John Hartford Movies

Bill Monroe was inarguably the single most important and influential figure in the history of bluegrass music. Fusing the fiddle and madolin sounds of the Eastern Kentucky Hills with the guitars of rural blues and adding a streamlined speed and emotional passion to the music, Monroe was truly the father of bluegrass and a brilliant musician by any standards. This program features performances by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, with interviews and performances from a host of special guests, including Dolly Parton, Lester Flat, Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Garica, John Hartford, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Tim O'Brian and noted bluegrass authority Paul McCartney. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When Jimmy Price (Jim Brown) wins an upset victory for sheriff, he becomes the first black man ever to hold the job (or any elective office) in anyone's memory in his rural southern county. He also sets off an ominous rumblings as the entire county seems split apart by his presence -- Mayor Parks (Fredric March) offers him the support of his office, but many whites aren't prepared to accept a black man as sheriff, while most of the whites that can accept him aren't saying so too loudly; a lot of older black residents, remembering decades of Jim Crow laws that only lately disappeared, are more confused than encouraged by Price's victory, while younger, more radical black citizens like George Harvey (Bernie Casey) have little use for Price's straight-arrow personality; they expect him to show them favoritism, and when he doesn't, they suspect him of being an nothing but a white man in black skin. Even Price's own wife (Janet MacLachlan) wonders if the cost of his being sheriff is too high. He finds himself alone, walking a tightrope between all of the forces pulling at him, and then the whole situation threatens to explode when he arrests the good-for-nothing son (Bob Random) of a wealthy man from the next county, who has killed a child while driving drunk. Soon the local klavern of the Ku Klux Klan is planning a meeting, and a lynch mob seems to be gathering across the county line to break the prisoner loose and take care of the sheriff. Price finally gets some unexpected help from his embittered predecessor, John Little (George Kennedy) -- Little would like nothing more than to sulk over losing his longtime job, but with his wife's coaxing he realizes that he can't let Price fail without the risk of destroying everything he worked for years to build. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The talented banjo player John Hartford returns once more to share some of his personal tricks for enhancing banjo songs. Students are taught how to do Hartford's famous "slide-whistle" lick and his "fiddle-style" melodic licks. He also discusses the best ways to use a metronome and a tape recorder while practicing and the most basic aspects of chromatic scales. Licks based on diminished and augmented chords are demonstrated, as well as banjo back-up licks and "pushing the beat." To illustrate some of these techniques, Hartford plays "Sally Goodin," "Old Time River Man," "Your Tax Dollars at Work," and "Foggy Mountain Landscape." ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide