Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Rock Documentaries

Bill Simmons today devoted a lot of words to Showtime's documentary The History of the Eagles directed by Alison Ellwood (who also directed a 30 for 30 feature for ESPN which may explain in part some of the effort by Simmons). I've watched this documentary a couple of times and fall prey to watching it pretty much each time I see that it is on. I enjoyed Simmons' piece but The History of the Eagles - as good as it is may not be even the best rock documentary I've seen in the past 24 months.

Other titles I'd put in the running include:

- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream (directed by Peter Bogdanovich). Very interesting history but 239 freaking minutes long.

- Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. Very under-rated flick about a man with more charisma than all the members of the Eagles combined.

- George Harrison: Living in the Material World (directed by Martin Scorsese). This was a two-part HBO special. Harrison was always my favorite Beatle. I would have to place this at the top of my list just because I found Harrison so fascinating a person.

2 comments:

  1. There's a great one on Shane McGowan that I loved.

    Joe Strummer seemed basically child like. He was a real live disciple of rock and roll.

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  2. Was that If I Should Fall from Grace?

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362751/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

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