Crossfire Hurricane

Although, this film has some tremendous footage never or rarely seen it also has the feel of a crib notes version of the band. Its hard to encapsulate 50 years into less than two hours and this film is watchable, but mostly for Stones fans. The members of the band do voice overs (everyone would like a film where they all sit together and comment on things), and Brian Jones, Altamont and other things are covered, but this is by no means comprehensive. That is probably the point, if you're even a casual fan you know whats been going on with the band for 50 years. Stones fans will likely and rightly give this an 8 to 10 rating, others that never cared about the band may not wish to sit through it. Recommended for the great footage, but don't expect to get much more insight into the band than what you already know.

The film's very good in representing the bands early and mid term journey with all it's successes, failures, drugs, drink etc with candid interviews and good musical snippets. The footage is great but my biggest disappointment with the film is that basically very little is mentioned of the bands musical output post Let It Bleed. Sticky Fingers get a brief snippet, Exile on Main Street has a little more but post that almost nothing. A brief interlude of 'Angie' and how great Ronnie Wood has fit into the band - and he sure has if only they'd give him a bit more freedom to work with. But, and it's a big but, nothing - a great big zilch of their musical output through the late 70's and beyond, much of which was/has been critically underwhelming.

It would also have been nice to see the involvement with the band of Ian 'Stu' Stewart and Bobby Keys recognised.

In short, the film's an unpolished diamond, well worth a look to the Stones fan

Yet another assemblage of vintage clips of the Stones, this time celebrating their 50th anniversary together. For some reason, it starts with footage of the "I-want-to-be-trendy" talk-show host Dick Cavett hanging with the band during their access-all-excess 1972 American tour, itself recently the feature of a film all to itself. From there, it works backwards to the band's origin, then taking us back up to 1978, when they temporarily rejuvenated themselves for the "Some Girls" album, actually an apt place to stop as their music hasn't progressed, far less excited, any since, like in their glory days. More than that the film signs off by tellingly making the point that having started out as a blues-covers band, then become deliberately moulded into the anti-Beatles by manager Andrew Loog-Oldham, they progressed from counter-cultural anti-heroes to fully fledged members of the establishment (arise Sir Mick!) and become everybody's favourite rock and roll band/brand, a title they've never relinquished but equally the irony of which appears to escape them.

I am a big fan of the band and enjoyed seeing some footage I'd not seen before, particularly impromptu or backstage stuff, but most of it I had, while the band interviews, none apparently latter-day revisionist, similarly don't tell us much we didn't know already. Jagger certainly comes across as the most intelligent and loquacious, with Keith playing up to his bad boy persona, leaving Charlie and Bill not giving a damn about the fame and celebrity that goes with the gig. Mick Taylor sensibly explains that he left for the good of his health and Ron Wood was apparently brought in as much for his peace-making irreverence as his musical ability. Brian Jones gets mentioned in dispatches in the first hour, but probably less than he deserved.

All the band's major events are chronicled with contemporary film footage, like deliberately choosing their "black-hat" marketing image, the breakthrough of learning to write their own songs, their first US mass-popularity in 1965, the Redlands drug-bust in 1967 which saw Mick and Keith controversially sentenced to jail for drug possession, Brian Jones' exit and soon-afterwards death-by-drowning in 1969 and to close out the decade on a low, the disastrous free concert at Altamont.

There's less of interest in the second part, unless you count their new tax-exile status as a major event, eventually leading up, from a long-way out, to Keith's drugs bust in Toronto in 1978. One doubts if the producer could have filled another two hours on the years from 1978 until now, for which I suppose we should be grateful. However this interesting document, filled with attitude and great music is definitely a watchable tribute to the best-surviving band of the 60's.

Crossfire Hurricane (2012)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

When I heard that director Brett Morgan was going to try and capture fifty-years of The Rolling Stones into a 111-minute running time I thought it would be impossible and I was pretty much right. CROSSFIRE HURRICANE is an impossible attempt at a documentary but I think it's about as good as we could hope for. The documentary features interviews with all the surviving members of the Stones but we never see them. Instead we hear their thoughts while seeing various pieces of footage from throughout their career. This could be TV appearances, movies, concert films, bootleg material and other formats. Again, trying to put fifty-years into such a short running time is impossible and there seems to be a lot missing here. I mean, the 60s and 70s are the main focus here and we really don't get anything from the more recent times. I'm sure some might argue that the bands greatest period was this era and it's a great point but at the same time they do have something that has kept them together all these years. With that said, it's hard to be too disappointed with what's not here because what we do get is great. Being able to see all of this footage and have it together in one place is clearly the best thing here. It also doesn't hurt that it appears all the band members are being honest and open with their feelings. This includes the music they've made, issues like drugs, Brian's death and of course the Altamont concert. Fans of the band will certainly want to check this out.

Half a century of the Rolling Stones gets the full treatment in Brett Morgan's "Crossfire Hurricane". The documentary actually focuses more on the group's first decade, as they developed a reputation as the anti-Beatles, went through some drug busts, and even fled England to avoid the taxes. There are number of scenes in which interviewers (obviously from the older generation) are asking the band members ridiculous questions, and one gets the feeling that Mick, Keith, Charlie and the rest don't like having to answer.

But of course the best part is the music. We get to hear most of the famous songs, often getting footage of the recordings. It just goes to show that the '60s will never die. In other words, this documentary is pure satisfaction!