I had the extreme pleasure and privilege of attending a preview of this film in Hartford, Connecticut December 17th, 2016. All I can say is "Wow!!" It held me mesmerized from beginning to end. This documentary is for anyone with an interest in R&B, soul, and pop music of the 1960s-- the top songwriters, producers, singers, and musicians of that era. It's also a comprehensive look at the inside workings of the music/record business--the deals made and broken, mob influence, struggles and successes. It contains amazing archival footage of NYC, and interviews with the top movers and shakers in the industry who entertainingly share their recollections from those days, and their memories of Bert Berns--a hip genius, a perfectionist, a man who dreamed big--whose body of work as writer and producer gave us some of the greatest musical moments from that time. Incredibly, he shot to the top of the charts and the industry in a short span of seven years, before passing away at the oh-so-young age of 38. There are many moments of laugh-out-loud humor, as well as pathos. And of course, the movie is filled with so much of Berns's wonderful music. It's a visual and aural feast for the senses.
5 Reviews
This was SO GOOD - -never wanted it to end!
stoirin2 November 2017
Imagine a combination of "The Sopranos," "Hairspray," "Jailhouse Rock," and (name your favorite) interview show. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time -- this film is fast, slick, fascinating and full of surprising information -- often told by people like Van Morrison and 'Little Steven" van Zandt.
There were SO many surprises, so many incredible stories, so many rich details about what the music industry was like in the late 50s to mid-60s...and if you love the music -- you'll just be in heaven. The cliché "you'll laugh! you'll cry!" was literally true.
Never a dull moment -- it just flew by, layer building upon layer until it was -- over. Over.
I saw this screened as part of the Mill Valley International Film Festival -- and it looked like everyone else was glued to their seats and literally did not want to believe this had ended, we just wanted more.
Mill Valley is not some little burg -- it's an extremely wealthy, arty enclave located just across the Golden Gate Bridge from Mill Valley. Lotta famous musicians, lotta millionaires, very international and people who are highly sophisticated and know film (and art in general)
Bob Sarles -- who edited it with his wife, Christina -- was there. I think 95% of the audience in the big theater (in the neighboring town of Larkspur) stayed to hear the Q&A -- and those were equally fascinating.
Can't tell you how highly I recommend this film -- or how many people I've recommended it to who have thanked me.
GREAT entertainment -- and a really important piece of American musical history!
There were SO many surprises, so many incredible stories, so many rich details about what the music industry was like in the late 50s to mid-60s...and if you love the music -- you'll just be in heaven. The cliché "you'll laugh! you'll cry!" was literally true.
Never a dull moment -- it just flew by, layer building upon layer until it was -- over. Over.
I saw this screened as part of the Mill Valley International Film Festival -- and it looked like everyone else was glued to their seats and literally did not want to believe this had ended, we just wanted more.
Mill Valley is not some little burg -- it's an extremely wealthy, arty enclave located just across the Golden Gate Bridge from Mill Valley. Lotta famous musicians, lotta millionaires, very international and people who are highly sophisticated and know film (and art in general)
Bob Sarles -- who edited it with his wife, Christina -- was there. I think 95% of the audience in the big theater (in the neighboring town of Larkspur) stayed to hear the Q&A -- and those were equally fascinating.
Can't tell you how highly I recommend this film -- or how many people I've recommended it to who have thanked me.
GREAT entertainment -- and a really important piece of American musical history!
Better than fiction !!!
cshepherd-719759 June 2022
An amazing talent who recognised talent and helped them reach their potential- ' Brown Eyed Girl ' by Van Morrison as an example! Taken young, but what a legacy and wonderful documentary with great music. Highly recommend this intriguing film!!!!!
If You Love 60's Pop and Soul, Watch This!!
ToodyMuldoon7 February 2022
You know the music, now know the man who brought a lot of it to you. This documentary of Bert Berns is narrated by Steven Van Zandt and contains interviews and performances by the legends who sang on the songs Berns wrote or produced. Van Morrison, Paul McCartney, Ben E. King, and Solomon Burke are all featured in this documentary. This is a must see.
A Great Documentary on a Virtually unknown songwriter.
sam-468-67683111 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
In the past 5 years when the world was open and there was more of a public life then there is now, if you approached a COMPLETELY random person off of the street, and asked them "hey, have you heard of this cool songwriter named Bert Berns!??" 9 times out of 10 they will look at you with a weird look on your face and think to themselves "who the heck is this guy talking about!?! I've never heard such name in my life!", but, even though the name may seem meaningless to the that person, all they have to do is just start singing "well shake it up baby now" or "take another little piece of" and for you to explain to them he is the man behind those two GENRE and GENERATION defying songs, for people's minds to click and for them to become interested in the guy. But 9 times out of 10, unless they are an experienced Rock and Roll Music Historian in their late 60's early 70's, chances are, they won't recognize his name right off the bat, but once they realize the songs that he created, then that's when people will take interest.
