American: The Bill Hicks Story

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Coming from a country famous for making an institution out of stand up comedy, for many an insincere route to bigger things, Bill Hicks is certainly a name that stands out in many 'best jokes ever' polls over here, despite being, interestingly, American, where people are known to be a little more sensitive. And, it would seem he got his big break over here, his true talent and potential not being explored in his native country enough, where he either caused too much offence or was simply a misunderstood genius. Basically, the guy has a massive cult following that has continued many years after his death and this documentary attempts to cast light on his life and times, without reflecting too much on the influence he still has today.

Hicks didn't seem to let how much he was far away from where he went to become famous stand in his way at all, chasing his small town boy dream with all the confidence and gusto of a tornado, a character possessed by a dynamic mind that refused to be restrained who, like the best of anyone, ended up living fast and dying young. People are appreciated more in death, for sure, but it's undeniably often the case that people with an unquestionable talent in whatever medium they are in can be taken away in their prime, and it's definitely sad to see all that potential and talent taken away.

This is a sincere, honest, insightful, revealing and well made enough expose of Hicks, opening up his unique observations and comedy stylings to a new generation of viewers. ***

More than leading an interesting life, Bill Hicks - one of the most significant American comedians in recent times - was an interesting soul with an important voice. This is what, after a somewhat slow start, Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas' biomentary American: The Bill Hicks Story is able to convey. The filmmakers use a combination of creative and agreeable photo-animations and traditionally voiced interviews with Hicks' friends and family to tell his story, and the film captures some of the comedian's struggles, a little bit of his agenda, and a fair amount of his sense of humour. Hicks is portrayed, as dead artists often are, as something of a martyr, which is fitting enough, but the filmmakers make the deadly sin for documentarians of not treating their subject material with any form of criticism. This is a fan piece, and will work just as that.

If the film inspired you to check out more of Hicks' material, I think the filmmakers will feel that they've done their jobs. In that case, I suggest Totally Bill Hicks, which includes his last performance in England.

Namaste, Venakam, Salaam Alaikum, Sat Sri Akal.

Bill Hicks' comedy has been a godsend in my personal life. Being a native of the Balkan region of former Yugoslavia trying to acclimate to American society without acculturating and losing my identity, his work was invaluable. He has said the things that most people don't even acknowledge or think about.

Bill hicks was an amazing artist and human being on many levels. In particular, on a spiritual and philosophical level, he is easily the most relevant and profound comedian of all time. No other individual has managed to take the unpalatable truths of "modern society" and deliver them with the intellectual poise, sincerity and utter hilarity of Bill Hicks.

He is in our hearts and minds for all eternity, and its a joy to have known his eternal individual nature through his recordings.

May we meet again in the cosmic energy pool of eternity.

Peace, Love & Light,

Almir

"It's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one."

• William Melvin "Bill" Hicks

I am an enormous Bill Hicks fan. Obsessively so. I think I have all the bootlegged concerts on my computer, and a DVD of rariety camcorder shows as well as enough official CDs and DVDs that I have basically all his material available in one form or another. I also have about three books - two biographies and a book of transcripts and scripts and other writings. So that's the background I took into this documentary.

First of all, it's a beautiful film to look at. There's the usual audio history going on in the background, but what the directors have done is taken still photographs and created pseudo-animated sequences to support the narrative. It's odd at first, but very quickly you stop even noticing that the still faces aren't moving in their animated environment. Very clever.

Secondly, where has all this new footage come from? There are several camcorder recordings which must go back as far as the early 1980s that I have never seen before. There's some bits (about his father) which I'd never heard before which were used to accompany the section on his early shows. I don't think they are quite as old as that (he looks a bit older than 16) but it's not far off. Some of these early clips also show later material in an earlier form - like the fantasy about the grotesque death of woman that broke his heart seeing him on the Tonight Show as she breathed her last.

The best thing about the film, however, is they way everything is brought back to the comedy. With enough reading, you'd already know about the drug stories and the depths of his alcohol abuse and his tragic early death from pancreatic cancer. While all of these are important parts of the story, no-one dwells on the more sensational details, but instead uses them in partnership with recordings to show how they motivated what he was doing on stage. There's clips to show him drinking excessively on stage, clips about his growing dislike of governments (including from Hicks and Kevin Booth's trip to Waco in 1993), clips contrasting his rapturous reception in the UK (the huge rock and roll entrance of the Revelations show at the Dominion theatre) adjacent to the small audiences ("staring blankly back at me like a dog that had been shown a card trick") of a backwater comedy club in the US South. I like this because it feels like the best use of the documentary medium, and gives fresh insight into a topic I (and many other fans) already know well. I mean, I can read and re-read an autobiography of his life but only in a film can I really see the effect on his work. Very much recommended, for disciples and neophytes alike.

I was able to see this on my local cable provider's VOD. I half expected this to be part biography and part collection of comedy routines. It was heavier on the biography part and not as much a retrospective of performance bits. That was perfectly fine because this documentary was more about the man and what drove his comedy. Also, it appears Bill Hicks was an incredible blues guitarist from the few audio clips played. Most of the beginning is about his family and upbringing which sourced his early comedy. It also described his friendships and the relationships that led him into comedy. Towards the end, more of Bill Hick's comedy is performed, but more to emphasize the circumstances of his life and how he managed his career.

Bill Hicks will always be one of my favorite comedians, and to see the man behind the comedy was fascinating. I have a deeper appreciation of the man and his work after seeing this film.