User reviews

This is a concert/documentary film celebrating the 60th birthday of rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry. The film is a mix of biographical history on Berry, testimonials from his contemporaries, rehearsals leading up to the big show, and finally the concert celebration featuring Berry, a back-up band headed by Keith Richards, and guest vocals from a variety of artists, such as Eric Clapton, Etta James, Linda Ronstadt, Robert Cray, and Julian Lennon.

The testimonials include Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Willie Dixon, the Everly Brothers, and Bruce Springsteen. The film is informative on the history of Berry and rock and roll music in general, and is also at times uncomfortable as we see just how moody Berry can be, especially to Keith Richards, who seems almost at the end of his rope (but doesn't he always?). The concert is good, even if Berry occasionally confounds his bandmates with unexpected key changes and sometimes sloppy musicianship (much to Richards' chagrin). Old school rock fans will love it, and even those who generally don't care for this kind of music will find some interest in the history and the larger-than-life character of Chuck Berry.

If you notice, Keith Richards is drinking during rehearsals and who can blame him?? Chuck Berry must have been a nightmare to deal with, but the concert and film are excellent! Chuck does sound a bit out of tune, but makes up for it with his showmanship. The guest stars are well placed EXCEPT for Julian Lennon. And if I am not mistaken he duets to Jonny B. Goode -- an all time classic. Okay, the guy is the son of a rock legend and had a hit or two, but did he really have a reason to be on stage with Chuck and the band?? Also, why did Chuck cut short the interview with his wife??? Still, a great film that offers insight into a pioneer.

I saw this a few years after it came out. The concert footage was filmed in Berry's hometown of St. Louis at the Fox theater on October 18, 1986 on his 60th birthday. It was also the same year the Berry was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in it's inaugural class. Assembeled for the concert are musicians Chuck Levelle, Bobby Keyes, Joey Spampinato and Steve Jordon along with Berry's longtime collaborator and pianist Johnnie Johnson under the musical direction of Keith Richards. Guest performers are Eric Clapton, Etta James, Linda Ronsdat, Robert Cray, Julian Lennon and the guest of honor himself Chuck Berry. Interviews on his career are provided by his rock and roll contemporaries Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Roy Orbison, Bo Diddley and The Everly Brothers. Additional interviews on his inspiration come from Bruce Springsteen and an older clip from John Lennon. Taylor Hackford directed. Hackford won an Academy Award in the short film category with the first project he ever did. In 1980 he began directing feature films and has since only directed 10 films but they include Against all Odds, An Officer and a Gentleman, Delores Claiborn and Ray. As a producer he also did the documentary When We Were Kings. The cinematographer is Oliver Stapleton who had only photographed some Indy films before Haill Haill Rock & Roll but would go on to do such films as Earth Girls Are Easy, The Grifters, The Cider House Rules, Buffalo Soldiers and Pay it Forward. We see Chuck Berry being his controlling, difficult ornery self here and this likely would have been an amazing film if director Hackford was allowed free reign with his camera and Chuck would have allowed a more introspective view into what is Chuck Berry but Berry calls the shots and rocks and music director Richards reels. This is a good documentary and Chuck Berry and 50's rock & Roll fans should check it out. It's amazing to think that this is 20 years gone already and Chuck Berry will be turning 80 this fall. I would give it an 8.0 out of 10.

If you hear anything bad about this documentary, stop listening. If you don't smile while watching the concert footage, you don't love rock 'n' roll. Betty is a complicated, intelligent, real human being with all the frailties that includes...but he is a generous showman who personifies rock music. If there was any doubt who the father of rock 'n' roll was, with all due respect to the King, there is none after watching this absorbing, if incomplete, biopic about Chuck Berry. Don't rent it - buy it. Today.

I don't think many people saw Hail Hail Rock and Roll when it came out in 1987. I've always considered it one of the greatest Rock and Roll movies ever made, and actually own it on VHS. Now that it's out on DVD (4 discs!), I'm working through the bonus discs.

