WHO IS HARRY NILSSON… (AND WHY IS EVERYBODY TALKIN' ABOUT HIM?)
The “Everybody’s Talkin’” singer and John Lennon’s self-described favorite “group” gets the full-on rock-doc treatment normally accorded to household gods like the Doors and Lennon himself. John Scheinfeld’s film traces a familiar trajectory, moving from its subject’s humble beginnings through commercial and artistic success to that inevitable rock-star decline of drugging, boozing, and bankruptcy. But as interviewees like Brian Wilson and Yoko Ono insist, Harry Nilsson did everything a little differently – refusing to cement his fame by subjecting himself to the rigors of touring and, later, galvanized by Lennon’s death, shelving his musical career in favor of gun-control activism. If Scheinfeld doesn’t share his subject’s iconoclastic taste, sticking closely to the archival footage and talking-heads formula, it’s the quality of the former (such as Nilsson’s oral autobiography) and the sense of personal involvement in the latter that elevates the film above the run-of-the-mill rockumentary. (Andrew Schenker)
- Micky Dolenz
- Gerry Beckley
- Lee Blackman
- Perry Botkin Jr.
- Ray Cooper
- Stanley Dorfman
- John Scheinfeld
- James Mathers
- Noah Mathers
- Marcus Pardo
- Conrad Hunziker
- Tom Echlin
- Peter S. Lynch II
- Nilsson
IMG Media