Paul Butterfield Movies
- 2004
- Add John Lee Hooker: Come and See About Me to QueueAdd John Lee Hooker: Come and See About Me to top of Queue
The late John Lee Hooker was an icon of American blues music. Merging a spare, skeletal guitar style and unusual song structures with a propulsive sense of rhythm earned him a reputation as "the King of the Boogie." Hooker's music provided a stylistic bridge between the rural blues of the '30s and the raw, gutbucket electric sounds that emerged in the '50s and '60s. Produced with the participation of Hooker's estate, John Lee Hooker: Come and See About Me features interviews with Hooker, members of his family, and fellow musicians alongside filmed performances from 1960 to 1994. Including collaborations with Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Foghat, John Hammond, Ry Cooder, and the Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker: Come and See About Me features the songs "Boogie Chillen'," "Boom Boom," "Bottle Up and Go," "Serves Me Right To Suffer," "I'm Bad Like Jesse James," and many more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lee Hooker
Martin Scorsese's documentary of the 1976 final performance of the legendary Sixties rock group The Band is at once a show featuring some of the greatest rock performers of their generation and a bittersweet look back at an era that was just beginning to fade. As Scorsese guides the group through interview segments discussing their 15 years together, these relatively young men sound like battle-weary survivors. But The Band were in splendid form for this show, and their multiple guest stars pulled out all the stops, especially Muddy Waters, whose "Mannish Boy" is so powerful it nearly burns a hole in the screen; Van Morrison, with a rousing performance of "Caravan;" and Bob Dylan, whose "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" displays the brilliant cockiness of his barnstorming days with this band. The all-star camera crew and superb stereo sound mix create what is considered to be of the best-looking and sounding rock films ever (as the opening credit says, play this movie loud!), and two studio-shot sequences with Emmylou Harris and The Staple Singers stand on their own. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, (more)
In this counter-culture caper comedy, directed by Alan Myerson (whose work with The Committee and Second City gives the film a quirky sketch comedy freshness), Donald Sutherland plays Veldini, a sad-eyed demolition-derby driver, serving time for larceny. He also possesses a millennial desire to wreck every car manufactured in the United States from 1940 to 1960. After being released from jail, Veldini hatches a scheme to restore an old U.S. World War II amphibian plane to escape conventional society and fly off to a new nonconformist world. Searching for spare parts to complete the restoration, Veldini realizes that a particular electrical circuit is available only at the local Navy base, and he decides to rob the base to steal the circuit. Involved in the caper with him is Iris (Jane Fonda in a burlesque of her performance in Klute) as a 100-dollar-a-night call girl who is sick of being humiliated; Veldini's kid brother (John Savage); and Eagle (Peter Boyle), a schizophrenic out-of-work circus performer. Standing in the way of Veldini's scheme is Frank Veldini (Howard Hesseman), his older brother and a politically ambitious district attorney. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, (more)
- 1968
Still nostalgic for the 1960s? Then You Are What You Eat should satisfy your hunger. Assembled in the crazy-quilt "psychedlic" style so beloved of the era, the film offers McLuhanesque images of such sixties icons as Tiny Tim, Father Malcolm Boyd, Peter Yarrow and Harper's Bizarre. Made too close to the era it depicts for any sort of objectivity, You Are What You Eat is a prime example of the "we're too groovy for words" mindset of the times. On this level, it is highly recommended; as an example of documentary filmmaking at its best, it lays an egg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tiny Tim, Peter Yarrow, (more)
