D.A. Pennebaker

2019 Farewells: Behind the camera

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D.A. Pennebaker invents the music video in BOB DYAN: DON’T LOOK BACK

The filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker made the best ever and most influential concert film (Monterey Pop) and the best political campaign documentary (The War Room). And he invented the music video at the opening of his Don’t Look Back, as Bob
as Dylan holds up cards with the lyrics for Subterranean Homesick Blues.
The pump don’t work
‘Cause the vandals took the handles

Has there been a greater director of movie musicals than Stanley Donen, the director of Singin’ in the Rain?  I’m generally not a fan of musicals, but I love his first film; in the 1949 On the Town (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin are sailors dancing away their shore leave through NYC) and his 1958 Damn Yankees (the Gwen Verdon version).  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954 wasn’t bad, either.

Writer-director John Singleton was the youngest person ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar (for Boyz in the Hood) and the first African-American.

Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian writer-director was most renowned for The Conformist (1970), Last Tango in Paris (1972) and the 9-Oscar winner The Last Emperor (1987). I actually prefer Bertolucci’s more recent work, beginning with the underrated The Sheltering Sky (1990) with John Malkovich and Debra Winger. I thought that his The Dreamers was the best film of 2003.

Director Franco Zeffirelli is best known for his Shakespearean adaptions, especially the lushly romantic 1968 hit Romeo and Juliet, in which he cast actual teenagers in this story of impulsive teen love.  I think his most everlasting achievement should be the 1977 TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth, which remains the screen narrative that is closest to Biblical accounts of the life of Jesus.  Jesus of Nazareth may be streamed from Amazon (included with Prime), iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.

The composer Michael Legrand, who won three Oscars, should be best remembered for his work in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a film where every line was sung. Legrand wrote the music for Umbrella’s iconic song I Will Wait for You.

Robert Evans began his Hollywood career as an actor in pretty boy roles, but was astute enough to see his future as a Suit. He was the studio exec who greenlighted The Godfather and produced Chinatown. He even narrated an irresistible documentary about his career, The Kid Stays in the Picture, which can be streamed from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Mark Urman, a publicist and the executive producer of Monster’s Ball, founded the indie distributors ThinkFilm and Paladin.   Urman gave mainstream audiences the chance to see the Oscar-winning documentaries Born into Brothels and Taxi to the Dark Side.

Musician Dick Dale, known as the King of the Surf Guitar and the Father of Heavy Metal, contributed his Misirlou to one of the most iconic opening sequences in cinema: Pulp Fiction.  His music also underscored the crazy surf scene with Kurt Russell, Peter Fonda and Steve Buscemi in Escape from L.A.

D.A. PENNEBAKER – giant of documentary cinema

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D.A> Pennebaker invents the music video in BOB DYAN: DON’T LOOK BACK

The influential filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker has died at age 94. Among Pennebaker’s innovative achievements:

  • His 1968 Monterey Pop is in the conversation as the best ever concert film, and it undeniably influenced the other great concert movies that have followed (Woodstock, The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense). This is one of the few DVDs that I still own, for the performances by Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkle, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Country Joe and the Fish and The Who.   Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix had a guitar-destroying competition, which Hendrix, aided by lighter fluid, undeniably won. The Otis Redding set is epic.
  • Pennebaker’s 1993 The War Room, about the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign, sets the standard for the insider political campaign documentary.
  • Pennebaker directed Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (1967), the story of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, when he was transitioning from an acoustic to an electric artist.  In the film’s opening, Pennebaker invented the music video, as Dylan holds up cards with the lyrics for Subterranean Homesick Blues.
    The pump don’t work
    ‘Cause the vandals took the handles
Otis Redding in MONTEREY POP

coming up on TV: rock concerts in their time

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Otis Redding in MONTEREY POP

On September 21, Turner Classic Movies presents five movies with some of the most unforgettable rock concert footage:

  • Monterey Pop (1968):  This is one of the few DVDs that I still own, for the performances by Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkle, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Country Joe and the Fish and The Who.   It’s okay with me if you fast forward over Ravi Shankar.  Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix had a guitar-destroying competition, which Hendrix, aided by lighter fluid, undeniably won.  The Otis Redding set is epic.
  • Woodstock (1970):  TCM is airing the director’s cut of the film chronicling the most iconic rock concert ever, also a pivotal social and cultural phenomenon.  Performers include: Joan Baez, Crosby Still & Nash, Arlo Guthrie, The Who, Sha Na Na, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker,  Country Joe and the Fish, Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana and (wait for it…) Ten Years After.
  • Gimme Shelter (1970):  The anti-Woodstock – the ill-fated Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, showing what happened when someone tried to put on a major free concert without Bill Graham or any other adult supervision, depending on the (literally) murderous Hell’s Angels for security.   Includes some footage of that notorious publicity grabber,  attorney Melvin Belli in real-time negotiations.  What’s unforgettable, of course, is watching Mick Jagger dealing with a murder at the foot of his stage.
  • Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (1967):  The story of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, when he was transitioning from an acoustic to an electric artist.  This film opens with what must be the first music video, as Dylan holds up cards with the lyrics for Subterranean Homesick Blues.
    The pump don’t work
    ‘Cause the vandals took the handles
  • Jimi Hendrix (1973):  I haven’t seen this movie, which contains  1967-70 concert footage and interviews with his contemporaries.  Here’s a tip for Hendrix fans – the Hendrix display in his hometown’s Seattle Rock and Roll Museum (now Museum of Pop Culture) is superb.

D.A. Pennebaker directed both Monterey Pop and Don’t Look Back.  Pennebaker also excels in political documentaries; he was the cinematographer for Primary and the director of The War Room.

I would argue that the Janis Joplin and Otis Redding sets in Monterey Pop are the best live performances ever filmed. Watch for Mama Cass in the audience reacting to Janis with a “Wow”.

Great music and lots of stoned people.  Set that DVR.

D.A. Pennebaker invents the music video in BOB DYAN: DON’T LOOK BACK