment where Micky compares the actors becoming real musicians to actors playing Klingons on Star Trek becoming real Klingons - which cut to Peter saying something like “Is he telling that Klingons story again? Come off it, Micky.” It was hilarious.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2021
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  9. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    Would have loved to see one on Ricky Nelson (but I don't remember them doing one on him).
    The VH-1 documentary was indeed a Behind the Music one.
    And it was "Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan" that Micky was talking about.
    Cut to Peter...
    "This Vulcan line, Micky give it up for God's sake."

    Darryl

     
  10. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    This is the IMDB entry for the Rick Nelson biopic. Per the reviews, VH-1 also produced a biopic on Sweetwater, the band that infamously didn’t play Woodstock (I vaguely remember that movie, as well).

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212468/
     
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  11. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    I always felt the story about The Monkees would make a great Broadway show.
     
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  12. Hadean75

    Hadean75 Forum Moonlighter

    I was about 13 when this movie came out and I remember loving it.

    Watching it now, it's a bit cheesy and definitely inaccurate, but it's still a fun movie to watch from time to time.

    From what I've read, he didn't understand some of the references/terms, like what a "homecoming queen" was because they don't/didn't have those in England(?).
     
  13. Lon

    Lon Senior Member

    Location:
    Tracy, CA
    I'm pretty sure that Sweetwater did play at Woodstock unless I am totally mistaken.
     
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  14. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Cheap TV movies always have trouble with anachronisms like wrong hair, wrong cars, wrong props, wrong phones, wrong signs, wrong logos, and I think it's even worse with movies about Hollywood or the music business. For the latter, they have to get the right microphones, mixing consoles, speakers, tape decks, and all that other stuff, and it's often wrong. They had some real howlers in the Genius: Aretha mini-series that was on some months ago, particularly in the 1950s scenes.

    I kind of winced at the casting on the Monkees Story show because I thought all the actors were a bit "off." It's very tough to get an actor to portray a real-life person that fans know intimately well. I guarantee you, the moment Paul McCartney drops dead (hopefully many years from now), they'll do a 10-hour show on Sir Paul's life and get everything wrong, plus they'll cover up the awful moments of his life (the Beatles' break-up, Linda's death, his bad divorce, etc.). Getting the voice, the look, the mannerisms, and the performing absolutely right is really, really difficult. I think one reason the Bohemian Rhapsody movie did so well (and made nearly a billion dollars) is because they got the casting and the overall look of that era very close to reality. I concede that some story details -- like the Live Aid concert and the timing of when Mercury actually told his bandmates about his illness -- were fudged, but at least it was an uplifting story that convinced me I was watching the actual performer for a couple of hours.

    I did note at the time Bohemian was released that during the end credits, they had footage of the real Freddie Mercury from several appearances, and I was immediately struck by how charismatic he was vs. the actor (Rami Malek) playing. I think Malek did as good a job as he could -- and won the SAG Award and an Oscar for it (and the film won 3 other technical awards) -- but when you see the actor and the real thing side by side, you realize he barely captured 50% of the genuine article. The Monkees movie was a lot worse than that, and a lot lower-budgeted, too.
     
  15. Mistermono

    Mistermono Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Saw this a couple of years ago and the main thing that struck me (beyond the cheese factor) was that it was shot here in Toronto.

    That and that someone I know (a Toronto actor) has a small role in the film.
     
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  16. Glenpwood

    Glenpwood Hyperactive!

    They did play Woodstock. VH-1 hyped the hell out of the Sweetwater movie. My co-workers and I at the CD store used to make fun of the dialogue from the trailer. 22 years later I can still call one of them and say - as Nanci Nevins…

    “But Mom I’m a singer. I sang for a million at Woodstock.”

    and my co-worker will always respond dramatically as Nanci’s mother…

    “That’s Who You Were!”

    We also liked to quote the more ridiculous one liners from Styx’s Behind The Music. I kinda wished VH-1 had done that instead of their $50 cheap budgeted take on The Monkees…
     
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  17. Neil Anderson

    Neil Anderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Just watched it! Loved it! the scene where Mike Nesmith punches a hole in the wall and says to Don Kirshner "that could have been your face!" was GREAT!
     
  18. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    Did they actually say "White-Out" in the film?

    If so, their little nod to Michael's mother was incorrect: She invented Liquid Paper, not White-Out.
     
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  19. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    You're right. I'm trying to access memories of a movie I watched once, twenty years ago, here. :)
     
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  20. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Yeah, I found this on Prime as well a few weeks ago and I enjoyed it. Not knowing the complete back story I didn't know what was fact and what was fiction but I found it quite enjoyable. I remember when this first came out but did not have cable at the time so I missed it. Glad I finally had a chance to see it.
     
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  21. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer Thread Starter

    They didn't mention it, they just had a shot of Mike using it, but you couldn't see the label.
     
  22. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    Haha, I remember this movie. My favorite part is when Jimi Hendrix opens for the Monkees, and gets booed by the audience, chanting, "We want the Monkees!"

    Jimi throws up the peace sign to the Monkees in frustration. :laugh:

    The scene starts at 1:08:30 in YouTube link below.

    VH-1 has a pretty good list of the "greatest" made-for-TV music biopics, many of which are a fun watch like this Monkees movie. I think my personal favorite is the Temptations, where David Ruffin lashes out as he's fired from the band, "There is only one David Ruffin! And without him, the Temps ain't nothin' but a group in SEARCH of a David Ruffin!" :laugh:

    For more recent fare, I like The Dirt on Netflix (Motley Crue biopic). I'll count that as made-for-TV.

    VH-1: How Does CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story Stack Up With These 10 Awesome Made-For-TV Music Biopics?

     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2021
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  23. CraigBic

    CraigBic Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I remember enjoying the movie at the time, I think I even watched it again on youtube a few times though I can't recall when. I'm sure a better movie could be made but it sort of does the job if you aren't interested in accuracy apparently.
     
  24. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Are any music-related movie biopics accurate?
    Me, I'm still waiting for a real Buddy Holly movie.
     
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  25. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I took this out from the library thinking that it was a documentary several years ago. It was OK to watch, despite the inaccuracies & the goofball ending.
     
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