That Thing You Do: Revisiting the Tom Hanks Pop Classic

One-hit-wonders are an unusual thing. There are endless examples of artists who create something monumental that blasts its way into the pop culture zeitgeist and temporarily enchants and captures our attention. Then as quickly as they came, they seem to disappear. That is the idea behind 1996’s That Thing You Do! Written, directed by, and starring Tom Hanks as Mr. White- a big-time record producer who’s just discovered his next big talent- a small-town Pennsylvania rock n’ roll band with the potential to be the next big thing.

#TomHanks #ThatThingYouDo #CharlizeTheron

[johngoodman]

Forgot to mention the late Adam Schlesginer wrote 'That Thing you do' A pop music legend.

[TJ_Mc]

Tom also cast his longtime friend and former Bosom Buddies costar, Peter Scolari, as a TV host. This shows Tom remembered where he came from. Great, great movie.

[thecastiel]

Rest in peace Adam Schlesinger, the secret sauce of this movie from Fountains of Wayne!

[noahhobson]

Both Dick Clark and Casey Kasem said that the song 'That thing you do' would have been a hit in 1964 and the two of them would know.

[shaindaman]

This Film is perfect. In every respect. One of my all-time favs.

[mikeedward]

Can’t believe you didn’t give a mention to Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger for writing the title track.

[lastguyminn]

The title song, written by the late Adam Schlesinger, is the biggest WONDER of all. It had to be something really special to make the story believable...and it's one of the catchiest pop songs I've ever heard. Every time I watch the movie, the song is stuck in my heads on repeat for days...and I don't even mind, in fact I love it!

[vijlartheodore]

on the DVD special features they show all 4 of them learning their instruments and jamming all day every day for a month, and that's what I've always liked most about their performance, they felt like s real band.

[janetaldrich]

"Little Wild One" and "Dance With Me" are great songs, too.

[Omar-wqdz]

An under appreciated film more people should watch, with some really catchy songs

[trinaq]

One of Tom Hanks' most underrated films. The song "That Thing You Do" is insanely catchy, but it plays so many times, that you eventually grow tired of it, befitting of a One Hit Wonder tune.

[rubytuesdayphoenix]

The title song didn't win Best Original Song at the Oscars, sadly. It lost out to some song I've never heard from Evita. That Thing You Do absolutely should have won, though

[benjsmithproductions]

Easily the most impressive part is the music. A movie about the 1960s music scene and you can't use any pre-exitsting so they basically re-create the whole landscape with original songs, and they all sound like thy could be deep cuts we all missed, mimicking everything from Miles Davis, to the Beach Boys to the Supreme to TV show themes to Teen Beach movies, etc. Soundtrack could was as Oscar-worthy as the title song.

[RHGarciaApr]

This movie is a family favorite of mine, along with another Hanks film, A League of Their Own.
Man, we were lucky in the 90s to have such films with wide appeal.

[Autshot]

Having the actors play their own instruments added so much to the scenes.

[TheMonkeyShowOnline]

Glad you added the 'I quit' scene at the end. That's always stuck out as one of my favorite random, obscure scenes in a movie, and perfectly captures the character in one single moment.

[edhirt]

Liv Tyler’s character is special. She creates someone you would really like to be best friends with.

[agdmills]

Bryan Cranston was in this as well as the astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom. One of my all time favorite movies. It's out of this world!

[coltonjones]

I’m a musician and teacher now, and my dad and I used to watch this on repeat as a kid.

[stevebills]

There's a version with an extra half an hour and no-one's thought to tell me that before??