Rock Bio-pics

[Sir Rob]

Can anyone think of a really decent rock bio-pic?  I think this must be one of the very worst movie genres.  They just never really convince IMO.  There's something about an actor playing a famous music legend that I can never take seriously.  Then there's the secondary characters, who sort of lurk in the background through most of the film but because they're also famous they have to be made up to look like whoever it is they're playing and it never quite works.  Hmmm...I'm thinking of the blokes who play Robbie Krieger and John Densmore in The Doors here.  Even Kyle McLachlan just looks like Kyle McLachlan trying to look like Ray Manzarek appearing in 'Stars In Your Eyes' (UK talent show in which people are made up to imitate pop singers).  Backbeat - there's another one. I didn't believe that was John Lennon.  Also, often there's just too much crammed in - a kind of then this happened, then this happened effect (both Beach Boys movies, for example).  I don't think there's a single great movie in this genre.  There all so-so at best in my view.

[I. Spaceman]

Dead Man's Curve is the only good one.
And if you want to add country, then Coal Miner's Daughter.
Otherwise, the worst genre in existence.

[LaurieBiagini]

I enjoyed Dead Man's Curve very much.  (It started my interest in Jan & Dean) 

[I. Spaceman]

And you originally just watched it because you were such a Galactica fan!

[LaurieBiagini]

Actually, my dad saw the commercial preview for it.. I was in the kitchen doing my homework and he calls to me "Hey Laurie I think there's a movie about the Beach Boys about to start".   ROFL!

[al]

Although 'THe Doors' has its flaws (many), it is the ONLY bio-pic I can think of in the rock field that gets many things right, has a bunch of actors that can play, a singer who sounds and looks uncannily like the real thing (as opposed to the BB flick for example and is done with a bit of money and imagination, so that at times you can't tell the difference between soundtrack and real track.

It would be nice if someone else put that sort of effort in again - like with a VU pic.

The forthcoming Dylan one looks interesting in an artistic sense (several actors playing his different incarnations) but whether it will work in practice.

The genre is a bit like comic book movies - you get all excited that someone is making it and then when it happens you curse the ground they walk on for having screwed up another character with promise.

[Chris D.]

The genre is a bit like comic book movies - you get all excited that someone is making it and then when it happens you curse the ground they walk on for having screwed up another character with promise.

Not if you've seen them!  I don't really get the point of rock movies.  I'd rather have a well-researched book covering as many bases as possible than a film which will focus on one angle.

[Boxer Monkey]

"Spider-Man 2" was pretty good, I thought.

[Chris D.]

I haven't seen it, but I'm skeptical of any Spider-Man without Steve Ditko.

[al]

There ARE some decent comic films - ths last Batman was, at last IT! Yeah, I don't think we'll see a decent rock bio-flick till everyoe who remembers the original band is dead and can't compare it!

[Chris D.]

Alan, true -- Batman Begins was good.  So was Ghost World.  And I liked Superman, but it's been so long I'd have to see it again to say more.  Tim Burton's Batman was funny, but not for the right reasons.  So that's two movies I can really stand by.  Most comics movies are neutered and stupid compared to the source (From Hell).  With Spider-Man people focus on the everyman angle, wisely, but ignore Ditko's ethics and his interest in Ayn Rand, which was really important to that stuff.  That and I don't see much point -- just read the comic.  Comics can get away with so much more than movies.

[Jeff Mason]

I have liked the X Men movies.  Fairly true to the spirit of the book.  Next one will have Beast (played by Kelsey Grammer, of all people) and Angel in the movie, and do something a la Phoenix (but not quite the same).  Different director but the feel has been set, so I am still optimistic.

[Boxer Monkey]

I thought the movies pretty well nailed Ditko, actually. But the thing is, it was the Green Goblin who more clearly espoused a Randian sort of ethos in the first movie, what with the rooftop speech about he and Spider-Man uniting at the expense of those who aren't "gifted" like they are. I don't think I'm the first to have pointed this out.

Ditko was -- is -- great, but he didn't go well and truly fascist until AFTER Spider-Man.

[Chris D.]

You're right, his stuff afterward seems more extreme.  I'll try to watch those again with what you say in mind, but they didn't really click with me before.

[dude ll doo]

Meg Ryan as Morrison's girlfriend (Pam?) is one of the funniest damn things i've ever seen.

[b.dfzo]

Why has no one mentioned "Walk The Line"?

And, though it doesn't fit the mold set by the title, I love Rock Bio Documentaries...

...like I Am Trying to Break Your Heart!!!!  Awesome movie for an awesome band.

[Boxer Monkey]

Chris, a must-read:

[I. Spaceman]

Why has no one mentioned "Walk The Line"?

Because it sucked harder than a foda Hoover factory.


Yes, we all love the rock doc. Let's do a separate thread forr that.

[Campion Bond]

I thought 'Backbeat' was pretty good. Although technically it was really about Stuart Sutcliffe rather than the beatles.
There's also some dodgy accents in there though...

[Chris D.]

Thanks, Boxer.  I read about that on a Ditko site and it looks really funny.  I'll look for that soon.

[Lester Byrd]

Perhaps opening a can of worms here, but...

How about Kurt Russell's Elvis. Haven't seen it in years, but I recall it as not too bad.

I saw the Lennon and McCartney made for TV thing, Two of Us, not long ago, and, while it has its cringy moments, on the whole it was pretty good. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who did Let It Be, so was not completely clueless about the subject.

The Hours and Times was pretty groovy as well. I think these last two work because they are up-front about being pure speculation, and they cover a very limited time period (one day and a weekend, respectively) rather than trying to cram a whole lifetime into two hours and a neat storyline.

[I. Spaceman]

Yeah, the Kurt Russell movie was as good as it's ever gonna get (which isn't that good).

[cabinessence]

How about Rock AutoBio-pics?

Like Arlo in Alice's Restaurant. Didn't really care for the film, actually, but the teen groupie ( Shelley Plympton) peeling her clothes off and speed-rapping at the start was cool .

And, of course, Hard Day's Night fits this definition, as do the excellent back-to-back 1957 Elvis pseudo- autobiographies Loving You and Jailhouse Rock

For regular rock bio-picks I agree with the vote for slected scenes from The Doors mainly that  hilarious Thanksgiving Massacre (which takes us back to Arlo's movie, however inadvertently...)

[I. Spaceman]

but the teen groupie ( Shelley Plympton) peeling her clothes off and speed-rapping at the start was cool .

YES! And, let's not forget her gorgeous performance on the Hair cast album, singing the deathless "Frank Mills", and also being the mother of that greatly underrated 80's/90's actress Martha Plimpton.

[Lester Byrd]

For regular rock bio-picks I agree with the vote for slected scenes from The Doors

Loved Crispin Glover as Andy Warhol.