Disc 2:

Disc 2 contains a number of rehearsals plus a piece on what a nightmare it was to work with Chuck Berry on this project (which was, after all, to celebrate himself!). In the film, if I remember correctly, Keith Richards says something like, "Man, I've worked with Mick Jagger, but this guy (Chuck) is something else." Now, on this DVD, the producers tell their story, and what a story it is. A lot has been said about the great scene in the movie where Chuck continually criticizes Keith's guitar playing on "Carol", but that is nothing compared to what he put the producers through, between constantly asking for more money, being late or not showing up, plus an incredible experience at one of the prisons where Chuck spent time in his youth. (On the other hand, even in 1987, everyone knew Chuck Berry was a total prima donna, so expecting to get all the filming done in 5 days was a bit of hubris, no?) While this piece is a bit wordy (as many "bonus features" are), it's a great story, and it's too bad there wasn't more film and less shots of people speaking to the camera.

The rehearsals really show the difference between Chuck Berry when he's off stage (picky, self-centered, neurotic) and Chuck when he's performing (a unique entertainer). The rehearsals all take place at Chuck's house, and the main players are Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Johnny Johnson. Again, too much "talking heads" between the music, but the point of the rehearsals (we're told, but can also see), is to witness the incredible coming together of the band as they learn to play with each other. That's something you rarely see, particularly with musicians of this caliber, and if you love Chuck Berry music, you'll really love these rehearsals tapes.

On the production side, I thought the sound and camera work was uniformly excellent for the live music parts of the disc.

Disc 3:

Disc 3 contains three bonus features. The one I liked most was titled "Chuckisms" and covers Chuck's language and love of poetry. The best scene is with Chuck reciting a William Wordsworth poem from memory while Robbie Robertson strums his guitar. "Just beautiful," as Chuck says several times in the recitation. You can really hear the origin of Chuck's own lyrics.

The second bonus feature has Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Chuck sitting around a piano discussing the early days of rock and roll. This feature touches (very lightly) on the trials of black performers in the 1950's trying to break into the white-dominated business. However, mostly due to the influence of Little Richard, it never really gets very serious. If you're really interested in this period, I recommend Chuck Berry's autobiography.

The last feature on disc 3 is Robbie Robertson and Chuck sitting around the coffee table talking about Chuck's life as they go through a huge scrapbook. This has some poignant moments, but again, only lightly touches on stuff that Chuck's autobiography covers in great detail. I have to wonder if Robbie Robertson knew much about Chuck Berry before sitting down with him. He asks questions like, "Why did you write about high school?", when everyone knows that Chuck wrote about what his fans were interested in, because Chuck himself was mostly interested in making money.

As a result, I think the Robertson interview gives the wrong impression, of Chuck as a genius inventing a new music form. The truth, if you believe the autobiography, is that Chuck had a genius, but it was for being incredibly sensitive to his audiences. When they applauded, he did more of what caused that, and when they didn't, he didn't do that again. Robertson also mis-reads Chuck (I thought it was pretty funny), when he calls Chuck's second prison term, "running into a brick wall". Chuck says, not at all, that's where he took all those business courses that made him into the businessman he is, and as a result, he's rich when many of his contemporaries are not. Robertson also seems amazed that Chuck never took drugs. Chuck replies that with a list of entertainers (Elvis, Janis, etc.) who are now dead, and he does have a point.

I thought the part about why Chuck's lyrics are so easy to hear missed the truth. The truth was that Chuck listened to music, and realized that the guys (white) who were making the money clipped their words distinctly, so he did too. As a result of that (plus a publicity photo that made him look white), Chuck got booked in venues where he could not play when he showed up. Did he mind? Not if he was paid.

So, in summary, disc 3 is exactly what the director promised. They had a lot of footage that didn't make it into the film, for good reason, so they stuck it in the bonus features. I recommend disc 3 for folks who just can't get enough of Chuck Berry. There is almost no music on this disc, but Chuck comes across very well and the mature "Father of Rock and Roll".

