One new film that I have been long-anticipating is GET ON UP, a biopic which chronicles the life and times of James Brown, one of the seminal figures on the American musical scene during the infancy of rock, roll, and soul.
When I think of James Brown, I think of "Please, Please, Please," his rhythm and blues classic which dates from 1956, and such high-octane 1960s hits as "I Got You," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," and "Say It Loud-- I'm Black and I'm Proud." However, cinematically-speaking, what is most memorable about James Brown is his appearance at a legendary rock concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, which was taped, edited, and released in a 1964 music documentary titled THE T.A.M.I SHOW. (T.A.M.I., by the way, stands for Teenage Awards Music International.)
The performers are a veritable who's who of rock royalty: The Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, Jan & Dean, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles-- and James Brown. And despite the presences of these rock legends, the true showstopper is Brown, who for good reason was nicknamed The Godfather of Soul.
I haven't seen THE T.A.M.I. SHOW in years, yet I vividly recall his fancy footwork as he performs before a crowd of screaming teenagers. His presence is electric, and Oscar-caliber, as he continuously collapses from exhaustion. A man carrying a cape arrives onstage and encourages Brown to exit, but The Godfather of Soul will have none of it as he literally keeps rising to the occasion, turning up the heat, and thrilling his audience.
However, the release of GET ON UP should come with a warning: One never should assume that a movie set during an historical era or purporting to be based on real events is an accurate reflection of that history or an accurate portrayal of those events. I could spend the next ten hours citing examples in which fact and fiction collide in celluloid biopics, but here are a couple that are particularly jarring.
HITCHCOCK is a 2012 biopic which stars Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren and purports to tell the story of Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville around the time of the making of PSYCHO. If you know nothing about Alfred Hitchcock and come away from this film thinking you now know everything about him, you will think that Hitch was:
- a man of limited talent who quite literally panicked during the filmmaking process and often was saved in the cutting room, so to speak, by his underappreciated wife Alma.
- a self-absorbed chauvinist who was obsessed with his attractive leading ladies yet loses control when he thinks his wife is having an affair.
- a glutton who was more interested in stuffing himself with food than with any sort of cinematic artistry.
I must add here that I was highly anticipating seeing HITCHCOCK and, while I enjoyed it for the presences of Hopkins and Mirren, I was deeply disappointed in its revisionist view of its subject.
Such portrayals are nothing new. Here is one of the more striking examples of an older film that conveniently but disturbingly twists facts.
THE DOLLY SISTERS is a 1945 biopic which allegedly tells the stories of the title characters, twin siblings who became world-famous stage performers in the early 20th-century. In the film, Jenny Dolly, who is played by Betty Grable, has an on-again off-again relationship with Harry Fox, a fellow performer, played here by John Payne. At the finale, in the spirit of happy-ever-after Hollywood endings, Jenny and Harry reconcile and merrily perform together onstage.
However, the plight and fate of the real Jenny Dolly was anything but rosy. In 1941, she and Fox were long-divorced, her once-upon-a-time fame was buried in her past, and she reportedly was severely depressed. Jenny Dolly, who was not yet 50 years old, committed suicide by hanging herself from a curtain rod.
One only can wonder what the real Jenny Dolly would have thought about the fictional Jenny depicted in THE DOLLY SISTERS.
Rob Edelman teaches film history at the University at Albany. He has written several books on film and television, and is an associate editor of Leonard Maltin’s Movie and Video Guide.
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