Just finished watching "The Beach Boys: An American Family"..

The second part dragged on for a bit too long though.
I loved the Pet Sounds/SMiLE segments. The anticipation for SMiLE was huger than I imagined. 500,000 pre-orders? Wonder if that was fictionalized or true. Also enjoyed how "Love to Say Dada" was the background music when they were discussing whether Brian could handle the immense amount of pressure from the fans/capitol during the creation of the album. Whether or not he could pull it off.
How about that "Geronimo leaps and bounds for glory over the dust bowl" lyric? "Cabin Essence" reference? The firefighter helmets during the water sections? The barking scene? The termination of SMiLE complemented with a "Let the Wind Blow" performance?

What did you think of it?

 

Like most biopics, I'm pretty sure that the accuracy of actual events is questionable. But I did like watching it.

 

In Priore's Smile book there are Capitol memos dated December 1966 for orders of the Smile cover in the 400,000 range. But I seem to recall reading elsewhere that when Capitol destroyed them circa 1971, there were 250,000 or so in stock. How many original covers and booklets exist? That's anyone's guess but I think the number is extremely low. It's far easier to find a Beatles' butcher than an original Smile cover.

 

I dont think there has been a good one made. And, no offense, but its pretty bad. Maybe "Love And Mercy" will be good.

Have you seen this?

 

I remember it being pretty comical at the time. And this was BEFORE I was into the Beach Boys.

 

How about the fake-beard-fest of this one?

 

That's the 'Dennis Wilson Was the Beach Boys' movie.

 

I thought part I was quite good and relatively accurate. But then part II got ridiculous. Brian was made a fool of. They even made sure to pan over "Brian"'s hands in the very last scene to mock him for not really playing keyboards in concert (at least at that time. He does play his keyboard in person now, at least some of the time). It was a cheap shot. Someone had a bone to pick and went out of their way to make Brian Wilson look like a total man-child buffoon for the rest of his life following "Pet Sounds".

Maybe that's what really happened. I wasn't there. Who am I to say?

The best part of the show, for me, was Kevin Dunn as Murry.

 

The hybrid Van Dyke Parks was the funniest bit.

The second funniest bit was Mike crying like a little girl when he found out Brian and Murry sold the publishing.

 

An American Family is not that bad as far as these types of movies go, but Summer Dreams was really dreadful.

 

Mike has also said that "The Beatles wish they were The Beach Boys."

 

I rarely use the the word 'cringe'. But, there are no other expressions that describe my feelings about this one that top 'cringe-fest'.

The moment where "Mike" says, "What about the music, Brian? What about the music?" There are no words for that one.

 

Is this out on DVD? what was your source? thanks!

 

It's on Movietuner.net

 

OK, thanks!

 

Mike Love's moustache didn't actually partly fall off in real life?

 

Now I'm picturing Mike's balding upper lip concealed by a stupid ball cap.

 

In a recent AMA someone asked Brian "What's under Mike Love's baseball cap?"

"A bald head".

 

My recollection of the fan reaction at the time the "An American Family" miniseries aired in 2000 was that fans were a bit surprised at the relatively decent quality of the first part. Having been burned by the 1990 TV movie "Summer Dreams" (which is actually quite a funny film, firmly in the "so bad it's good" category), the fans seemed to find the first part of "An American Family" rather palatable.

That all went to fudge with the second part, which wrapped up all of the most-feared downsides of TV biopics. That's where the agenda-mongering really came through. Even the producer John Stamos seemed to imply in later interviews that he knew the miniseries had burned a lot of bridges (though clearly not with Mike Love, who Stamos still tours with during the summers).

There's a pretty awesome scene in "An American Family" where the "Mike" character's beard starts peeling off and the scene continues anyway. The fact that they either didn't catch this while filming or editing, or were too lazy or constricted by budget to do another take, may say a lot about the film.

Stamos talked a few years ago about trying to do some sort of "Mama Mia" style Beach Boys musical film (again referencing how he knew he had pissed people off with the 2000 miniseries; for this new project he talked about wanting to do some *other* story *not* about the BB's but simply using their music). Hopefully Stamos will be too tied up with truly groundbreaking, original idea of a "Full House" reboot/sequel to get anywhere near another BB project.

 

The two positive things I can say about "An American Family", is that it was an improvement over "Summer Dreams" (which may not be saying a hell of a lot). It also put me on a major league Beach Boys kick for the next few months. I seem to recall "Endless Harmony" airing on AMC, not long after "An American Family" aired on ABC. Needless to say, I was in Beach Boys heaven for the next little while. In retrospect, neither of them are all that great, but seemed to fit the bill, at the time. Right now, I'm just hoping that "Love And Mercy" will hit it out of the park, in regards to telling The Beach Boys story in biopic form.

 

Rickenbacker sighting at :30.