Once upon a time in the town of Point, everything - all the buildings, trees, and even the people were pointed. Except for one little round-headed kid named Oblio.

 

The Point! is a wonderful adventure, enchanting both children and adults since 1971.

 

Harry Nilsson's The Point! tells the story of Oblio and his dog Arrow through narration and song. The The Point! album (available on CD) is narrated by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. The home video release is narrated by Ringo Starr.

 

 

The Point! debuted on the ABC television network on February 2, 1971, at 7:30pm (Eastern) - an hour earlier than the network's "Movie of the Week" usually aired. It was followed by a special, "Plimpton! The Man on the Flying Trapeze" starring George Plimpton, at 9:00 and "Marcus Welby" at 10:00.

 

Dustin Hoffman narrated the animated tale of Oblio and Arrow's adventures in the Pointless Forest.

 

Dustin Hoffman Narrates The Point!

 

Alan Barzman recorded narration for the film before Hoffman recorded his version. Barzman's recording provided a reference for the animators and a guide for Hoffman.

 

Apparently due to a contractual dispute, the version with Alan Barzman narrating aired on ABC in December of 1974.

 

 

Alan Thicke narrated a later version when it played on the Disney Channel.

 

Murakami-Wolf Productions, Fred Wolf Films, and Nilsson House Music produced The Point!. Harry Nilsson wrote the original story as well as the songs. Fred Wolf directed the film.

 

Nilsson first conceived the idea for The Point! while recording his Nilsson Sings Newman album. At the time Nilsson was working on the song "Think About Your Troubles" and described to Allen Zentz, the recording engineer, how Nilsson often visualized songs as cartoons.

 

Nilsson describes his initial inspiration in his 1978 interview with Colin Richardson:

 

Well, I was on acid at the time. I was walking through Laurel Canyon. In fact, it was the first time I took acid. The first time you take acid, God, you look around and ... Gee, look at all the flowers, look at all the plants. I was stuck in this room and there were plants and every one of them, each one of them comes to a point! I looked around and said, "Jeez, everything does" ... the wall there ... and stuff. Ahh ... "the point." What a pun. Like, ahh ... "good point." So, I started thinking about it. I wrote a twenty-two page treatment for it.

 

Nilsson goes on to describe how he accosted Marty Starger, ABC's head of programming, at the Los Angeles airport to sell the film to the network.

 

Mike Lookinland (best known as "Bobby Brady" on "The Brady Bunch") provides the voice of "Oblio."

 

The Point! has also been staged as a play a number of times. The most famous version is the 1977 London version starring Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones.

 

Fred Wolf Films has proposed an animated TV series, The Never Ending Adventures of Oblio and Arrow, based on The Point!.