I just saw The Beach Boys: An American Family for the first time...

[Andrew G. Doe]

You've seen the mini-series, you'll know why. 

[Wilsonista]

Yes I have seen it and even own an Emmy voter's copy of it too (with the VDP's charatcer's originally aired name intact). I understand why Van was pissed at how he was portrayed, but I don't think others in this thread are convinced.

[TdHabib]

The way VDP was portrayed pissed me off but to be honest I tend to side with Van Dyke on things...he's just cool that way.

[Meade]

You know it's sad when the movie Walk Hard had a better depiction of Brian.

You know, I had the same thought when seeing this recently. If they really wanted to show the disintegration of Smile and compile it down to one scene, they could have just depicted the session of "Cabinessence" rather than Brian playing the "Geronimo Leaps" for the others in his house (or whatever it was supposed to be... kind of sounded like "I Love to Say Dada"). The scene in the Walk Hard movie over the song "Black Sheep" was probably a lot more true to life.  hehe

[Roger Ryan]

You know it's sad when the movie Walk Hard had a better depiction of Brian.

You know, I had the same thought when seeing this recently. If they really wanted to show the disintegration of Smile and compile it down to one scene, they could have just depicted the session of "Cabinessence" rather than Brian playing the "Geronimo Leaps" for the others in his house (or whatever it was supposed to be... kind of sounded like "I Love to Say Dada"). The scene in the Walk Hard movie over the song "Black Sheep" was probably a lot more true to life.  hehe

This is true. What WALK HARD captured in addition to the wackiness was the sheer ambition of what Brian was attempting with SMiLE (very smart to hire Van Dyke to write and arrange the song used). In both of the Beach Boys TV bio films, this period is treated like a few months of slovenly, wasteful noodling and sound effects recording; as if Brian wished to follow up "Good Vibrations" by releasing the sound of dust accumulating (or dogs barking "Jingle Bells" - then again, that idea would have been a hit!).

[Andrew G. Doe]

You know it's sad when the movie Walk Hard had a better depiction of Brian.

You know, I had the same thought when seeing this recently. If they really wanted to show the disintegration of Smile and compile it down to one scene, they could have just depicted the session of "Cabinessence" rather than Brian playing the "Geronimo Leaps" for the others in his house (or whatever it was supposed to be... kind of sounded like "I Love to Say Dada"). The scene in the Walk Hard movie over the song "Black Sheep" was probably a lot more true to life.  hehe

There's a reason they couldn't use "Cabin Essence"... and the "Geronimo Leaps" sequence was in the studio. There's a full version of it, btw. 

[Don_Zabu]

Let's see...

What's Good About This Movie
-Production values are great.
-Concert scenes are superb
-All-in-all, the writing's pretty good
-The use of the original Beach Boys versions of the songs (trust me, when you hear what they got in Summer Dreams, this is a big deal)
-I've never seen a better celebrity impersonation than Matt Letscher as Mike Love.
-The little bits here and there that they didn't necessarily have to include, but in doing so they up the quality exponentially (Two Step Side Step, the original Good Vibrations demo, Murry Wilson soundbites peppered throughout the dialogue, etc.)

Everything Else
-They could've had Nick Drake ride in on a unicycle shitting nickels and it would've been more convincing than Fred Weller as Brian Wilson.
-Same goes for the guy who played Bruce Johnston.
-For that matter, most of the cast besides Matt Letscher.
-The unabashed Mike bias.
-The way they flanderize Brian from troubled genius to ridiculous drug-addled spaz.
-The way they flanderize Van Dyke Parks from intelligent hipster to pretentious jerk.
-That the actor for said part didn't bother to dye his hair black.
-The fact that they could license everything except some original Smile tapes.
-The lack of Blondie Chaplin or Rickie Fataar.
-The various other historical inaccuracies.
-FUCKING FRED WELLER!

