Say Amen, Somebody (Bonus Deluxe)
by George T. Nierenberg
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DVD Cover Information
Director: George T. NierenbergBrand: Ryko Distribution
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Rykodisc
Movie Reviews of Say Amen, Somebody (Bonus Deluxe)
Movie Review: Say Amen Somebody
Summary: 4 Stars
Wife and I saw this on the little screen a few years ago, perhaps it was just after being made. We loved the story, and Thomas Dorsey, who is featured in the film. We lost the VHS tape that we had made that night, and decided recently to see if we could find the film on Amazon. It is a high quality product, a very nice leather-looking case, with the DVD of the original production and a CD of the music. Very nice.
Summary of Say Amen, Somebody (Bonus Deluxe)
The first-ever DVD release for this legendary documentary film that explores the lives and music of the pioneers of modern Gospel music. Features Willie Mae Ford Smith, Thomas A. Dorsey, The Barrett Sisters and The O'Neal Twins. Includes bonus 15-song audio CD and deluxe "hymn book" packaging with essays, lyrics and rare photos. Bonus features include newly recorded director's commentary, photo essay and theatrical trailer.
"The music is as exciting and uplifting as any music I've ever heard on film.a great experience" - Roger Ebert
"exuberant and revitalizing" - Rolling Stone
"even a tone-deaf atheist will say 'amen!'" - Time
There's good news aplenty in this DVD reissue of Say Amen, Somebody, director George T. Nierenberg's 1980 film focusing on some of the giants of modern gospel music and the younger singers whom they inspired. That's "good news" as in the word of God, and what better way to express the power of faith than through this powerful and uplifting music? Liner notes writer Anthony Heilbut describes the film as an exploration of "the golden age of gospel music in its dying hour," and Nierenberg (whose informative and illuminating commentary track, like Heilbut's lengthy notes, is one of the several features that justify the DVD's "bonus deluxe" tag) focuses principally on two senior citizens: Thomas Dorsey, often credited as "the father of gospel music," and Willie Mae Ford Smith, a St. Louis-based singer and an innovator who helped popularize the modern gospel singing style, with its emphasis on exaggerated, open-mouthed vibrato and careful articulation of the lyrics. Dorsey is an engaging raconteur who explains the origins of modern gospel (once a secular songwriter who wrote for Ma Rainey and others, he added rhythm to traditional hymns and spirituals, essentially "bringing the blues into church") and speaks movingly of the trials and tribulations that led to his writing the classic "Precious Lord." For her part, Smith is not only a tireless worker but something of a feminist pioneer who insisted early on that women have just as much right as men to spread the word (her own son's remark that "women ought to stay in their proper place: behind the man" illustrates what an uphill battle that was, and is); this chauvinism, along with the creeping commercialism that makes singers like the O'Neal Twins wonder if they're compromising their evangelical calling, are among the deeper issues Nierenberg's film addresses. But in the long run, of course, it's all about the music, and the DVD package includes 18 complete performances accessible via separate menu, as well as a 15-song CD. All of this will prompt not only a few "amens," but no doubt some "hallelujahs" too. --Sam Graham
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