Should be required viewing for all rock fans, aspiring guitarists, songwriters and pop culture historians. Three points:

1.) Berry is truly shown as the multiple demonsional individual he is: smart and articulate, funny, often bitter, and at times a REAL ASS!

2.) Johnny Johnson rocks! Strange how Berry decries the industry for ripping him off but seems obtuse to how much he owes this rock piano genius.

3.) The story told by Bruce Springsteen is priceless.

By the mid 80's, movie biographies of 50's rockers were big business, with successful bio-pics playing of Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Richie Valens and later Johnny Cash and Ray Charles. This celebration of Chuck Berry's life and music is altogether different, being a portrait of the artist as a rather feisty old man, happy enough to be tributed by the likes of Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Robert Cray but still ornery enough to still want to do things his way, even though, as Richards, the musical director (read - bandleader) here, gives Chuck what he rarely had on all his previous concert tours, namely a top-rated band to back him as opposed to local pick-up bands in whichever towns he would play on the road.

There's a scene where presumably director Taylor Hackford, off-screen, daringly asks Berry about his run-ins with the law down the years and is shut down by him before you can say "Maybellene". There's also a spat with Richards over an amplifier and the story about how Berry joined up with his long-time pianist Johnny Johnson's established trio and immediately renamed it the Chuck Berry Trio. Most telling though is his long-standing and I'm going to guess long-suffering wife Themetta who gets about ten seconds to profess her undying devotion to old Chuck, before again being peremptorily cut off.

Now, none of this is exactly news as Berry always did have a reputation for cussedness, although it's interesting and almost perversely entertaining to see this contrasted with him later schmoozing the camera at other points as he revisits the scenes of his youth such and early days on the circuit.

The other non-musical thing Berry's known for is his fondness for a dollar and that too comes across loud and clear. When he checks in a solitary suitcase at an airport, you've got to wonder if it's filled with "paid-in-cash" banknotes.

Keith Richards talks candidly, obviously after the fact, about how difficult he found his musical hero to work with whilst still cherishing the musical memory. We get to see some of Berry's great contemporaries deliver the usual admiring eulogies on his talent including the Everlys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and an entertaining bull-session with Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard bemoaning trying to make it back in the 50's in a white-man's world. Bruce Springsteen also tells an amusing anecdote about backing the great man with his own band before he himself made it big.

Musically, the film's a blast with Berry performing a live show in front of an adoring crowd at a beautiful concert hall in his home city of St Louis, with Keith's band behind him, knocking out classic after classic. Rightly, the bulk of this performance ends the show, apart from the curious epilogue where the camera tracks its way into an old abandoned luxury property of Berry's, now gone to seed, but deep inside the belly of the place, there's Berry playing a lonesome steel guitar blues.

I ended the film knowing little more than I already did before about Berry, which I think is the way I prefer it. Undoubtedly a great musical talent, who wrote and recorded some of the best songs of the rock and roll era, I have a deal of sympathy with Richards and director Hackford working with this rather graceless old man even on the occasion of his 60th birthday, summed up in a scene where Richards tries to cool an irritated Berry down by reminding him about his legacy, in so doing perhaps making the point that it's not always so great to finally meet your heroes, because the chances are, they'll let you down. Rather you than me Keith.

Director Hackford is clever enough to allow the viewer to draw that conclusion whilst still entertaining us musically to the highest degree.

To hear Bruce Springsteen say he first heard Chuck Berry via the music of the Stones makes me feel ancient. I was thirteen when I first heard Chuck Berry on a car radio in 1955 jamming out "Maybelline," the first true rock song I had ever heard. This was before the King, Elvis, signed with RCA and popularized the rock 'n' roll sound for us all.

