Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
Pink Floyd: The Wall is a 1982 music movie directed by Alan Parker, with a running time of 1h 35m. It stars Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves and James Laurenson.
Pink is a rock star sealed inside his own success. Alan Parker's film, written by Roger Waters from Pink Floyd's 1979 album, has almost no dialogue; it moves on music, memory, and Gerald Scarfe's grotesque animation. Bob Geldof plays Pink as a man bricking up a wall against grief, war, a lost father, a failing marriage, and the machinery of fame. Hallucinatory and bleak, it turns a concept album into a fever dream of isolation, staged less as a story than as a breakdown witnessed from inside the head of the man having it.
Quick answers
What is Pink Floyd: The Wall about?
Pink is a rock star sealed inside his own success. Alan Parker's film, written by Roger Waters from Pink Floyd's 1979 album, has almost no dialogue; it moves on music, memory, and Gerald Scarfe's grotesque animation. Bob Geldof plays Pink as a man bricking up a wall against grief, war, a lost father, a failing marriage, and the machinery of fame. Hallucinatory and bleak, it turns a concept album into a fever dream of isolation, staged less as a story than as a breakdown witnessed from inside the head of the man having it.
When was Pink Floyd: The Wall released?
Pink Floyd: The Wall was released on 14 July 1982.
How long is Pink Floyd: The Wall?
Pink Floyd: The Wall runs 1h 35m.
Who made Pink Floyd: The Wall?
Pink Floyd: The Wall was directed by Alan Parker.
Where can I watch Pink Floyd: The Wall?
Pink Floyd: The Wall is available on Fawesome.
Where to watch Pink Floyd: The Wall
Watch free: Fawesome
Cast
- Bob Geldof as Pink
- Christine Hargreaves as Pink's Mother
- James Laurenson as Pink's Father
- Eleanor David as Pink's Wife
- Kevin McKeon as Young Pink
- Bob Hoskins as Rock and Roll Manager
- David Bingham as Little Pink
- Jenny Wright as American Groupie
- Alex McAvoy as Teacher
- Ellis Dale as English Doctor
- James Hazeldine as Lover
- Margery Mason as Teacher's Wife
Similar movies
Explore Pink Floyd: The Wall guides
A few thoughts on Pink Floyd: The Wall
Best taken with the album that spawned it, Pink Floyd's The Wall, playing loud against the images. For more rock opera turned to film, Ken Russell's Tommy shares the delirium, and Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream matches the spiral into isolation. This is mood and dread over plot, closer to a nightmare set to music than a conventional drama.
Concept albums and rock operas that became movies
The Wall began as Pink Floyd's 1979 album before Alan Parker turned it into Bob Geldof's fever dream on screen, and these titles pull the same trick. Phantom of the Paradise reworks Faust into a glam rock opera, Tenacious D chases a mythical pick through a mock-metal quest, American Satan tracks a band's rise and ruin, and Detroit Metal City splits a gentle musician into a monstrous stage persona.
Fame that curdles into isolation and breakdown
Pink's wall goes up brick by brick as fame turns to isolation, and these follow that same slow collapse. Better Man stages Robbie Williams's rise and unraveling as unsparing spectacle, Joker traces a mocked, invisible man cracking into something the world finally notices, and Mo' Better Blues and Jailhouse Rock watch talent curdle into self-destruction once the crowd starts watching.
Arena rock captured as its own kind of cinema
The Wall grew out of Pink Floyd's own stage show, built as spectacle before it became a film, and these keep that scale intact. Celebration Day and Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes capture stadium rock as full theatrical event, Viva Las Vegas and Eddie Cochran & Friends do the same for an earlier generation, and Great Performances has spent decades broadcasting that same grandeur.
Youth rebellion set to a soundtrack that means it
Pink Floyd's most famous scene turns a classroom into a chant of revolt, and these movies live in that same defiant register. Suburbia and Times Square follow kids who choose the street and the noise over anything adults offer, while Beats and Battle of the Year find rebellion inside a scene built on rhythm rather than lyrics, loud enough to drown out everything else.