Ovi Magazine Issue #12: Sexuality Published: 01-03-2006

Hollywood
goes music
By Thanos Kalamidas
It seems that something is going on in Hollywood with biographies of musicians. Not that I have anything against
it but somehow it seems that after ‘Amadeus’ something happened. I thought about writing an iKritic about the new
film biography of Johnny Cash, I decided to check what’s going on.
1984 - Milos Forman presents the
classic ‘Amadeus’, an epic film that
goes through the life and death of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Especially
the end brought a lot of controversy
and disagreement since
it hinted murder and not a natural
end. The film received eight Academy
Awards and became a classic.
1987 - ‘La Bamba’ and the beginning
of Rock and Roll. Ritchie
Valens died when he was just 17-
years-old in the same plane accident
that killed another Rock &
Roll legend, Buddy Holly. The
rocker that combined South American
tradition with Rock and made
La Bamba a hit that survives even
today.
1988 - Clint Eastwood, passionate
about Jazz music, directed ‘Bird’,
the film hymn to Charlie Parker,
the best saxophonist ever. The saxophone
overtakes anything else in
the film and the star Forest Whitaker
had to take countless saxophone
lessons to look as believable as the
Bird on the scenes, who was famous
for how long he kept going
without breathing.
1989 - Another controversial persona
of the golden age of Rock &
Roll. ‘Great Balls of Fire’ and Jerry
Lee Lewis show his unexpected
love affairs and the scandals cover
the best part of the film, but the
music is there and Lewis plays the
scene with his hands and his feet.
1991 - Oliver Stone with Val Kilmer
make a film about the greatest poet
of Rock & Roll, king lizard the one
and only James Douglas Morrison,
using the name of his group, The
Doors. His love story, his passion,
his madness and the tragic end are
there. Oliver Stone, known for his
obsession in the details, gives a
fantastic film.
1993 - Suddenly controversy inside
Disney productions; a film that is
not so much for kids and the first
one in a list to follow from the
same production company. ‘What’s
Love Got To Do With It’ is about
Tina and Ike Turner, featuring the
domestic violence and music. Ike
made a lot of classics for Soul,
Blues and Rock music but he was
shown as a monster in the film.
Domestic violence is not anything
good or to be proud of, but it seems
like Tina got her revenge with this
film.
1994 - Iain Softley makes a film
about the group that made their
name synonymous to the word music
for the second half of the 20th
century, the Beatles and the film
is called ‘Backbeat’. It’s all about
their first period when they played
in small clubs and in Hamburg. The
music and the memories for most
of us do everything!
1994 - In the same year another
style of music, the classics of the
20th century and the classic name
of music as a whole, ‘Immortal Beloved’
and the life of Ludwig van
Beethoven starring a fantastic Gary
Oldman. In this film the director is
trying to find a part of the composer’s
rich love life but the music is
everywhere.
2004 - Jamie Foxx is ‘Ray’ or better
Ray Charles. The blind soul
and blues piano player and composer.
Jamie Foxx plays the young
musician who tries to learn all the
secrets from the big master and he
takes us through the life of the great
musician.
2004 - It was the turn of another
great musician, Cole Porter. The
film ‘De Lovely’ goes through his
life, his romantic spirit and his life
with his wife Linda.
2006 - And finally ‘Walk the Line’
with Johnny Cash, the singer of the
American proletariat. Currently,
there are many others under production
including ‘Dream Girls’
about the life and the career of the
members of the women’s group Supremes
and finally a film about another
tragic figure of Rock & Roll,
Janis Joplin.
So it seems Hollywood loves music
biographies. The good news is that
all the films, till now, were carefully
made with respect to the musicians
and most of all to their fans.