In celebration of his sixtieth birthday, Chuck, with the help of friends, rocks out with many of his creations. The Berry rifts are still fast and furious but there is now an air of cynicism that was absent at the creation. Those unfamiliar with the early Berry sound should check out the original recordings to hear Chuck wail out his affirmation of youth and beauty. "Sweet Little Sixteen" was written and performed by Chuck Berry when he was thirty two years old; yet the rocker captures the innocence and lust of being young and carefree. Chuck continued through his music to invent many of the terms and lingo of the youth culture taking shape at the time. The only other recording artist of the day to even come close to Chuck Berry's lyrics of teen angst and a vocabulary to accompany it was Carl Perkins.

Chuck Berry was a seminal artist in the early history of rock 'n' roll. His approach was revolutionary, not just rebellious. Listen to the words of "Roll Over Beethoven." Chuck is stating emphatically that the new movement in American music is not merely a fad as critics would have it but a complete overhaul in musical standards: "...and tell Tschaikowsky the news."

One of the highlights of "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" is seeing and hearing the three pioneers of early rock exchanging barbs and ideas with each other. Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry discuss the white cover versions of black songs so prevalent in the record industry of the 1950's. Bo Diddley tries to keep an open mind about it all, for example, saying that Dick Clark couldn't showcase a mixed dance crowd on his "American Bandstand" because the producers wouldn't permit it. Little Richard interjects humor into the proceedings when he talks about white-shoes Pat Boone crooning "Tutti Frutti," making the salacious lyrics, "Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom," sound like light opera. Little Richard comments with a smile that he got over Pat Boone bowdlerizing "Tutti Frutti" only to have him expropriate "Long Tall Sally" ducking back in the alley. Chuck Berry, on the other hand, is militant and angry about the theft of property by the white record producers from black artists.

Chuck Berry has good reason to be so adamant in his denunciation of the racial overtones that existed in the record business of the 50's, for he suffered not just monetary loss as a result; his private life suffered too. Chuck wouldn't talk about his run-ins with the law for director Taylor Hackford, saying that he would discuss it in its proper context but not across an office desk. Chuck made a fantastic comeback in 1964 following a prison term resulting from a setup engineered by the government. Since Chuck refuses to comment on it, we may never know for sure exactly what happened.

One of Chuck's songs that stands out today is "Too Much Monkey Business." When Chuck recorded this in 1956, it represented, to my knowledge, the first rock 'n' roll protest song, several years before Bob Dylan would turn the rock world around with his protest-oriented music. Only one other protest rock song of any significance came out during the early days of rock 'n' roll. That was the Coasters' "What About Us?" not nearly as good as "Too Much Monkey Business."

There are better rock concert films around, the quintessence being "The Last Waltz," but this is the only place where rock fans can get a glimpse of the legendary Chuck Berry in all his glory accompanied by some of the best musicians in the business. It's easy to understand why NASA put "Johnny B. Goode" on the Voyager Golden Record as the best example of American Rock 'n' Roll.

Is it just me or is Chuckie's ax always slightly out of tune? I really enjoyed this film and learned a lot about Berry, his past, the career, and a sometimes tyrannical attitude. Not to much on his arrest or marital life; Chuck nipped that in the bud before it got off the ground. A lot of good footage is offered of the band rehearsing and then giving a sensational concert featuring several other artists. Also the viewer is treated to several interviews by various recording artists. Clearly, Berry is an out of the ordinary man, likeable in many ways, but a bit hard to swallow at times. I felt his attempt to change keys in the middle of a song during the performance was an amateur stunt at best. He is anything but a great guitarist, but none the less a complete showman.

If you were young when rock-and-roll was young, then you will probably enjoy this; if you were not young at that time, then this would give you a bit of history. Even though I was not around for the era of the big bands, seeing movies like "The Glenn Miller Story" or listening to some Artie Shaw or Tommy Dorsey gave me an appreciation for the music of a previous generation, and an understanding that those of that generation are not hopelessly antiquated.

