Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll

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.

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.

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.

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"

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.