If you haven’t listened to Harry Nilsson’s The Point! or watched the related cartoon, it’s time.
The Point is the story of Oblio, a child in the Pointed Village, where everyone and everything has a point. Born round, Oblio is the exception to the rule. Despite his well-known pointlessness, he manages to fit in fairly well. His mother has made him a pointed cap, which helps him look like everyone else. He also has a dog, Arrow, who teams up with him for the popular game Triangle Toss. Then he crosses the Count’s son and finds himself banished to the Pointless Forest. His journey through the forest convinces him that everything has a point (visible or not). Like The Princess Bride, the story is framed within a story of an adult reading to a child, complete with interruptions. There is a moral — errrr, point — to the story, but it doesn’t feel preachy.
The television show, which I saw at least once as a kid, is true to its time (1971). Its animation is basic but beautiful — in a very different way than, say, Miyazaki’s animation. It’s also pretty trippy. I wasn’t terribly surprised to learn that Nilsson conceived of the story while on acid. You’ll recognize many of the voices: Ringo Starr is the narrator (for the best-known version), Mike Lookinland is Oblio, and Paul Frees and Lennie Weinrib also contributed their talents. When I rewatched the video before writing this post, I found a moment that is cringe-worthy in its lack of sensitivity — a stereotype of a Chinese man during the first few seconds of “P.O.V. Waltz” — but otherwise the video is as watchable and relevant today as it was when it first came out.
The album is classic Nilsson. It includes “Me and My Arrow,” a song you may have heard even if you are unfamiliar with The Point. In fact, I was inspired to write this post because I recently heard that song in a store and found myself grinning ear-to-ear. I listened to my parents’ album over and over and am overjoyed to have found a man who shares my love for it. His commentary about and clips of The Point are far better than the official video trailer.
The Vinyl Geek recommends that you watch the video on YouTube and buy the vinyl album. I agree that the album is amazing. If you can get your hands on a good copy with the insert, by all means get it! But new copies of The Point! are not available, so unless you’re lucky enough to find a reasonably priced album in good condition, you may have to settle for the CD or MP3 version. (Since plenty of people are listening to vinyl again, I hope the album will be re-released, complete with the insert.) Rather than watching the video on YouTube, however, I’m going to encourage you to get it from Netflix (you’ll have to get it on disc) or see if your library has it. You can also purchase the DVD from Amazon.