The bulk of the movie is footage of a concert in St. Louis at the Fox Theater in celebration of Berry's 60th birthday in 1986. Berry plays a lot of his classics - he was still an amazingly agile and robust performer at the time. Kieth Richards plays a big part in this movie. Apparently Richards was bothered by the fact that Berry always picked up lackluster backup bands wherever he played and he put together a good backup band for this concert, himself included of course. There are guest appearances by Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt, Etta James, and Julian Lennon. There are interviews with Bo Diddley, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Little Richard (a delight), John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and much talk from Keith Richards. The fact that Richards is still alive at this late date is a testament to the resilience of the human body.

I just happened to catch this for the third or fourth time, and first time with my wife, on Universal HD today. Taylor Hackford does a phenomenal job in this movie. Chuck Berry, one of the most complicated and conflicted figures in the history of rock and pop music is rich territory and Hackford managed to catch Berry in all of his many guises - charming, professional, intelligent, thoughtful, bitter, petulant, unprofessional, difficult, and combative. What really marks this movie as a superior documentary is Hackford refusal to judge Berry to focus on just documenting the man and his behavior in a variety of situations and from a variety of sources. There really is no ax-grinding going on in this movie and there is no whitewashing - everything is what it is whether it's Berry in a touching scene with his mother and father or it's Berry in a petulant rehearsal stare-down with Keith Richards when Berry isn't getting his way.

Hackford's other great achievement in this movie is the excellent recording of Berry's 60th Anniversary Concert, the predominate reason for the whole project and the involvement of other pop/rock music notables, at St. Louis' Fox Theatre. Backed by Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson (Berry's pianist and forgotten early influence), Steve Jordan, Bobby Keys, Robert Cray, and Joey Spaminato, Berry performs what is probably his best show in 30 years. Hackford catches the performer's excitement, the crowd's excitement, and Berry's energy and showmanship in a way those of us too young to have seen or heard Berry can begin to understand why he serves a such a seminal influence in pop and rock music.

The movie is full of entertaining nuggets. Hackford's interviews with Keith Richards are fascinating. Richards' comments are just insightful about Berry, the influence of Berry's music, and the influence of Johnson of Berry's songs; they're also fascinating in just watching and listening to Richards himself - part mystic, part philosopher, part drunk. Also particularly interesting is a three-way conversation between Berry, Little Richard, and Bo Diddly who go into great detail about their early careers, music, business, and how racism negatively affected their careers and their recognition as the earliest purveyors of rock and roll.

I think this movie is interesting regardless of whether your actually interested in Berry beforehand or not. It is as fine a documentary that any director could produce and you should watch this movie whenever the chance presents itself.

Taylor Hackford's documentary chronicling rock music pioneer Chuck Berry and his return to Missouri hometown with a star-laden concert both he and Keith Richards (from the Rolling Stones) put together in St. Louis. The film doesn't probe too deeply into Berry's troubled life (including two trips to jail), but his surly, chipped-shoulder bravado and mercurial personality make for some fascinating sequences. Richards, who organized the event--a 60th birthday celebration for Berry--and plays guitar alongside Chuck, has some tense confrontations with his star and tells of several amusing moments where he nearly gave up on him. Of the concert guests, Eric Clapton, Julian Lennon, and especially Linda Ronstadt are the highlights, but Robert Cray and Etta James are disappointing. **1/2 from ****

On October, 18th 1986, on the sixtieth birthday of Chuck Berry, there was a concert at the Fox Theater in his hometown Saint Louis. This documentary highlights some of the best moments of this concert, with footages of Chuck Berry playing his famous songs with a unique band composed by Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson, Bobby Keys and other great musicians and the participation of Linda Ronstadt, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton and Etta James among others famous guests. In this tribute, there are also many interviews and archive footages with Chuck Berry's parents and siblings, and artists like Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, Roy Orbinson, Keith Richards, The Everly Brothers, John Lennon, Eric Clapton among others. There are many compliments, praise and recognition of his magnificent work from the interviewees; however there are also many obscure moments that deconstruct the idol. For example, Bruce Springsteen tells about Chuck Berry's concern with money and no rehearsal with the unknown local pick up bands before his gigs without any respect to the audiences and fans. Keith Richards is extremely ambiguous, and tells about the free physical aggression he suffered from Chuck Berry; and playing out of the rehearsed tune. Further, I understood that some of his famous songs actually were composed by Johnnie Johnson, and the keys adapted by Chuck Berry to the guitar. He manipulates many questions, like for example for his wife, and never mentions that he went to jail for tax evasion. Therefore it is a wonderful documentary of Chuck Berry as a player and singer; but regarding his behavior out of stage, I would dare to write that he seems to have at least a weird and egocentric personality. Therefore better off would be watching the concert without the additional footages. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll"

