One-Trick Pony is a 1980 film written by and starring Paul Simon and directed by Robert M. Young.
Jonah Levin (Simon) is a folk-rock musician who had his last hit, "Soft Parachutes," ten years ago. Now he's touring with his band and trying to get a chance to record a new album despite interference from overbearing record executive Walter Fox (Rip Torn) and trendy-but-talentless producer Steve Kunelian (Lou Reed). Meanwhile, he tries to maintain a relationship with his ex-wife Marion (Blair Brown) and their young son Matty (Michael Pearlman).
One-Trick Pony contains examples of:
- As Himself: Tiny Tim appears during the Salute to the Sixties, playing his ukulele backstage.
- Diegetic Switch: After a disastrous recording session, Jonah sits in his hotel room and begins to play "Long, Long Day" on his guitar. The song plays in the background while he visits Marion and Matty.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Once Jonah and Marion were having sex on the table when the babysitter walked in on them. Jonah ran and hid behind the fridge, while Marion just sat there with her pants down trying to act cool.
- Married to the Job: The reason Jonah's marriage fell apart. When he was at home, he was never really present - he kept making phone calls and writing songs. Marion could handle his going on tour, but she couldn't handle his job infiltrating their personal life.
- Modesty Bedsheet: After Jonah and Marion have post-divorce sex, they lie in bed with the sheet wrapped around her chest, while his is exposed.
- Protest Song: "Soft Parachutes" is about a teenager who was recently in high school but is now fighting in The Vietnam War, witnessing and committing atrocities for reasons he doesn't understand. Jonah doesn't play it anymore because it isn't topical now that the war is over.
- Really Moves Around: Modeena (Mare Winningham) moved all over the country as a kid because her dad's firm transferred him every other year or so. A.M. radio kept her sane because it played the same songs no matter where she was.
- Sleeping with the Boss's Wife: Jonah has a fling with Walter's wife Lonnie (Joan Hackett).
- Take That!: Walter Fox is based on CBS Records executive Walter Yetnikoff, with whom Paul Simon had clashed in the '70s.
- Talking to Plants: When Jonah asks Marion if she's spraying the fern regularly, she says, "I spray it every day, and I talk to it, give it lots of encouragement." She hasn't told the plant about the divorce because it's just beginning to sprout new leaves.
- Turn Out Like His Father: Matty wants to become a songwriter and musician like his dad. Marion desperately wishes he'd pick a better role model.
