The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
by Peter Meyer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Danny Glover, Eric Clapton, John Hammond, Robert Cray, Robert Lockwood Jr.Director: Peter Meyer
Producer: Yolanda Williams
Cinematographer: Philip C. Pfeiffer
Producer: Peter Meyer
Writer: Peter Meyer
Writer: Jean Compton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 77 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Shout Factory
Movie Reviews of The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
Movie Review: Hell Hounds On His Heels
Summary: 4 Stars
I have recently spent some little effort making comparisons between old time country blues singers. My winners have been Skip James and Son House. Apparently, if the story behind the Robert Johnson story presented here is right I am in a minority compared to the like of Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. So be it. After viewing this very informative bio, complete with the inevitable "talking heads' that populate these kinds of film efforts I still have that same opinion, except I would hold Johnson's version of his "Sweet Home, Chicago" in higher regard after listening to it here. Previously many other covers seemed better, a lot better. Roosevelt Sykes' version, for one.
The producers of this film have spend some time and thought on presentation. The choice of Danny Glover as expressive and thoughtful narrator was a welcome sign. Having Johnson road companion and fellow blues artist, Johnny Shines, give insights into Johnson's work habits, traveling ways, womanizing, whiskey drinking and personality make this a very strong film. Add in footage of Son House (an early Johnson influence) and various other Delta artists "doing the devils' work who met or were met by Johnson along the way on that dangerous Highway 61 and one gets the feeling that this is more a labor of love than anything else. For a man who lived fast, died young and left a relatively small body of work this is a very good take on Robert Johnson. I might add that if Johnson is your number one blues man this film gives you plenty of ammunition for your position.
Note: As is almost universally true with such documentary endeavors we only get snippets of the music. I would have liked to hear a full "Preacher's Blues", "Sweet Home, Chicago", Terraplane Blues" and "Hell Hounds On My Heels" but for that you will have to look elsewhere
Summary of The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
This ambitious mixture of dramatic reconstruction with traditional documentary affords excellent insight into legendary bluesman Robert Johnson's life, the enduring power of his music, and the myth which surrounds him. Can't You Hear The Wind Howl transcends its genre of "docudrama," providing the well-researched information we'd expect from a conventional documentary with the dramatic impact we could hope for from a Hollywood film.Contemporary bluesman Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) plays Johnson, and Danny Glover narrates, but the real star is Robert Johnson's music. The film's strength is its power of suggestion; we never see the Johnson character up close, never hear him talk. As if in a dream, he flits in and out of scenes, whether courting his girlfriend or stirring a juke joint to mayhem. But you'd be hard put picking him out of a police lineup. We never see him such that we can know him, which is an accurate representation of the elusive musician, according to the interview footage with Johnson's proteges and peers--among them Johnny Shines, Robert Lockwood Jr., and Honeyboy Edwards. Keb' Mo', who has included Robert Johnson songs on each of his three CDs, says that portraying Johnson had a lasting effect. "It's an internal thing," says Mo'. "In playing him, you pull in some of the spirit. The spirit of a juke joint, the spirit of the south at that time." This film falls nicely between an homage and an explanation. --Sam Sutherland
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