An absolutely first rate documentary and far and away Taylor Hackford's best film this is a most diverting and insightful look at the great but flawed Chuck Berry. Its biggest virtue, for me, is the skillful balance Hackford strikes between hagiography and debunkery. Just when you think the film is gonna be a total white wash job it shows the guy as a controlling butthole with his wife or as a touchy jerk re: his run ins with the law. Or as a venal, money obsessed professional victim. And just when you think the film will take a dark turn into the dank byways of this fellow's psychosis it makes the very salient point that he's a musical genius, especially as a lyricist, and the even more provocative but in my mind correct statement that Berry was the first singer/songwriter (although Woody Guthrie fans would object and they might have a case!).
Yeah there are a lot of talking heads but somehow you don't mind as much when the bodies to which they're connected are named Springsteen, Diddly, Clapton and most spectacularly Richards, the later of whom almost but not quite steals the show from ol Chuck. And it's not as if Hackford neglects the music. Generous swatches of Berry songs are featured, my favorite of which is "Back In The USA" which he performs with the great Linda Ronstadt and which, if this country did not have its head up its rectum, would be our national anthem. Give it an A.
Yeah there are a lot of talking heads but somehow you don't mind as much when the bodies to which they're connected are named Springsteen, Diddly, Clapton and most spectacularly Richards, the later of whom almost but not quite steals the show from ol Chuck. And it's not as if Hackford neglects the music. Generous swatches of Berry songs are featured, my favorite of which is "Back In The USA" which he performs with the great Linda Ronstadt and which, if this country did not have its head up its rectum, would be our national anthem. Give it an A.