[Don_Zabu]

Question: everyone knows that Mike Love oversaw the writing of this movie, and the proof is in the pudding, but if that's the case, how come he didn't have the whole illegitimate daughter thing taken out?

[adamghost]

I guess the people who made the film did so in good faith, and the agenda wasn't to publicise one person's view of events...but sadly it turned out that way.

The 'people (or person) who made the film' did so because pressure was brought to bear on them for it to turn out the way it did. Which was, of course, 'to publicise one person's view of events'.

Various people depicted were so offended at how part one turned out that they forced the network to insert a disclaimer prefacing part two saying, in effect, 'this is based on real events but the makers have imparted their own spin'. Further, Van Dyke ensured that in all future airings, his character was renamed "Samuel". When asked about part two, Brian's comment was "it wasn't very nice".

All you need to know about that movie, and what must have transpired, is there in the scene where Mike finds out his new wife smokes.

For someone to have included that scene at all, meant the original script was heavily researched.  For it to have played out the way it did onscreen, meant the script was heavily edited and toned down.

[Ed Roach]

Always loved Jon Stebbins' memory of the day we visited the set of "An American Family"
http://thejonstebbins.com/family.html

[Awesoman]

I know I'm one of the only ones but I prefer it over Summer Dreams. The reason? It was the thing that got me into the band cause it had actual recordings of the band! And I mean, even if the story is wrong, it's all about the music right? And if that movie gets people interested to explore things further then that's a good thing right? Well, I wouldn't be posting this message if it wasn't for that movie.

You're not alone; An American Family is best left forgotten, but it was miles better than the awful Summer Dreams.  The latter movie had Dennis composing music he didn't even write! 

[Ed Roach]

Thought I should mention that my 'Santa Monica offices' that Jon mentions in the story, (the reception area of which is in the photo with Stabile, with the surfboards behind me), was my state-of-the-art editing facility, Digital Universe.  Look  at the credits for "Endless Harmony", as Alan Boyd set up residency with us for about six months and edited his film there!

[Jay]

Always loved Jon Stebbins' memory of the day we visited the set of "An American Family"
http://thejonstebbins.com/family.html

The part about you "butting in" during a scene is brilliant. 

[Ed Roach]

You know, Jay, I guess it must have happened like that, but I don't remember doing that...  However, one of my favorite Brian moments was when he told me that the reason Dennis loved me so much was because of the way I reminded him of their Dad, the way I burst into a room & took things over.
Years later, I remember them both relating a similar story to Loren Michaels about Murry, only Dennis finished Brian's story of Murry blasting in & saying, "Hey, Hi, how are ya'",  by saying that he would then beat everybody up!  Now, that was hardly ever my way...

[The Heartical Don]

whoever casted American Family did a great job, well except for maybe Van Dyke, whose character looked NOTHING like him, when did Van Dyke have blonde hair 

Nick Stabile as Denny was eery in part 1, he could have been his twin; Audree, Murry, Mike's characters looked just like them. Carl, Bruce, Brian and Al, casting didn't do as well a job.  

Between this movie and Summer Dreams, I prefer American Family.  Just can't get past those beards in the other movie to take the plot seriously.

You are out of the band Buckwheat  

Excuse me for fishing this one out, but:

Van Dyke Parks accompanied Lowell George's daughter Inara on her 2009 tour in Europe. You must know that VDP saw Inara grow up from childhood, he'd been a house friend, esp. since the passing away of Lowell. During the The Hague show, he said in between songs: 'Ladies And Gentlemen, Inara George! Actually, She Know Me Already When I Was A Brunette...'.

Not only proof that VDP wasn't blond, but also of his off-beat humour, I think...

[Sam_BFC]

A day or two later we ran into the show's producer John Stamos at a Brian Wilson concert in Orange County. (I should mention that the story of THIS concert, and the weekend surrounding it, is one worth telling too, maybe another time)

So um has Jon ever told this particular story in the mean time?

Cheers