One Trick Pony

Paul Simon’s One Trick Pony (1980) was one of the last in a string of rock-star movie vanity projects, drug and/or ego-driven spectaculars like Magical Mystery Tour (Beatles), Renaldo and Clara (Bob Dylan), A Poem is a Naked Person (Leon Russell), Journey Through the Past (Neil Young) and 200 Motels (Frank Zappa). No matter how surreal, artsy or faux documentary, once the vibe of self-indulgence escapes the bottle, it’s difficult putting it back.

One Trick Pony, written by and starring Simon, is a straightforward narrative about an “aging” rock star attempting to fix a broken marriage, keep his band on the road and record a hit record that’ll get back him into the big time.

The idea of rock stars growing older was a thing in 1980 as Lennon and Dylan approached 40 and Woodstock was more than ten years in the rearview mirror. Classic rock (when it was still just plain “rock”) was gasping for air and couldn’t keep up with the energy and zest of punk and new wave.

Simon plays one-hit wonder Jonah Levin, lucky enough to stay off the oldies carousel as he continues to tour and write new music, a lifestyle that ultimately busted his marriage. “You get to a certain age and rock and roll is sort of pathetic,” scolds his wife (Blair Brown).

Sure, she’s bitter but Jonah is performing songs with titles like How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns and God Bless the Absentee. He’s not exactly Ozzy Osbourne or Lux Interior.

One Trick Pony may reveal more about Paul Simon than Jonah Levin. If Art Garfunkel could have an acting career working with hotshot directors like Mike Nichols and Nicolas Roeg, why not Simon? And if Artie could unveil his pale scrawniness in Carnal Knowledge (1971) and in the originally rated X and released a few months before One Trick Pony, Bad Timing (1980), why couldn’t Simon? In One Trick Pony we get two bathtub scenes, bedroom sex with Brown and, most embarrassing of all, Simon’s naked torso with tight jeans, more Burt Reynolds than sensitive singer/songwriter.

The one time when Simon allows himself to be filmed in an unflattering light is when he and his band walk through an airport: he looks to be nearly a foot shorter than his fellow musicians, and with his perpetual oversized baseball cap and solemn look comes off like a Little Leaguer braving a stomachache.

Simon’s acting is serviceable, much better than the wooden line readings he gave in Annie Hall (1977). Jonah’s band, an all-star group of studio musicians, cook during the live concert numbers, the only time Simon seems to come alive. A collegiate looking Lou Reed plays a record producer and when Jonah agrees to appear at a “salute to the sixties” event, there’s some exciting footage of Sam & Dave, plus a reunited Lovin’ Spoonful. And Tiny Tim wearing this cool custom suit.

If anything, One Trick Pony is notable today as possible source material for This Is Spinal Tap (1984). Harry Shearer has a brief role as Jonah’s manager, a member of Jonah’s band offhandedly mentions "the bigger the cushion, the better the pushin'" and the band shows up for a three-date gig only to find the club shuttered after the owner ran off with the money. Jonah’s band also plays Cleveland’s Agora Ballroom, obviously successfully navigating the “little jog to the left” and finding the stage.

Clocking in at two and a half minutes, Paul Simon wrote one of the best songs about the ups and downs of a traveling musician on the road, Homeward Bound. There was no need to stretch it out into ninety minutes.