And look, there are probably SEVERAL reasons as to why the Bert Berns name doesn't resonate with people or it's not very recognizable. For one, like what is talked about in this Documentary about him, Bert came from an incredible pop music scene in New York centered in Midtown Manhattan, the same scene his legendary peers such as Carole King and Burt Bacharach and Neil Sedaka came out of. The Tin Pan Alley of The Rock And Roll Generation known as the Brill Building, but unlike 90% of his larger then life peers, Bert did not have the longest and arguably fruitful life that his peers had. He didn't live to be able to accept the laundry list of music awards and honors his peers would win and accept when they became older, and this is all because of a major health condition Bert was diagnosed with when he was just a kid, and that was Rheumatic Fever and he was diagnosed with this in a time before there was any major full proof treatment for this disease available for it (Open Heart Surgery was non existent at the time of his diagnosis as a kid up until he was an adult).
So with this in mind, Bert LITERALLY accomplished everything he could within the short time he was alive, and the doctors originally told him he wouldn't make it to 30. He managed to make it to 38. And also, the secondary reason as to why Bert's name was not as well known as the other Brill Building songwriters is that Bert often times got himself into trouble with loan sharks and Italian mobsters and while he was able to have good business relationships with label heads like Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, his own dealings with the Mob ultimately severed those business dealings he made with those heavyweights, but regardless of all of this, Bert was loved and accepted by people in the industry and people were always blown away by how much soul he had as a white songwriter and how much he could write as if he was a black man and not a 30 year old Jewish White Guy.
But in the documentary, the movie goes through his entire life story from his childhood years to his days in Cuba to working in the Brill Building to his dealings with the mob to his untimely death, but the doc is Chop full of great interviews with HUGE musicians with everyone from McCartney to Jagger and everyone in between. But more importantly, this documentary shines a light on the at the time THRIVING New York recording scene in the 60's from the studios to the musicians and engineers involved in it in a way that up until this movie was made had never been presented in a official professional way in a Documentary like this. (Other past documentaries made like this one focused on other areas of the Music biz of this time like LA/The Wrecking Crew and The Funk Brothers in Standing in the Shadows Of Motown in Detroit and Muscle Shoals in Alabama).
But in hindsight, it's really Amazing how such an obscure songwriter who wrote such legendary songs such as Piece of my heart, Hang On Sloopy, Twist and Shout, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love can get so much love in thugs documentary it's so fascinating how someone like Bert Berns could get such treatment when his then contemporaries have only gotten things such as a PBS Doc. And the movie also does an AMAZING job of describing his personality and how his short life and his condition influenced his songs, how Cuba influenced his musical writing, and what he really was like as a person and what his personal family life was like as well. I'm only hoping more people will know his name and this documentary will reach more people and Bert's name will not be swallowed up in the bowels of Rock & Roll History.
And look, there are probably SEVERAL reasons as to why the Bert Berns name doesn't resonate with people or it's not very recognizable. For one, like what is talked about in this Documentary about him, Bert came from an incredible pop music scene in New York centered in Midtown Manhattan, the same scene his legendary peers such as Carole King and Burt Bacharach and Neil Sedaka came out of. The Tin Pan Alley of The Rock And Roll Generation known as the Brill Building, but unlike 90% of his larger then life peers, Bert did not have the longest and arguably fruitful life that his peers had. He didn't live to be able to accept the laundry list of music awards and honors his peers would win and accept when they became older, and this is all because of a major health condition Bert was diagnosed with when he was just a kid, and that was Rheumatic Fever and he was diagnosed with this in a time before there was any major full proof treatment for this disease available for it (Open Heart Surgery was non existent at the time of his diagnosis as a kid up until he was an adult).
So with this in mind, Bert LITERALLY accomplished everything he could within the short time he was alive, and the doctors originally told him he wouldn't make it to 30. He managed to make it to 38. And also, the secondary reason as to why Bert's name was not as well known as the other Brill Building songwriters is that Bert often times got himself into trouble with loan sharks and Italian mobsters and while he was able to have good business relationships with label heads like Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, his own dealings with the Mob ultimately severed those business dealings he made with those heavyweights, but regardless of all of this, Bert was loved and accepted by people in the industry and people were always blown away by how much soul he had as a white songwriter and how much he could write as if he was a black man and not a 30 year old Jewish White Guy.
But in the documentary, the movie goes through his entire life story from his childhood years to his days in Cuba to working in the Brill Building to his dealings with the mob to his untimely death, but the doc is Chop full of great interviews with HUGE musicians with everyone from McCartney to Jagger and everyone in between. But more importantly, this documentary shines a light on the at the time THRIVING New York recording scene in the 60's from the studios to the musicians and engineers involved in it in a way that up until this movie was made had never been presented in a official professional way in a Documentary like this. (Other past documentaries made like this one focused on other areas of the Music biz of this time like LA/The Wrecking Crew and The Funk Brothers in Standing in the Shadows Of Motown in Detroit and Muscle Shoals in Alabama).
But in hindsight, it's really Amazing how such an obscure songwriter who wrote such legendary songs such as Piece of my heart, Hang On Sloopy, Twist and Shout, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love can get so much love in thugs documentary it's so fascinating how someone like Bert Berns could get such treatment when his then contemporaries have only gotten things such as a PBS Doc. And the movie also does an AMAZING job of describing his personality and how his short life and his condition influenced his songs, how Cuba influenced his musical writing, and what he really was like as a person and what his personal family life was like as well. I'm only hoping more people will know his name and this documentary will reach more people and Bert's name will not be swallowed up in the bowels of Rock & Roll History.
See also
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