Richard himself had been talking about a movie of his life as far back as 1962; by '84 and the release of his first biography, by Englishman Chas White, it was a "go"! well....took about 14 years, and all the speculation about Michael Jackson or Prince as the Georgia Peach came to an end...Leon got the part..and he is excellent! Some wonderful scenes leading up to Richard's sudden (actually took about 4 years of flop recordings and Southern club dates) fame with the indescribable culture shocking TUTTI FRUTTI. Richard's parents are nicely portrayed; the doting MOm and the strict but eventually very supporting Dad.
The film's "timeline" is so distorted that deep fans might want to pause the DVD and consider donating it to the local Library - but they should hang in there. There is still plenty of engrossing material, especially when we hear "new" recordings > a recut of LR's TAKE MY HAND, PRECIOUS LORD and a tune called VEGETABLE MAN. Depressingly, the soundtrack, otherwise, uses original '50s tracks, one crazy cut, MONEY HONEY, from 1964, and some 1976 rerecordings.
One reviewer said that this picture needs a Part 2 and he is so right: we go from 1932 to 1962 and it's at that point that the most interesting time in his career starts: he endures a personal battle: does he come back from a rock and roll retirement (when he records nothing but Gospel) to please the loyal fans all around the world and presumably to recover a lot of lost bucks? I did not like the final scene at all.
but check it out for yourself. ask yourself if the most influential artist in rock deserved a better biopic?
The film's "timeline" is so distorted that deep fans might want to pause the DVD and consider donating it to the local Library - but they should hang in there. There is still plenty of engrossing material, especially when we hear "new" recordings > a recut of LR's TAKE MY HAND, PRECIOUS LORD and a tune called VEGETABLE MAN. Depressingly, the soundtrack, otherwise, uses original '50s tracks, one crazy cut, MONEY HONEY, from 1964, and some 1976 rerecordings.
One reviewer said that this picture needs a Part 2 and he is so right: we go from 1932 to 1962 and it's at that point that the most interesting time in his career starts: he endures a personal battle: does he come back from a rock and roll retirement (when he records nothing but Gospel) to please the loyal fans all around the world and presumably to recover a lot of lost bucks? I did not like the final scene at all.
but check it out for yourself. ask yourself if the most influential artist in rock deserved a better biopic?