Incredible to only seeing it now! VHS from the library. Can watch the "confrontation" scene between Chuck and Keith over and over! It's like minutes 33-37 with Chuck serious mind-fudging' with Keith over this cool riff in "Carol" Just over and over and over. That guitar should have gone directly over Chuck Berry's head with a bigger bang! Though maybe there is a subtle different from the first try to the final approval. Beats me, but teaching Keith? Never thought I'd see that!

What a fun movie and SO well done! Chuck Berry is just a genius, but a total lunatic and not what you'd call a people person! Just wildly good history. Glad it will be there as documentation.

This is an excellent music documentary about Chuck Berry and people who is inspired by him and his way to play the guitar. Its mix of live conserts, interviews and the scene when Chuck is teaching Keith Richard the riff for "Oh Carol" is probably the best i have seen. This is a "must see" film for anyone who likes music.

Saw this film when it first came out and have loved it ever since. Chuck Berry obviously has a huge chip on his shoulder and takes it out on K.Richards before and during the big sixtieth birthday bash/show in St.Louis, and at times one has to feel a little badly for the guy? All he's trying to do is get Chuck more recognition for his lifes work, but this doesn't seem worthwhile to egomaniac Chuck. He go's so far as to change the arrangements of the tunes rehearsed for the show, right on stage that night, and makes Richards sweat the whole night through! Gaps in solos can be heard clearly on the soundtrack, and these weren't recording flubs but rather Chuck Berry made screwups, designed to discredit Mr.Richards and the show. Still the music thrill's and even Berrys antics couldn't derail the band Richards put together for this one. For anyone that loves real rocknroll the way it was meant to play, go out and pick yourself up a copy. You'll love the allstar cast rockin band that plays away the night in St.Louis celebrating Berry's 60'th at the end of the film and all the interviews and stuff along the way. Etta James's performance of rocknroll music a Berry classic, is as electrifying as anything ever performed on stage as is Linda Ronstadt's back in the Usa. Man I wish I could have been there?

An absolutely first rate documentary and far and away Taylor Hackford's best film this is a most diverting and insightful look at the great but flawed Chuck Berry. Its biggest virtue, for me, is the skillful balance Hackford strikes between hagiography and debunkery. Just when you think the film is gonna be a total white wash job it shows the guy as a controlling butthole with his wife or as a touchy jerk re: his run ins with the law. Or as a venal, money obsessed professional victim. And just when you think the film will take a dark turn into the dank byways of this fellow's psychosis it makes the very salient point that he's a musical genius, especially as a lyricist, and the even more provocative but in my mind correct statement that Berry was the first singer/songwriter (although Woody Guthrie fans would object and they might have a case!).

Yeah there are a lot of talking heads but somehow you don't mind as much when the bodies to which they're connected are named Springsteen, Diddly, Clapton and most spectacularly Richards, the later of whom almost but not quite steals the show from ol Chuck. And it's not as if Hackford neglects the music. Generous swatches of Berry songs are featured, my favorite of which is "Back In The USA" which he performs with the great Linda Ronstadt and which, if this country did not have its head up its rectum, would be our national anthem. Give it an A.

With the event of his 60th Birthday, Chuck Berry organising a special concert with the help of some very famous friends and colleagues. This film follows the rehearsals for that concert as well as the show itself while also taking time to interview Berry's peers, family and friends to get a picture of the man himself.

