Hendrix

I have been a huge Hendrix fan for many moons and I was prepared to hate this movie. And I did hate it. It glosses over many key points of his life and blows other avenues out of proportion (ie why emphasize the relationship with Fayne Pridgeon and not even touch on Devon Wilson?). This was like a "cliff notes" movie about a beautiful creative genius and it just reminds us of what the original managers did to Jimi when they insisted that he cut his songs down to under three minutes. And no offense to Wood Harris, but couldn't a better looking guy have been found?

A very lame, cheap & disappointing production. If this was a tell-all about the Monkees it would be embarrassing, but we're talking about the greatest instrumentalist of rock music, one of the true genius of 20th century art. What's lost in this film is Hendrix' MUSIC. He was an amazing songwriter, but you won't find any idea of that here. If your introduction to Hendrix is this movie, you'd think he was nothing more than a glorified karaoke artist. The film has the actor performing "Hey Joe," "Wild Thing," "All Along the Watchtower," "Star Spangled Banner" ... getting the drift yet...? ALL cover songs, not a single song or composition actually written by Jimi. Obviously the Hendrix estate / copyright owners had nothing to do with this production. Then there's the Woodstock conceit, with Jimi wailing in front of the half-million. Anyone who knows Woodstock or Jimi knows he played in front of the last remaining 40,000 straglers on the Monday morning when near everyone had left. Most of the acting was okay, but the rest is a waste.

I'm very disappointed by the reviews I've seen so far. I think they can be broken into two very different views: 1) This is a low budget movie and should have done better, and 2) I'm a guitar player and the guitar playing and depiction Jimi's life were incomplete.

Okay, I think I can address those all at once: It wasn't a move for guitarists, and being a low budget movie, they couldn't possibly cover every aspect of the man's life.

What they chose to cover, I believe, was very substantial and important. Being a guitarist myself, I'm not disappointed in Wood's performance. Was his "guitar playing" perfect? No, he's an actor, not a guitarist. Nevertheless, the movie was very well done, Wood did an amazing job of portraying the character of Hendrix, and the story told a great deal of Jimi's early life in music. The latter part, I think, is probably what bothered most, as it didn't go into enough details about his demise.

I think it's unfair to put down the movie for that. I don't think that's where the writers and directors were focusing. They were concentrating on his early music career and I think they did it brilliantly. I found it entirely engrossing and having seen it three times, I'll watch it a fourth.

If you're not a Hendrix fan, but you're curious about his early career, I think this movie is just for you. I won't guarantee that it's entirely accurate, but it's close enough to satisfy me, and the acting and music are exceptional.

This is a movie that attempts to do nothing except exploit the Hendrix legend to make some money. It is a Walt Disney version of his life that tries to say as little as possible and offend as few as possible.

Jimi Hendrix was a very complex man who was a brilliant musician. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in 1967. He was the only person I ever saw who could play lead guitar while singing simultaneously. Having said that, this movie I think is geared for people who were too young to remember him during his life. If you are old enough to remember Jimi Hendrix then this movie will have little appeal. A lot of ground is covered, but so very little time is spent on events that they become blurred and almost irrelevant. During the recording of "Electric Ladyland", one of the greatest rock albums ever by the way, the bassist becomes frustrated as accuses Jimi of treating him and the drummer as if they were groupies. Perhaps there was truth in that, but there was nothing in the film leading up to that scene that would have given evidence that this was so. This is but one example of the rush to cover too much ground.

All in all, this film is a cheap exploitation of Hendrix that might be useful as a history lesson for people under 40. But is is a fake history, so buyer beware.

Wood Harris portrays Jimi with respect and determination, but doesn't quite PORTRAY him. Then again, how many actors could? I don't think Mr. Harris had ever experienced LSD when he attempted to deliver Jimi's oratory at Monterey; his effort was...well, kinda silly. Some of the other dialogue is also clumsy but this was a demanding role. I'm aware of some Hendrix career history and inclined to believe that the movie is basically accurate throughout (as with Gotti HBO movie).

Although the music isn't too bad, I have to wonder why they didn't use actual Hendrix tracks? And why does the guy who plays the role of Little Richard look nothing like him? Was Michael Jeffrey really such an a-----e in real life? The real Chas Chandler seems like an unsympathetic and driven producer on the Electric Ladyland DVD...yet he and Jimi were said to be a great music partnership. Billy Zane does a fine job as Michael Jeffrey I guess, considering that I really don't know what he was actually like! Oh well.