Janis

This film is an excellent collage of musical performances and interviews with Janis Joplin. It gives a true sense of her power as a performer, featuring clips of her most famous performances. The Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, and various television performances are all here. For fans who want to revisit the past or people just being introduced to Janis, this is the perfect place to start your musical journey.

At the same time, Janis features lots of excellent interviews and behind the scenes footage, ranging from appearances on the Dick Cavett Show to film of her recording songs with her band. By including these clips, the film gives us a better sense of who Joplin actually was.

The film leaves out any discussion of how Joplin died, which is for the better. Rather than focusing on morbid gossip, the film celebrates her life, which in the end is why she is really remembered.

My review description may seem a bit blunt, but it literally describes what this 1974 flick is. It's not a documentary. Nor is it a docudrama. Nor is it a rockumentary. It is just over an hour and a half of Janis Joplin concert footage combined with Joplin interview snippets. And nothing more than that.

Which is fine. Particularly if one just wants to see and hear Joplin perform and periodically talk in an interview setting. Well, that's exactly what you get. Virtually nothing by way of others looking at the camera and saying why they think Janis is so great. Definitely not a nostalgia trip, either: the film was put out four years after Joplin passed away and has nothing by way of filmed interviews conducted after Joplin died. Thus, it's not recollections from people who knew her filmed thirty years or more after the fact.

Not quite ten stars for the reasons others have mentioned as far back as the initial theatrical film critic reviews in late 1974. Some of those reasons being the lack of a chronological approach in reference to the placement of the performance clips in the film. Little to nothing mentioned or referenced re: Joplin's pre-1967 life. No interviews with any of the band members in any of the groups who played with Joplin, nor were there any interviews with family or friends. As one reviewer commented back in 1974, there is no narration or commentary...not even as much of a mention in the movie that Joplin died. Contrast all of that with the 1973 film about Jimi Hendrix, where at least one has some sort of a sense of who Hendrix was offstage before he became famous as well as how his fame affected him.

Overall, though, 1974's Janis: A Film is useful in providing an undiluted look and listen to Joplin the singer and performer. Far as I know, this has never been upgraded to dvd form in the United States.

Very good, narration-free documentary that intercuts performance footage with interviews. This is a straight compilation film, using then-existing material. I don't think there was anything shot specifically for this film.

For such an electric talent, it is especially good that the directors just stay out of the way, and not try to staple significance, meaning or whatever to their subject. They just let Janis Joplin sing and speak for herself.

And, that's the best thing you could possibly do for a Janis Joplin doc!

******* (7 Out of 10 Stars)

Having seen Joplin live in concert in the 60's it was good to go back and see footage of her singing, and the interviews. also it was great to hear her sing again- no one could wail like "the rose"-- parts of the film seem dated- but of course this was 30 years ago--- ah nostalgia!

this is "must have" for all the people out-there that are loving Janis.It's a really touching film,Janis is just playing herself.Beautiful,magnificent and above.Unfortunately,Janis's story hasn't yet really been said properly and it is my feeling that she deserve much more than she got by now,at least for the passion that she put in her music.Watch her in this film,see with what intensity she can perform and you'll understand.Janis is among the few that live for whatever she is doing and that thing is shown in every aspect of this film.Watch her especially in live performances,you never saw anything like that before! A film on which i could die watching it.