What I’m watching: a wonderful documentary and an attempt at a ‘Twilight Zone’ dramaDate: 6/21/2021 On DVD and streaming: “Stars on Guitars: The Ventures”
Like many things, this documentary did not get the attention it deserved when it was released last year, but I can say if you were ever a fan of the world’s best selling rock and roll instrumental group it’s time to see this film now.
I fell in love with their sound when I was in sixth grade back in 1965 and I wasn’t the only one. This film includes many interviews with guitarists and rock and rollers who cited the Ventures as their major inspiration to pick up a guitar.
For example, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival recounted how he would listen to Ventures’ albums trying to figure out how they created their sound.
Don Wilson, one of the two founding members, and the last surviving original Venture leads the discussion about the formation of the group and its rise to prominence. Wilson is candid about how he and his friend Bob Bogle sort of stumbled their way into playing the guitar and then having a hit record with “Walk Don’t Run” in 1960.
The group’s prominence in the surf rock movement a few years later really pushed their career into overdrive. They were amazingly prolific and produced albums in almost every musical genre, all of them having their own distinctive take on the songs they played.
Their last entry on the American charts was the theme song for the TV show “Hawaii Five-O,” which was a huge hit for them.
Although their popularity in the United States flagged during the 1970s, the band enjoyed incredible success in Japan.
The punk rock movement of the 1980s brought The Ventures back into the contemporary rock mainstream. By that time people were starting to understand their significance as a major rock and roll influence.
What so many of the interview subjects spoke about is not only the skill of Wilson, Bogle and then Nokie Edwards in playing the guitar, but how they innovated in creating sounds that other players sought to emulate.
This film works on two levels: it is not only a very satisfying telling of the group’s story, but it is also something any serious guitar player needs to see from both a historic, but also a technical point of view of the art.
I was fortunate to see The Ventures live and to interview Mel Taylor, the group’s long-time drummer. This film certainly touched me on a personal level, but even if you don’t know much about the group I think you will find their story fascinating.
On DVD and streaming: “Happily”
I saw this was described as a “dark romantic comedy,” but I saw little humor is this new film that aspires to be a feature-length R-rated episode of the “The Twilight Zone.”
Joel McHale is Tom who has been married to Janet (Kerry Bishe) for 14 years and they are still crazy for one another. They have sex several times a day, even at the homes of their friends.
Their friends are sick of them and decide to not to invite them to a couples’ weekend they are planning.
Tom and Janet are shocked about this development, but not as much as they are with the visit of the mysterious man (Stephen Root) who declares their behavior is unacceptable after 14 years of marriage and they need to take the injections he offers so they will be “normal.” He offers them a sizable amount of money as a reward.
Janet reacts poorly to the offer and kills the man. Soon after they are re-invited to the weekend at which a series of events brings about a conclusion that is straight out of the venerable TV program.
The only problem is the ending makes little sense.
These kinds of stories only succeed when the internal logic that is established is actually followed. The performers are fine, the production values are good, but the story just doesn’t carry through.
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