Jimi Hendrix

This is a 1973 documentary (or rockumentary, if you will) focused on the legendary musician: 

About time I cleared this documentary off of the DVR. You see, TCM played it way back in late April; despite enjoying the music of Hendrix for many, many years, it was just last night that I felt like putting the needle on the record.

The film was about what I expected: after some searing concert footage, his life story is told through interviews w/ a wide variety of people in his life… his fellow musicians who if they didn’t work with him, admired him as a guitar God, women he was involved with, and even Jimi’s father Al. There is also some archival clips from Hendrix himself. The songs the viewer hears aren’t all of his most famous tunes by any means, yet there’s plenty that is familiar: Hey Joe, Purple Haze, Red House, his covers of Wild Thing, Like a Rolling Stone, & Johnny B. Goode.

Technically, I could carp about how not all the interview footage shot by this team was in focus, and in 2023, not everyone will enjoy seeing either Pete Townshend or Eric Clapton on screen… let’s not discuss the reasons why! I will give this credit for honesty: drug use is discussed-and even shown at one point-even though that was how he died (probably… circumstances of how he passed away are still controversial now), and he also “had plenty of women” as his fame skyrocketed. My opinion is slanted due to my high opinion of his music but this was a documentary I’m glad to have witnessed; sure, learning more about the man himself would have been nice, but there’s Wikipedia for that and the performances were sublime.

Little Richard was the most colorful character review, because of course he was. When I finally subscribe to MAX again, the new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything will have to be viewed; unquestionably it will greatly entertain me.