The Go-Go's

"The Go-Go's" (2020 release; 98 min.) is a documentary about "the most successful female rock band of all time". As the movie opens, we are reminded (for the first, but not the last, time) that the Go-Go's are the only all-female rock band to write and perform their own songs who scored a Billboard No. 1 album. We then go to "Los Angeles, 1979" as the local punk scene is small but ferocious and a number of the eventual Go-Go girls are very much a part of it (check the footage and photos of Jane Wiedlin attending a show at the Masque). We then turn to Belinda Carlisle as she too came up through the SoCal punk scene. "The punk scene was safe and welcoming" she comments. "You don't know what you are doing? Just do it!" At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from long-time documentarian Allison Ellwood. Here she brings the story of the Go-Go's, very much like those erstwhile VH-1 "Behind the Music" episodes. The documentary's first 45 min. are absolutely flawless, benefiting from the amazing amount of archive footage and pcitures from the early days. The band's first (1980) tour of the UK (opening for the Specials and Madness) gets ample attention, and rightfully so. Equally transfixing is the band's evolution from punk to new wave to pop. Confesses Charlotte Caffey (on writing "We Got the Beat"): "I was sacred. I thought the girls would throw me out of the band for writing a pop song." Absolute genius! The band's meteoric rise is as dazzling as it is dizzying (reaching No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with their 1981 debut album). They would never achieve such heights again. The second half of this documentary isn't nearly as compelling as, predictably, it focuses on the band's in-fighting, drug addictions and ultimate demise (and return). The biggest flaw, or annoyance, of this film, though, is the repeated pleas to get the Go-Go's in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Do they belong? For sure. But hitting you over the head with this in a documentary isn't really the way to go.

"The Go-Go's" premiered a few days ago on Showtime, and is now available on SHO On Demand, Amazon Instant Video and other streaming platforms. If you are a fan of the Go-Go's from back in the day, or simply are a music fan, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.