The Wonders: That Thing You Do! (1996/1964)

 |   |  1 min read

The Wonders: That Thing You Do! (1996/1964)

In his Grammy-grabbing career -- between Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13 and Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail and The Green Mile -- Tom Hanks did a small, cute, mostly inconsequential and slight pop movie, That Thing You Do!

Clearly this story of an imaginary one-hit wonder pop group from Pennsylvania in '64 was something close to his heart.

He wrote the story and directed the film, played the part of the group's manager, and convinced the likes of the young Liv Tyler and Charlize Theron to appear in it -- alongside his wife Rita Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Steve Zahn and Tom Everett Scott. There are brief appearances by Chris Isaak and trumpeter Alphonse Mouzon.

It isn't much of a story: the drummer in a local pop group breaks his arm, they recruit a new guy who much prefers jazz but who adds a Mersey-style backbeat to their ballad, it becomes a hit, the singer/writer is jealous of the drummer's cool look (Hanks puts him Roy Orbison shades) and they break up. That's about it.

But the film does capture some of the excitement and innocence of the Beatles-era pop scene in the US -- and had an interesting soundtrack.

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne wrote the catchy Beatles-like title track (sung by Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers and later the lead singer in the parody film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), Hanks wrote four others, and there are gentle parodies of the adult MOR of the period (cf Ray Conniff and Mitch Mitchell).

Oddly enough the very catchy but retro title song charted in the US and was nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Grammy.

More weirdly -- but also rather obvious when you think about it -- the song was later covered by none other than a band which had aped Beatles-era pop to great if equally short success as the imaginary Wonders . . . the Knack.

For more on-offs or songs with an interesting back-story see From the Vaults.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Pine Top Smith: Pine Top Boogie (1928)

Pine Top Smith: Pine Top Boogie (1928)

Aside from this being considered one of the first, if not the first, reference to "boogie woogie", there are a number of other interesting things about this recording by the pianist... > Read more

Oasis: Cum on Feel the Noize (1996)

Oasis: Cum on Feel the Noize (1996)

In their heyday, Oasis didn't just borrow from the Beatles, a Coke ad ("I'd like to teach the world to sing/buy the world a Coke") and glam but they would cover the Stones' Sympathy for... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

SOUND THINKING #1: The podcast for music people

SOUND THINKING #1: The podcast for music people

Late in 2023 a few articles appeared on the internet bemoaning the lack of music journalism in New Zealand. People looked back to the old days of Rip It Up, the Auckland Star and so on. The... > Read more

THE BARGAIN BUY: Crowded House: Crowded House + Woodface

THE BARGAIN BUY: Crowded House: Crowded House + Woodface

Here's one of the budget price gap-fillers for your collection, the Crowded House debut album from '86 and Woodface from five years later when Tim Finn briefly joined brother Neil in his band.... > Read more