Mr. Rock N Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999 Telefilm/Eagle Media DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Telefilm: C
The story
of Alan Freed is one of the most key in all of 20th Century culture
and except for American Hot Wax,
little has been attempted in the way of telling the full story and none have
been brutally honest enough to work. Mr. Rock N Roll: The Alan Freed Story
(1999) has a well-cast Judd Nelson as the controversial first Rock N Roll DJ in
this tale of success, struggle, discrimination and bad choices.
It still
is not able to deal with the payola scandal well or the connections to money,
power and corruption it entails.
Nevertheless, this is a too-short 88 minutes and whatever starts to work
is cut short before it can get started up.
Maybe if this were a cable film, we’d finally get the whole story, but
it never adds up, unfortunately. Paula
Abdul shows up as a would-be writer who is underdeveloped, then the wrap-up is
problematic and too trite for its own good.
Worth a look though, even when it does not work.
The 1.33
X 1 image is not bad and is not too soft, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
not bad for its age. There are no
extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
