- The story of the Pre-Fab Four and their fight to be taken seriously as musicians.
- In 1966, producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafaelson come up with the idea of creating a TV show that would feature the American answer to the Beatles, The Monkees. Eventually, four young men are chosen for the roles, Mickey Dolenz the former child TV star, the stage actor Davey Jones and the musicians, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork. With the aid of a successful music producer and able TV promotion, the Monkees become a sensation. However, that success is tainted, to the chagrin of the band, as they find themselves labeled as talentless phonies. This film covers the band's frustrating struggle to prove their detractors wrong as they struggle to earn some artist legitimacy. Whether it's by learning to excel as a band or experimenting with wild ideas for their show and film, Head, nothing seems to work. Meanwhile the band have their internal tensions as various members struggle to decide what is really important to them, simple material success, or having real artistic respect for their work?—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
- 1965. Van Foreman pitches an idea to television producer Harris Green for a show: four band-mates, much like The Beatles, would act irreverent, in being fictionalized versions of themselves, in their day-to-day lives, the more irreverent the better, while the music that they perform on the show being released concurrently on vinyl. It would be a show about young people directly aimed at young people. Getting the green light from Green, Foreman, through an open casting call, has more trouble trying to find the four with the needed personalities that would not only work together in truly seeming like lifelong friends but be different from each other, all the while being able to perform as a band. He ultimately hires unknowns Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, the show and their band to be called The Monkees (1965)/The Monkees. Concurrently, Foreman contracts out the musical control of the show and the band to established producer Don Kirshner, whose idea, much like how he has packaged other acts, is for the four boys solely to front for other musicians, although he will allow the boys to do their own vocals. After some initial bumps, the show does get off the ground, and the Monkees become a hit, both as a musical group and as a television show, especially among the teenage girl demographic. As this success increases, the musical aspect of the concept hits a sour note with Peter and especially Mike as the two true musicians - Micky and Davy who did not play an instrument walking into the job - who truly want "the band" to live or die by their talent or lack thereof of being musicians. While family-man Mike has the focus on real music, and non-singer Peter, as the counter-culturalist, on his one-ness with the world, Davy, who had performed on Broadway and who has emerged as the star among the ensemble, feels the most lost in searching for what makes him happy, the fame and the real music individually giving him happiness without feeling happy overall. These issues place the four on a potential collision course with Foreman, Green and specifically Kirschner, and on a potential collision course with each other.—Huggo
- Four young men - Davy, Peter, Mike and Micky - were brought together to provide America's answer to The Beatles' phenomenon. The Monkees burst upon an unsuspecting world in 1965, becoming an overnight sensation. Now... for the first time, the untold story of The Monkees.—Anonymous
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Top Gap
By what name was Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story (2000) officially released in Canada in English?
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