Abba - The Movie is a feature length film about the pop group Abba's 1977 Australian tour. It was directed by Lasse Hallström, who directed all of the group's videos, and who went on to greater things. The Movie has become something of a cult film, both among Abba fans and students of kitsch.
The film has a very loose plot which is little more than a vehicle to link together the concert footage. It concerns the adventures of Ashley, a naive radio DJ who is sent by his boss to get an in-depth interview with the group, whose fame and stature neither he nor Ashley have the first clue about. Needless to say Ashley singularly fails, and is forced to follow the group all over Australia, with repeated run-ins with the group's bodyguard and his increasingly exasperated boss. Eventually, a stroke of luck has him bump into Stig Anderson, the group's manager, who grants him an interview. Unfortunately, he sleeps in and misses the appointment. Just as he is about to give up he bumps into the group in a lift, and manages to finally get the interview he needs, just in time to meet the deadline for the show to go out on air. He puts together the final edit in the back of a taxi on the way back from the airport as the group leave Australia for Europe.
The film's release coincided with the release of Abba - The Album, that year's studio album from the group, and features many songs from that album as well as many of their earlier hits.
