Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me (2009)
*** (out of 4)
Extremely well-made and highly informative documentary about the life and career of Johnny Mercer who became one of the best known and most loved songwriters for Hollywood and would end up winning four Oscars. Not only that but he wrote for some of the biggest legends including Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby to name just a few. Clint Eastwood served as executive producer and is also featured in some of the interview clips as Mercer played a big part in terms of music in his film MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. As a whole, this documentary offers up pretty much everything as we get some nice stories told via the talking heads (including Leonard Maltin), concert clips, interview footage and current singers doing their versions of some classic songs. The documentary features quite a bit of footage and we're constantly learning about Mercer either through the footage or from his own words, which was taken from an interview before his death. The movie for the most part stays focus on his rise in Hollywood but it does briefly talk about his personal life including his relationship with Judy Garland, which started during his work on THE HARVEY GIRLS. Outside of that everything's pretty much on the music which discusses why his lyrics were home made for jazz and how various stars, including Ray Charles, used his songs to gather fame. If you're rather new to Mercer as I was then I'm positive you're going to learn quite a bit as this is an all around great look at him and his music.
