[How could anything about Chuck Berry possibly be even remotely Off Topic?]

Readers in AUSTRALIA will want to be told about the forthcoming broadcasting of a film called 'Chuck Berry' - almost certainly this one [www.imdb.com] (described as "Story of Chuck Berry told by his relatives and friends. ")

It's on NITV (Ch 34 in most places) at 20:30 on Sunday 8th December (plus a repeat later in the week)

Features our very own Charles Berry Jr.

Captain Corella

Looking forward to it of course.

Keep us posted on this.

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Carnaby
Keep us posted on this.

Assuming it is the film I'm expecting [www.imdb.com] then the oddest thing, IMHO, is that if there was a general cinema release, how the <expletive deleted> did I miss it?

It's exactly the sort of film I'm well tuned to watch out for - rather like 'Amazing Grace'. I scan the weekly listings in the mainstream and more general cinema's (of which there are several outstanding in the Melbourne area).... so how did I miss this?

Captain Corella

Will be interesting to see how the movie deals with Berry's many brushes with the law.
And his obsession with money (apparantly his Estate was valued at 50 million).

ROCKMAN

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jlowe
Will be interesting to see how the movie deals with Berry's many brushes with the law.
And his obsession with money (apparantly his Estate was valued at 50 million).

It was indeed the 2018 'official' movie of Chuck's life - much participation from the family.

His brushes with the Law (perhaps more accurately with Jim Crow) were dealt with (my knowledge does not cover whether or not any of significance were omitted, but all I knew about were covered).

I'll only make three criticisms...

It wasn't long enough - a mini-series would have covered more ground in more detail and allowed more songs to be played in full.

The part about where the British Invasion was covered (wrongly dated in the set up interview) could/should have had more emphasis. That period (1964-69-ish) transformed popular music in a way that it had never before been transformed, and it was dominated by two British bands, and they in turn owed so much to Chuck's music. As far as I recall only stock film was used (Keith, Ronnie and Paul McCartney, Mick (at the White House?)), but no interviews were done with any of them in the way Steve Van Zandt and others were interviewed.

Timelines got muddled at times. Thats a bugbear of mine. In a biography, unless you're following an closely coupled series of events, then the story should be told in time sequence.

But, GREAT stuff and the message from outer space at the end was terrific.

Captain Corella

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CaptainCorella

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jlowe
Will be interesting to see how the movie deals with Berry's many brushes with the law.
And his obsession with money (apparantly his Estate was valued at 50 million).

It was indeed the 2018 'official' movie of Chuck's life - much participation from the family.

His brushes with the Law (perhaps more accurately with Jim Crow) were dealt with (my knowledge does not cover whether or not any of significance were omitted, but all I knew about were covered).

I'll only make three criticisms...

It wasn't long enough - a mini-series would have covered more ground in more detail and allowed more songs to be played in full.

The part about where the British Invasion was covered (wrongly dated in the set up interview) could/should have had more emphasis. That period (1964-69-ish) transformed popular music in a way that it had never before been transformed, and it was dominated by two British bands, and they in turn owed so much to Chuck's music. As far as I recall only stock film was used (Keith, Ronnie and Paul McCartney, Mick (at the White House?)), but no interviews were done with any of them in the way Steve Van Zandt and others were interviewed.

Timelines got muddled at times. Thats a bugbear of mine. In a biography, unless you're following an closely coupled series of events, then the story should be told in time sequence.

But, GREAT stuff and the message from outer space at the end was terrific.

With the exception of seemingly being pulled over constantly for speeding (oh yes, there wasn't a speed limit he didn't exceed) the documentary did cover all his "encounters" with the authorities.

CBII

This is a beautiful and genuine documentary about the greatest creator of rock and roll ever. The greatest songwriter, guitarist and performer in the history on RnR. Without him we wouldn't have been on this forum.