***/**** Image B+ Sound A (DD)/A- (DTS) Extras A+
directed by Taylor Hackford
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover One thing is clear from Taylor Hackford’s Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll: not even the most dedicated hagiographer could ignore the more irascible aspects of Chuck Berry’s personality. Leaving aside his arrests (something Berry forces Hackford to do) and sexual peccadilloes (no prompting required), there’s no denying a general self-possession and pig-headedness that would awe General Patton himself. That Berry can inspire loyalty in the many famous admirers he’s abused is testament to both his personal charm and his shattering influence in the field of rock-and-roll. Although one gets the feeling that people let their starry eyes get in the way of popping him one, he’s one hell of a camera subject and manages to grab your attention for the full two-hour running time.
Plenty goes down over the course of these 120 minutes. There are the preparations for Berry’s 60th birthday concert, organized by a harried Keith Richards and assembling the famous likes of Eric Clapton, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray, and Linda Ronstadt. And there are the reminiscences of Berry as he and the filmmakers pay visits: to the now-dilapidated Cosmopolitan Club, where he played crucial early gigs; to Little Richard and Bo Diddley, who discuss the bad old days of payola and contractual rip-offs; and to the magnificent St. Louis theatre, where the concert is to be held–where Berry and his family were once barred from seeing A Tale of Two Cities. There’s plenty of wistfulness and remembrances of things past, which is par for the course as a prelude to a retrospective.
What isn’t par for the course is Berry’s famous unwillingness to cooperate. Pre-show footage sees the subject and Richards fighting over how to mike the music for the camera, with Berry refusing to make concessions for the movie against all appeals to reason. (The presiding Stone later announces that he was glad to do the concert, and will now sleep for a month.) It turns out he’s a man who does his thing and leaves, as evidenced by his jumping into gigs with unseen bands without bothering to rehearse. Bruce Springsteen recalls being in one of his backing groups and having Berry arrive one minute to showtime with no set list in sight. A wall of bluster surrounds the man, and his total negation of introspection renders him an explosive and arresting image.
As it stands, the movie is better at dealing with Berry than at analyzing the music. Though it’s oft-repeated that he combined R&B, jazz, and country, there’s no demonstration of how that worked: Jerry Lee Lewis simply chalks it up to “God-given talent,” and then we’re left to the concert footage. Like many a tribute, Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll is hit or miss–or should I say, the guests are hit and miss. Berry never falters as he has to endure Julian Lennon flailing to “Johnny B. Goode” or wait out the obligatory Eric Clapton appearance that seems, um, obligatory. Only when Etta James accompanies Berry on “Back in the USA” does the famous-supporter idea have merit: the woman has pipes, and she dances circles around the other guests.
Still, there’s no denying that this is Berry’s show. Unlike the recent, tepid attempt to glorify Leonard Cohen (Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man), it’s well aware of what the main event is and never lets up in charging us with his electrifying presence. There are blind spots to this documentary (some of which were impossible to avoid), but it’s no less suggestive of the cock on the walk who helped put the pieces of rock together. True, it’s a bit disconcerting to see an entirely white audience confirm that his innovations had been annexed (as the hip-hop revolution was going through its birth pains), but give the man some credit for helping shatter the definition of popular music with an irrepressible stage presence that was designed to make artist and audience feel good.
Image releases Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll on DVD in two-disc and four-disc (!) configurations–we received the latter for review. The 1.78:1, 16×9-enhanced image is perhaps a little fuzzy and slightly soft in the definition department; colours are reasonably well saturated but bloom a little against areas of black. New Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 remixes grace the disc, and the surprise is that the Dolby option comes out on top: while the DTS is all fireworks, it manages to overcomplicate Berry’s stripped-down sound (and whatever intruding ambience). The DD is less pretentious and more harmonious, letting you settle down into the musical surround instead of feeling the articulation of every single noise available.
This “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” contains hours and hours of extras. Here’s the breakdown.
DISC ONE
Introduction by Taylor Hackford (4 mins.)
Hackford gives us the superfluous information that a) Berry is great, and b) this new edition is definitive. It’s a throwaway, but at least the director projects sincerity in his adulation.
The film’s theatrical trailer finishes off Disc One.
DISC TWO
The Rehearsals (53 mins.)
A lengthy selection of choice bits from the Berry Park sessions, some of which are pretty damned choice. Hackford introduces segments that begin with a torturous anecdote from Steve Jordan: his head cropped in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame video from which Berry approved him, the dreadlocked drummer was then nearly rejected once he got to rehearsals.
At any rate, the rehearsals proper launch with a jam between Berry, Richards, and Clapton that’s not bad, offered from three angles you can toggle with your remote; it’s nothing you wouldn’t expect from three world-renowned musicians, but it’s nothing you’d reproach them for, either. After that is “Mean Old World,” featuring solos by Clapton, Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Lavell, and Berry on vocals. It’s a fairly organic rave-up, with Johnson never betraying any pressure as he attacks the keyboards. “Understand Each Other” shows Clapton and Berry initially failing to do just that, haggling over the vocals until they’re satisfied (and Richards has joined in for some joking); an interlude finds Clapton and Jordan cutting up.
