Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie

I've seen John Otway several times throughout the years after being introduced to his presence through viz comic in the 80s.

I often wondered if the manic, egotistical but musically limited man I saw perform both with his band and with wild willy Barrett was a front to a normal man who found a niche for himself in rock and roll with a unique act. But have no fear, he really is as mad and bonkers as his stage persona.

I saw this film while channel hopping recently, having no idea of its existence. However it is absolutely fantastic and one of the best music documentaries I have seen. In fact it is almost like watching a real life spinal tap type film, except this isn't him hamming it up, this the genuine article.

The film covers his career from when he first made a name for himself famously falling of a Marshall amp whilst performing on the BBC's legendary rock show 'The Old Grey whistle test' in the late 1970s through to right up to the films London premiere in the summer of 2013. For a man who saw himself as the next Bowie but fell very short it's amazing he's somehow managed to scrape a living with a very loyal fan base and lots of goodwill from people in the industry.

Otway is a genuine one-off. The anecdotes from his previous producers and band members are at times hilarious, with Otway both sometimes genuine and sometimes playing to the camera. Yet the film is never disrespectful to him or his fan base. It may acknowledge his shortfalls but his manic style is there for all to see. He has also been clever enough to surround himself with some genuinely talented musicians who are completely at odds with his bumbling amateur style. Plus it features one of the funniest takes on his song 'head butts' I've seen.

For a man who somehow has defied logic and scraped a living for forty years on the stage and with a couple of hit singles behind him, this film explains why he has appeal despite not being particularly talented (although occasionally he will surprise you like his ability to play the theremin). So just sit back and enjoy the show.

I won't spoil the movie by alluding to different parts, it is just an autobiographical and pleasant history of the seventies up to the present day, telling the story of one man and showing how he has touched lives all through the build-up of his career as a 'Rock Star'. It shows the lifestyle, warts and all, with several interviews from those closest to the subject.

I could not fault it, with sensitive direction and careful editing, it has become a chronology of a single life as a microcosm of all of our lives - it has something for everyone.

The John Otway fan base is huge and this will please both them and everyone wanting to see how being a star is not always what is cracked-up to be!

This is the story of John Otway's rise and fall and fall and fail and fall and fail. He dreamed a dream and probably should have stayed in bed.

Is this movie funnier than Spinal Tap? Yes, because it's true. Is this movie more tragic than Macbeth? Yes, because it's true. Is Otway the world's greatest Rock'n'Roll failure? It's harsh but fair. However Otway has a fan base that is dedicated to transforming his failures into success. His fans have moved mountains, trains and chart positions! They have sung, sweated and smiled. This story is as much there's as it is his.

Watch this movie. It will make you smile but more than that, it will go to Otway's head and inspire him to fail some more :-)

This is not just a film just for fans of Otway anybody with a sense of humour will like this.

It's a warm and witty documentary about one of Britain's great eccentrics and his true life story about making a go of it in the world of rock and roll. Comparisons will be made to Spinal Tap but I think this film is funnier and at times more unbelievable even though its fact!

Who else would think of hiring a private jet and getting his fans to join him in a world tour. Did it work? Well I wont spoil the surprise.

It's one of the few films recently that's made me laugh out loud you need to see it to believe it.

John Otway is the most unlikely pop star of all time. Self deprecating and refreshingly honest (he constantly refers to himself as a prat)- this musically inept buffoon leaps around like a cross between Basil Faulty and Bob Dylan on acid.

After deciding at an early age he wanted to be famous, Otway initially teamed up in the mid 1970s with 'Wild' Willy Barrett an accomplished guitarist of some notoriety to form the ill fated duo 'Otway & Barrett'. Following a painful breakthrough performance on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' (where Otway fell from an amplifier crushing his testicles in front of millions of TV viewers) the pair scored chart success with their debut hit 'Really Free'.

Otway recorded a solo follow up (which flopped) and Barrett (unsurprisingly) left the act (this set a theme - Barrett re-joined Otway and left again numerous times over the next 35 years). After securing a huge signing on fee to his recording contract - Otway buys a Bentley motor car (he can't drive but as he tells us 'it looks great outside the house when I ride home on my bicycle').

The film charts Otway's endeavours to find the elusive second hit, and takes the viewer on a journey through one disaster after another as Otway attempts to catapult himself to super-stardom (only to fail again and again and again). Otway explains how he recorded a single with three 'mystery' copies that had no vocal track (whoever bought one was promised a live performance in their living room). How he wrote a book outlining his 'success from failure' model. We hear how he formed his Big Band (comprising Otway and 4 others).

And finally (to coincide with his fiftieth birthday).... when it seemed the second hit would never come... how he mobilised his loyal fan base to beat the 'stage managed' British chart system that refused to 'allow' him a hit - and saw him finally and triumphantly reach the UK Top 10 with Bunsen Burner. The 'B' side was recorded with 1000 fans heckling Otway through a hilarious version of 'House of the Rising Sun'. Each and every one of them were named on the record credits.(as Otway explains - 'if you're named as a performer on a hit record - you don't just buy a copy for yourself - you buy one for your mum and auntie as well').

Encouraged by this glimpse of the big time - Otway once again snatches failure from the jaws of success by attempting to organise a World Tour (complete with its own jumbo jet to carry 300 of his lunatic fans around the globe with him) playing venues from Sydney to Singapore, and on through Vegas and Tahiti! Unfortunately - only half that number signed up and Otway lost the huge deposit he had put down for the hire of the plane.

The film moves to an amazing climax when (coinciding with Otway's sixtieth birthday) the fans once again show their adoration for 'their hero' in producing and funding the movie. The closing sequences of the film were shot minutes before the film's premiere and edited in whilst the audience watched the main body of the film - and then themselves arriving some 2 hours earlier.

The film is interspersed with a brilliant soundtrack of Otway flops (plus 2 hits) and various celebrities offering comment on the eponymous micro-star. The closing titles lists the hundreds of fans who contributed cash as co-producers.............The DVD seems destined to sell well then!