Last month, Paul McCartney reissued his 1973 Wings album Red Rose Speedway in a deluxe edition, including 3 discs, 2 DVD, and 1 Blu-ray. Wings diehards were late on their rent. Included in the visual portion of the package was an unreleased animated film called The Bruce McMouse Show, which combined animations of a family of music-loving mice living underneath a concert stage with live footage of four Wings live shows from 1972. Now, Bruce McMouse is finally getting a one-day-only theatrical release in selected cities around the United States, Canada, the U.K., and Australia. Speedway freaks can get a taste of McMouse on the big screen on January 21.
Directed by Barry Chattington, the film, which was inspired by sketches by McCartney, was in production until 1977. At that point, Wings no longer existed in the same form, and the project was shelved. Paul and the late Linda McCartney provide the voices of two of the mice. The description of the plot of The Bruce McMouse Show, which I received in a promotional e-mail, is some of the best PR copy I have ever read, so I’d like to present a snippet of it here for your enjoyment, since no paraphrase could do it justice:
The camera takes us down through the floorboards into this charming animated world. We see Bruce McMouse regale his children with stories from his past, when son Soily rushes into the room in a whirlwind of excitement announcing that “The Wings” are playing above them. As the concert plays on, Bruce declares to his wife Yvonne that Paul and the band need his help. Bruce then proceeds to venture on stage to offers his services as producer. As the concert progresses, the animated scenes culminate with dozens of animated mice flocking to the venue to see Wings play.
The final scene sounds a bit like the end of Rat Race, when all the contestants end up at a Smash Mouth concert together. It’s worth noting that the tale of the dastardly and charming mouse impresario, Soily, and the whole gang is coming to theaters in the same year that McCartney is due to release his new children’s book, Hey Grandude! Check out a teaser for The Bruce McMouse Show and the full list of theaters at which it is playing below. You can buy tickets at (you guessed it) brucemcmouse.com.
US:
New York: IFC Center
Los Angeles: ArcLight, Hollywood
Bethesda: ArcLight Bethesda
Chicago: ArcLight Chicago
Dallas: ANGELIKA
Honolulu: Kahala 8
Nashville: Belcourt Theatre
Phoenix: FilmBar
Sacramento: The Tower Theatre
San Diego: ANGELIKA, Carmel Mountain
San Rafael: San Rafael Film Center
Seattle: SIFF Uptown
U.K.:
Liverpool: Everyman Cinema Liverpool
London: Everyman Cinema Hempstead
Australia:
Melbourne: Rivoli Cinemas
Perth: Event Cinemas Innaloo
Sydney: Event Cinemas George Street
Canada:
Montreal: Cinéma Banque Scotia Montréal
Toronto: Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Vancouver: Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver
