Wattstax

Wattstax (1973)

Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: Mel Stuart

Starring: Many great artists that were on the Stax label at the time, plus African Americans that lived in Southern California at the time, AND Richard Pryor

From: Stax Records/Wolper Productions

What a unheralded documentary this is: 

This is a musical concert film I had seen before but the last viewing was way too many years ago so this seemed like a good time to finally view it then talk about the film here. Back in 1972, the Stax Records label presented an all-day concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; at the time, after the Watts riots of 1965-where a week of civil unrest happened after a controversial incident involving white police in the black neighborhood-there were yearly concerts that tried to mend together the broken community. On this year, Stax got involved and the whole deal was moved to the huge Coliseum; this film showed various performances from that day, but the film is more than that.

Throughout, there are interviews from various black residents in the area, talking about how things are for them in the early 70's; while I cannot say with 100% certainty due to me being a dumb white guy, too much of what they said still seems relevant almost 50 years later. The movie is a great snapshot of life for that segment of the population back then; aside from what they said and all the great music, you get to see the Watts neighborhood and also the clothing... oh my goodness is there some tremendous threads. Best of all, Richard Pryor occasionally appears to offer some comedic riffing.

Stax had a tremendous lineup of black music back then so for me it was a treat to see and hear the likes of Luther Ingram, Rufus Thomas-who delivers the best moment of the festival when he does some improv comedy for a few minutes-The Staple Singers, Albert King, Little Milton, The Bar-Kays, Carla Thomas and Isaac Hayes. Of course I am biased with my rating due to how I feel about this great music but the film is much more than just capturing the performances of one summer day back in '72.