Although I'm not a huge fan of Berry's, I do enjoy his music and am also interested in the man himself. It is for this reason that I watched Hail, Hail Rock n' Roll despite not really knowing what angle it was coming from. The film works well with the backdrop of the 60th birthday concert and gets access to see Berry at work, and thus see what an ass he can be! The rehearsal scenes are the most enjoyable as stars such as Keith Richards and Eric Clapton are frustrated by Berry's approach. However what the film fails to do is really go beyond what Berry either wants to show or can't help but show. Discussions over his marriage and his run-ins with the police are quickly brought to a halt.

There is much of interest early on and many of the interviews with other stars are really interesting to a point. The second half of the film is mostly taken up with the concert and sadly most of it isn't as good as you'd hope it to be. All the instruments are great and Berry is a good showman but his voice is not as strong or as effective as it once was and it shows in some of his songs. Happily the influence of others and his basic talents as a musician and showman help cover the odd shaky moment.

Overall I felt that I didn't really know much more about Berry than I did before I watched the film. I got a reasonable impression of what type of person he is but I didn't know too much about his past – especially anything that he clearly didn't want to be discussed or shown. The music is good despite some of his songs being a bit less than he would have hoped, and the film is worth watching if you have more than a passing interest or appreciation for the music involved.

This updated, 2006, DVD release from the initial 1987 version of his 60th birthday concert at the Fox in St. Louis; includes the film crew's retrospective of difficulties in working w/Berry. Berry is an intelligent articulate remarkable poet of simple rhymes (preceding rap) covering school, love, cars, life (many of the lyrics contain now archaic references, e.g. Ford, Cadillac cars). His guitar skills along w/his intense performances made him into one of the leaders of the rock 'n' roll genre. Using his other strengths of math & business, and perhaps as a product of his own life & times, he would wrangle every dollar he could. Barry would, daily, hold the film crew waiting "hostage" w/blackmail style requests for additional cash to continue filming, even though he was one of the producers. He always wanted cash throughout his career resulting in the IRS sending him to jail for underpaying (basically what most or our wealthy, corporations and political leader are doing today). He also spent two other stints in jail for robbery & underage (14) female transport. Additional performers were Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Etta James, Linda Ronstadt. Commentary from Bo Diddley, Everly Bros., John Lennon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Bruce Springsteen. Especially interesting was a black perspective on white singers covering black music.

It's Chuck Berry's 60th birthday. It's a documentary of his life. He's recounting his story. It's full of rock stars singing their praises for the music legend. It's two rock concerts at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. This does come out in the same year as him getting charged which leads to the main deficit in this documentary. It's not digging into the darker, more controversial material. To be fair, almost all of the troubles would come out after this movie was made. There is some great music, some behind the scene and some concert in the second half. It's always good to see the big crowds. Keith Richards is the best celebrity and he rags on Chuck's playing. One may think he's kidding until they start arguing. He's the only one to touch on his darker side and quite frankly, he really gets on his dark side. That section is electric and one gets a fleeting glimpse of the real Chuck pounding his dominance over Keith. I've never appreciated Keith more. The last half hour has his family members and the filmmaker tries to dig into his personal life. Chuck often cuts it off and that does suggest something. A few comments can be seen in a different light. It hints at some of his demons.

Forget Frank Sinatra…Keith Richard's amazing ‘Hail Hail Rock and Roll' leaves no doubt about who is the most important influence on contemporary music.

Taylor Hackford, who did the wonderful music narrative ‘The Idolmaker' directs this documentary, which includes a great live concert accompanying. The glue that holds the deal together, though, is the presence of Richards, as producer and musical director. His exchanges with Berry, filmed as is, concerning the film's content are classic. A Bruce Springsteen recount of his early days opening for Berry at a concert in New Jersey is worth the price of admission alone.

Great interviews with Roy Orbison, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the comedy team of Little Richard and Bo Diddley.

Wonderful film, beautiful honest portrait of a very complicated musical genius.