Purely Joyful Movie!

Expected more

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Chuck Berry only ever wrote one song and continued to re-write that one song for the length of his entire career. The one song he wrote he ripped off from the piano chords of Johnnie Johnson. But no one gives a damn because Chuck more-or-less invented rock and roll. Cars, girls, school, movies, girls school, cars, etc, etc.Taylor Hackford's slick and slyly incisive chronicle revolves around Berry's 60th birthday show - an event coordinated and realised by none other than Johnny Depp's dad, Keef Richards. It reveals Berry by turns as an egomaniac, money grubber and genuine musical genius. The film is a blast for anyone who is in the least bit interested in the roots of rock music and the trajectory of it's influence. Richards said of Berry "Before him, there was nothing." I can almost believe it.

I just happened to catch this for the third or fourth time, and first time with my wife, on Universal HD today. Taylor Hackford does a phenomenal job in this movie. Chuck Berry, one of the most complicated and conflicted figures in the history of rock and pop music is rich territory and Hackford managed to catch Berry in all of his many guises - charming, professional, intelligent, thoughtful, bitter, petulant, unprofessional, difficult, and combative. What really marks this movie as a superior documentary is Hackford refusal to judge Berry to focus on just documenting the man and his behavior in a variety of situations and from a variety of sources. There really is no ax-grinding going on in this movie and there is no whitewashing - everything is what it is whether it's Berry in a touching scene with his mother and father or it's Berry in a petulant rehearsal stare-down with Keith Richards when Berry isn't getting his way.Hackford's other great achievement in this movie is the excellent recording of Berry's 60th Anniversary Concert, the predominate reason for the whole project and the involvement of other pop/rock music notables, at St. Louis' Fox Theatre. Backed by Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson (Berry's pianist and forgotten early influence), Steve Jordan, Bobby Keys, Robert Cray, and Joey Spaminato, Berry performs what is probably his best show in 30 years. Hackford catches the performer's excitement, the crowd's excitement, and Berry's energy and showmanship in a way those of us too young to have seen or heard Berry can begin to understand why he serves a such a seminal influence in pop and rock music.The movie is full of entertaining nuggets. Hackford's interviews with Keith Richards are fascinating. Richards' comments are just insightful about Berry, the influence of Berry's music, and the influence of Johnson of Berry's songs; they're also fascinating in just watching and listening to Richards himself - part mystic, part philosopher, part drunk. Also particularly interesting is a three-way conversation between Berry, Little Richard, and Bo Diddly who go into great detail about their early careers, music, business, and how racism negatively affected their careers and their recognition as the earliest purveyors of rock and roll.I think this movie is interesting regardless of whether your actually interested in Berry beforehand or not. It is as fine a documentary that any director could produce and you should watch this movie whenever the chance presents itself.

With the event of his 60th Birthday, Chuck Berry organising a special concert with the help of some very famous friends and colleagues. This film follows the rehearsals for that concert as well as the show itself while also taking time to interview Berry's peers, family and friends to get a picture of the man himself.Although I'm not a huge fan of Berry's, I do enjoy his music and am also interested in the man himself. It is for this reason that I watched Hail, Hail Rock n' Roll despite not really knowing what angle it was coming from. The film works well with the backdrop of the 60th birthday concert and gets access to see Berry at work, and thus see what an ass he can be! The rehearsal scenes are the most enjoyable as stars such as Keith Richards and Eric Clapton are frustrated by Berry's approach. However what the film fails to do is really go beyond what Berry either wants to show or can't help but show. Discussions over his marriage and his run-ins with the police are quickly brought to a halt.There is much of interest early on and many of the interviews with other stars are really interesting to a point. The second half of the film is mostly taken up with the concert and sadly most of it isn't as good as you'd hope it to be. All the instruments are great and Berry is a good showman but his voice is not as strong or as effective as it once was and it shows in some of his songs. Happily the influence of others and his basic talents as a musician and showman help cover the odd shaky moment.Overall I felt that I didn't really know much more about Berry than I did before I watched the film. I got a reasonable impression of what type of person he is but I didn't know too much about his past – especially anything that he clearly didn't want to be discussed or shown. The music is good despite some of his songs being a bit less than he would have hoped, and the film is worth watching if you have more than a passing interest or appreciation for the music involved.

This is an excellent music documentary about Chuck Berry and people who is inspired by him and his way to play the guitar. Its mix of live conserts, interviews and the scene when Chuck is teaching Keith Richard the riff for "Oh Carol" is probably the best i have seen. This is a "must see" film for anyone who likes music.