Levi Stubbs Movies
- 1998
Diana Ross hosts this four-hour TV special tracing the rise of Berry Gordy's Detroit-based Motown record label during the '60s. Clips were compiled from a variety of sources, including such TV shows as Teen Town, Where the Action Is and It's What's Happening Baby. The history covers the label's leading acts (Temptations, Supremes, Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye) and explores the talents who created the Motown style -- songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland and Norman Whitfield, choreographer Cholly Atkins, finishing-school director Maxine Powell, arranger Maurice King, and the rhythm section (pianist Earl van Dyke, drummer Ben Benjamin, and bassist James Jamerson). With background on Gordy, the story moves forward into Motown's film/TV production, the solo career of Diana Ross, the Commodores, Teena Marie, Rick James, and many others. Interviews include Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Branford Marsalis, Clive Davis, Jesse Jackson, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, George Schlatter, Julian Bond, Diahann Carroll, RuPaul, and Rod Stewart. The special premiered as a two-parter (February 15th and 19th, 1998) on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, (more)
- 1996
One of the great R&B vocal groups of the 1960s, The Four Tops celebrated their 40th year of working together in 1996 with a special concert at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, with all four original members -- Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Lawrence Payton, and Renaldo "Obie" Bernson -- on hand. The Four Tops Live records this great night for posterity; songs include "Bernadette", "Baby, I Need Your Loving", "Standing In The Shadows Of Love", "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)", "The Same Old Song", "Reach Out, I'll Be There", and many more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
It started as a 1960 Roger Corman horror comedy, filmed in two days; it then inspired a lavish 1982 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Finally in 1986, Little Shop of Horrors (1960) graduated into a multimillion-dollar, all-star film musical. Rick Moranis plays nebbishy Seymour Krelborn, who works in a rundown flower shop on Skid Row. While his boss (Vincent Gardenia) bemoans the lack of business, Seymour seeks a way of bringing the shop -- and himself -- fame and fortune. He purchases a strange plant from an even stranger oriental street vendor (Vincent Wong), naming the plant after his girlfriend Audrey (Ellen Greene, one of the few carry-overs from the Broadway version). Gradually, Seymour learns to his horror that "Audrey II" (given the voice of R&B performer Levi Stubbs) craves blood and flesh. With each of Audrey II's "FEEED MEEE"s, Seymour must scare up human food to satisfy the plant's appetite. One such victim is dentist Steve Martin, a leather-jacketed Elvis type (the dentist's ultra-masochistic patient played by Jack Nicholson in the 1960 original is here impersonated by Bill Murray). The lighthearted tone of the film darkens as Audrey II grows in monstrosity, but the unhappy ending of the Broadway version is avoided herein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, (more)
- 1970
- Add The Four Tops: Recorded March, 1970 - Joinville Studios to QueueAdd The Four Tops: Recorded March, 1970 - Joinville Studios to top of Queue
Legendary Motown vocal group The Four Tops were at the peak of their abilities when they recorded this performance at a French television studio while touring Europe. The Four Tops: Recorded March 1970 - Joinville Studios features the group's original lineup performing a mix of their classic hits and well-known pop standards, such as "(Reach Out) I'll Be There," "Baby, I Need Your Loving," "Little Green Apples," "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," "Mack The Knife" and more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
