New James Brown Documentary on HBO

while none of these things is perfect ,this is pretty good with a lot of Music better than that lame BB King Thing

 

Can you give the official title of this documentary?

 

Mr Dynamite:The Rise Of James Brown

 

Very good depth and detail, given time limits

 

Agreed. I was delighted that they went with his legacy, rather than dwell on the declining years.

There were times when the chronology was a bit off. But, a minor quibble.

 

This really needs a DVD release!

 

Just caught it yesterday on HBO On Demand. Really liked the doco, but I was surprised by a few things:

1) the show kind of glossed-over how mean and difficult Brown could be, other than reports from his ex-bandmembers about how little money they made and how temperamental James could be in the studio and on stage, plus he denied most of the players songwriting credit on any of his riffs

2) I was shocked by the story of the one bandmember who literally had to pull a gun on Brown when he started threatening him and his brother in one of the dressing rooms.

3) I had no idea that Brown had become a Republican and Nixon supporter (!!!) in the early 1970s.

The documentary comes to an abrupt end around 1974, omitting all of the later scandals, arrests, marriages, and his sad downward spiral over time. The last I heard, there were problems even trying to get James Brown's body buried, because different families claimed ownership and had filed lawsuits against each other. They easily could've gotten another 2-hour show just on his life from 1974 to his sad end in 2006.

Still, a fascinating man and a terrific documentary. Really, really well done -- this is another example of how old video and film footage can look terrific if you have the right people restoring and remastering it.

 

http://www.pollstar.com/news.aspx?Tags=&SearchBy=james brown
Pollstar has been following that saga

http://www.amazon.com/James-Brown-House-Blues/dp/6305944539/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1430124444&sr=8-12&keywords=james brown dvd
How much James Brown in HD footage? Pretty sure the above was shot in HD as I remember seeing it listed in the credits. Not sure when James did Montreux but they were HD after the early 90's. Plus there some earlier filmed shows but not sure it's been mastered in HD except Soul Power.

 

I'll have to see this.

I enjoyed the big-budget biopic, GET ON UP, even more than MAN IN BLACK or RAY.

 

I watched the documentary this past weekend and thought it was terrific. The doc doesn't cover his decline which is a good thing even if we only consider time limitations. To include that period in the same documentary would've meant less time spent on his early years.

Although I'm sure a lot of the information was already out there much of it was new to me. It was interesting to hear Jagger discuss the T.A.M.I. show. I too was under the impression that the Stones followed James Brown and I had no idea the Stones were filmed with a difference audience hours later.

I also never quite understood his support for Nixon but the doc put that into context.

 

Good documentary, although I would have preferred a longer running time that covered at least a bit more of his career, rather than having the film end so abruptly at 1974.