I’ve always just been a casual fan of the Who — I have lots of song favorites, but I’ve never known that much about the band itself. This documentary does a great job of putting you in touch with the band, its history, its music, and especially the personalities of the members Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Keith Moon, and John Entwisle. I like this movie more than most documentaries because it is the subjects themselves that do most of the talking. Of course, the interviews with family, managers, groupies, and the fans who are now noteworthy musicians like Eddie Vedder and Sting (among others) added a lot of depth. I was touched by how devastating the deaths of Keith Moon and John Entwhistle were — the latter who appeared to be a cornerstone of the bands formation. Die-hard fans probably know all the facts already, but there were lots of interesting tidbits — like the fact that Jimmy Hendricks copied their guitar smashing act in Moterrey, and how they scared the crowd 13 year old girl fans of Herman’s Hermits when they opened for them, and over-stuffed the base drum with explosives at a Johnny Carson show. The music footage was amazing — my favorites were the different showings of Tommy during the segment where they explained making that album. Anyway, if you love music, you will have a lot of fun watching this great documentary, and if you are a long-time Who fan, this is a must-see.
Perfect acting because, well, it wasn’t acting! :-)
The only thing that might prevent you from watching this with kids is that you simply cannot get old British rockers to quit saying f*ck every third word…. heh heh