Simon and Garfunkel: Songs of America

Aired way back on November 30th, 1969, this is a long forgotten gem that is worth finding if you can. Those who are resourceful can locate it out there in the cyber wilderness. Another IMDb reviewer gave it a less than glowing review but I felt this to be completely unwarranted. This is an interesting time capsule from one of the most tumultuous points in American history. It was mid-Vietnam War, post- assassination madness and right in the midst of the Nixon-era. Nixon was just a less orange version of Trump. It was ridiculousness, dishonesty, and incompetence... just without the tweeting. Only years later would the extent of the administration's corruption and hatred for people be fully understood. So of course this "cynical" special would reflect those times. But it was filled with beauty and hope. It was aired a little more than three months after Woodstock. It was the first time the public heard the iconic 'Bridge over Troubled Water' and there are studio scenes of recording sessions and also concert footage of Simon and Garfunkel performing many of their classics. Paul's brother Eddie also appears in some scenes and he will confuse the hell out of you if you didn't go in knowing there was a Simon brother who resembled Paul so much. I was baffled for a while during a couple of scenes. You can't go wrong with this one. 9/10 stars.

Pedestrian television special from CBS in 1969, introduced by actor Robert Ryan and sponsored by Alberto beauty products, was creamed in the ratings by a competing Peggy Fleming/Jose Feliciano hour of ice-skating and music. One can easily see why: musicians Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel snipe at each other not very playfully in and out of the recording studio, while director Charles Grodin uses the duo's music to score incongruous clips of "The Lone Ranger," Cesar Chavez, Lenny Bruce, Martin Luther King, et al. If this haphazard approach to our collective 'enlightenment'--taking us down the road from nostalgia to political mayhem--is meant to represent America's loss of innocence, it does so with a bewildering, cynical hand. The only beauty on display is the formation of a peace-sign in the bright blue sky, as well as the introduction of a then-new Simon and Garfunkel song, "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Only ardent fans of the artists really need apply, although their jaded comments are nearly as depressing as what we're seeing happening to the nation.

It's not easy for many to remember, but Simon and Garfunkel were a bridge between the youth culture and the adult establishment. Simon's inoffensive but catchy tunes were a gateway for adults to at least give some thought to what the Stones and Dylan were on about. The lads made an important contribution to the culture, and the culture is everything. Yes, as noted, Simon and Garfunkel snipe at each other in the film. That's a useful heads-up to what's coming for these two, and spares us any illusions that they will continue to be important indefinitely. Enjoy their work now, in 1969, while you can. They soon broke up, of course, Simon becoming the American McCartney with songs you couldn't get out of your head but had little meaning ('Kodachrome'). Garfunkel turned to film acting; necrophilia is one of the things to which he stooped in that realm. But while it was good it was great, and Grodin's juxtapositions with images of 1960s tumult are not only appropriate but would prevent us knowing what music was reacting to in those times, the war, the anger, the riots and especially the questioning of every institution that shaped the music. -David Olive, Toronto