We get down to the nitty-gritty when Etta James tears into “Hoochie Coochie Gal” and shows, as Hackford points out, why Berry was won over despite initially rejecting her. It’s a fabulous performance and a must for collectors. But the most bittersweet moment is when Berry sings a medley of pre-rock standards, reminiscing (after “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”) about all the beautiful songs there were before rock-and-roll. Then Johnson gets into the act, and the two tear up the joint. It’s a powerful and unexpectedly melancholy moment.
“The Reluctant Movie Star: The Bizarre Tales of Making Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll“ (1:06)
Did I say the man had “irascible elements?” Make that “is also an unconscionable prick”–a conclusion to which this looking-back inexorably leads us. Never mind the stories about him renegotiating his contract every day of the shoot, or holding the production hostage for literal bags of money, or his lecherous behaviour towards producer Stephanie Bennett. No, the apex of his asshole-ness comes as he leads Hackford, Bennett, and some other personnel into a prison and then leaves them alone with the prisoners–meaning all the attendant women come within a hair’s-breadth of getting raped. After that, nothing surprises you beyond the devotion to which the oft-victimized filmmakers continue to express. They come up with all sorts of rationales, only a few of which come close to sticking.
DISC THREE
“Witnesses to History #1” (58 mins.)
More-or-less unexpurgated interview footage (from sessions excerpted in the movie) where Berry, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley discuss their achievements and reminisce on good times and bad. Much of what they cover is part of public record: the racism that cheated them out of percentages and forced them onto alternate “race” labels, the appropriation of their music by white musicians, and the horror stories from touring–but we also learn of the good angel of pioneering DJ Alan Freed and the circumstances that lobbed the music into world consciousness and a degree of permanence. The information isn’t the thing, however: it’s three people who achieved so much under serious adversity enjoying each other’s company and congratulating one another on their singular contributions.
“The Burnt Scrapbook” (30 mins.)
In footage that never made it to the final cut in any form, Robbie Robertson sits down with Berry and pores through the latter’s scrapbook, asking questions as they go. It’s a little blah at the beginning when it’s just “and that’s my musician’s union card,” but soon it delves into why Berry chose to be the first act on the roster of Alan Freed shows as well as the surprising influence of Nat King Cole on his writing and diction. Some choice tidbits here for those willing to wait it out.
Chuckisms (17 mins.)
This begins innocently with Hackford extolling the virtues of Berry’s particular way of speech–we’re treated to a couple of clips of the artist spinning his verbal wit–as well as the importance of cars to his identity and lyrics. But the whole thing smashes into your chest once Berry starts reciting some of the poems he learned in his first stint in prison. The bluster and irony fall away and one sees the very serious artist and his deeply valued sentiments. It’s an awesome clip.
DISC FOUR
“Witnesses to History #2”: Taylor Hackford Intro (2 mins.)
This is Hackford’s favourite part: the extended interviews with various rock ‘n’ roll legends. No surprises, but it is just an intro.
Jerry Lee Lewis (31 mins.)
If Berry comes off as difficult, Lewis here is that much more unctuous and self-involved. One can’t imagine how one could use anything but snippets: it’s mostly Lewis telling bad jokes and behaving badly. Eyebrows are raised at one point when he says the difference between rock and hillbilly is “class,” but by and large he acts like an unfunny, arrogant jerk.
Bo Diddley (32 mins.)
Light years more articulate (and with far less ego), Diddley is all business in laying down the foundations of his own style, expressing his astonishment at lasting so long, and remembering the figures and forces that shaped the rock revolution.
The Everly Brothers (33 mins.)
Cooler heads prevail when the brothers come to town: not only is their sound revealed to have evolved out of a family tradition of singing siblings, but they’re quite cogent, too, in dealing with the influence and technological advances (i.e., 45 records) that hastened the rise of teen culture. Not explosive types, but they’re alive to the subtleties of their form and moment.
Willie Dixon (21 mins.)
Unsurprisingly, this clip is obsessed with the blues: Chuck Berry’s commitment to it, the inherent wisdom of it, Dixon’s futile attempts to promote it, and rock’s inadvertent profile-raising on its behalf. A bit one-track, but the speaker’s passion for his form is unmistakable.
Roy Orbison (31 mins.)
Orbison relates his early, unpleasant days at Sun Records: he wanted to do romantic ballads, but Sam Phillips would have none of it. Again we get the rock’s-myriad-influences line, but he surprises with his commitment to the Texas likes of Roy Acuff.
Sam Phillips (32 mins.)
The Sun Records impresario is a big loud pompous doofus (and I mean that as a compliment) who offers false modesty as a better means of self-aggrandizement during his expansive discussion of the Sun experience and the rock explosion as a whole. Words can’t describe his big hair and beard and bizarre necklace–it’s almost worth the purchase alone.
Ahmet Ertegun (31 mins.)
The Atlantic Records bigwig provides the most lucid and unified explanation of the various threads that formed rock ‘n’ roll. He’s no-nonsense, extremely articulate, and manages to reach back to Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway in his exegesis on how Atlantic played its part in the revolution.
“Taylor Hackford’s Final Words” (2 mins.)
Thanks for making it through to the end; by the way, Johnnie Johnson sued Berry after the film due to Keith Richards’s remarks on Johnson’s influence. Oops.
120 minutes; PG; 1.78:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Surround; 4 DVD-9s; Region One; Image
