That's the Way of the World (film)

That's the Way of the World
Original 1975 theatrical poster
Directed bySig Shore
Written byRobert Lipsyte
(story and screenplay)
Produced bySig Shore
StarringHarvey Keitel
Ed Nelson
Earth, Wind & Fire
CinematographyAlan Metzger
Edited byBruce Wittkin
Music byMaurice White
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • June 20, 1975 (1975-06-20)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

That's the Way of the World is a 1975 film produced and directed by Sig Shore and starring Harvey Keitel. It features the music of R&B/Funk group Earth, Wind & Fire (who also appear in the picture as a fictionalized version of themselves). The film depicts the music business and the life of record executives. A soundtrack by Earth, Wind & Fire released in the same year eventually became one of the group's landmark albums.

Plot

Coleman Buckmaster (Harvey Keitel), also known as "the Golden Ear", is a producer extraordinaire for A-Chord Records. In the midst of working slavishly to complete the debut album of "the Group" (Earth, Wind & Fire), Buckmaster is forced to put their project on the back-burner in favor of a new signing to A-Chord, "the Pages," Velour (Cynthia Bostick), Gary (Jimmy Boyd) and Franklin (Bert Parks). According to label head Carlton James (Ed Nelson), the Pages represent good, old-fashioned, wholesome family values. According to Buckmaster, they represent everything wrong with the music business: a soulless pastiche of cheese-on-white-bread, and he wants nothing to do with them. However, due to his contract, he is forced to turn the flat song of their demo, "Joy, Joy, Joy" into a workable hit. In the meantime, he ends up in a relationship with Velour, seemingly also against his will, but he is able to use the relationship to his and the Group's advantage, then to break the news of a makeshift marriage to Velour, updated her part of the music contract, the Pages. A twist where everybody wins.

Cast

See also