The Gig

This little film brings back a lot of memories, both fond and foul, of what can and does happen when one is a working musician. The not so pleasant accommodations for the band, the management of the venue jumping up and down telling you what to play, the sheer ecstasy of the applause.............. Far from being farcical it is, in fact, very accurate in the way it depicts musicians, professional and otherwise, who have travelled a great distance to perform a season of gigs at a venue. There are those times when everything goes perfectly, there are those other times when you immediately start to miss your partner and wonder what the hell you are doing this far from home. In the end you have to make the best of it because there is no other way out.

This film gave me probably the most pleasant surprise of any I've ever seen. It was not a big-budget production and its premise, middle-age amateur jazz musicians get an unexpected professional engagement at a Catskills-like resort, seems rather modest. What's not modest is the film's success. This is a little slice-of-life movie that is most entertaining throughout. Director Frank D. Gilroy also wrote the script and it's full of interesting subplots and unexpected twists.

The actors are journeymen who do a solid job. The biggest revelation to me was Cleavon Little. He plays a professional musician who is hired to fill in for an ailing band member. His attitude immediately clashes with the others. While they see it as an opportunity for big fun and a once in a lifetime thing, he sees it as his job and not a particularly interesting one. This leads to conflict but when the group gets in trouble, he steers them through. Little, who died too young, really showed me he was a fine actor with this film.

This movie is a true sleeper, the kind that a film fan always hopes to discover. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

My review was written in November 1985 after watching the film at a Times Square screening room.

"The Gig" is a winning little film about a group of guys who try to fulfill their dream of being jazz players. Self-distributed by filmmaker Frank D. Gilroy, this comedy-drama should win favor with older audiences who can identify easily with the ingenious premise and situations.

Wayne Rogers toplines as a New York businessman who has played Dixieland jazz with his five pls for their own amusement once a week since 1970. He arranges a two-week pro engagement at Paradise Manor hotel in the Catskills and ultimately talks the group into taking the step, the convincing argument being when their bass player George (Stan Lachow) drops out due to a major illness, promoting solidarity among the other five.

The replacement bassist, veteran player Marshall Wilson (Cleavon Little), causes friction in the group, not so much because he's black and they're white but because of his unfriendly personality and condescending attitude towards the budding amateurs. Filmmaker Gilroy gets maximum comic mileage out of this contrast, while making good points concerning the snobism and purist stance that pervades many jazz circles.

At Paradise Manor, the group's dream of self-realization is almost snuffed out when hotel owner Abe Mitgang (Joe Silver, perfectly cast), immediately objects to their loud "biff, bang, bam" playing, and requires the band to play quiet, schmaltzy music. They ultimately succeed in winning over the resort audience to swinging Dixieland music Disillusionment comes when crooner Rick Valentine (played by actor-dj Jay Thomas) makes a comeback engagement and nastily insults the band's abilities when they can't play his Vegas-style arrangements, forcing Mitgang to fire them.

Aided by a very entertaining portrait of life at a Catskills resort, Wayne Rogers and Cleavon Little make a solid team. They're supported ably bby reallife jazz artist Warren Vache (who plays his own cornet here and doubled as film's musical director) portraying, natch, the most talented musician in the group; Jerry Matz as the clarinetist with an inflated view of his abilities; Andrew Duncan as the henpecked pianist; and Daniel Nalbah s the morose drummer/dentist.

"The Gig" stands as an effective peek at the wish-fulfillment fringes of show business, previously treated from a jazz vantagepoint in the 1976 Swedish pic "Sven Klang's Combo".

This movie is almost never seen today - the only reason I can enjoy it again and again is from a slightly worn out VHS copy I made when the film was shown on TV in 1991 here in England.

An ensemble cast are obviously enjoying themselves and this is reflected to the viewer. A razor sharp script helps things along, and once you've seen this you will want to watch it over and over again.

Wayne Rogers is the 'star' but everyone contributes to a great film, with a great jazz soundtrack to boot. There are emotional moments during the film, but never to the point of sickly sweet sentimentalism - these are guys on the trip of a lifetime, and they convey that excitement wonderfully.

Highly recommended if you can actually get to see it.

"The Gig" is a tight, funny and poignant little movie about a group of friends that have gathered together on a regular basis to play Dixieland for fun. The group unexpectedly lands a real paying job, in musician's parlance; a "gig".

They travel to upstate NY for a two week gig at a summer resort minus one member, who bows out due to contracting cancer. At the last minute, they hire a professional to take his place. Things get sticky as an over-the-hill Frankie Valli type attempts a comeback at the resort and tries to utilize the group as his band.

The attitude the professional bass player gave the guys rang true. By signing up to play the two-week gig, they were taking bread out of the mouths of someone who needed the job to feed his or her family. While Pop, Rock, Rap, Country and Western, and R&B stars make money off of albums. Jazz musicians have to travel abroad to make a living. Almost nobody gets rich. The guys living their dream also cost others a needed income.

I believe that almost everyone who can play a musical instrument with some proficiency dreams about playing a paying "gig" one time or another, Woody Allen and Kevin Bacon are two popular examples of this amateur-to-professional crossover. I especially recommend this movie to anyone who has ever played music professionally. My mom, who was a musician, LOVED it.