Sunset Strip

Interesting documentary (and an overdue one) chronicling the history of the infamous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, extending from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood to its western border with Beverly Hills. Lots of celebrities pop up to tell their own personal histories of life on the Strip, but the textbook facts are more interesting. Beginning with silent star Alla Nazimova's hotel, the decadent, sex-saturated Garden of Allah, the Strip quickly became the haven for Hollywood's elite (and their imitators) who wanted to party their nights away. Smelling easy money and opportunity, gangsters and gamblers invaded in the 1940s, but the rise in popularity of night-life in Las Vegas seemed to zap the spirit of the Strip. With the Big Band sound on the way out, teenagers ruled the territory throughout the 1960s, with rock and roll evolving into protest music, which then brought in the riot police. The film is a nice mix of stills, recent interviews, vintage home-movie footage and movie clips--but nothing here really sticks in the memory (with the possible exception of Peter Fonda's recollection of being arrested and calling for help from passing actor Bob Denver of TV's "Gilligan's Island"!). The 2006 closing of Tower Records music store (a Strip-staple) could well be the death knell for a generation of partyers, yet time inevitably brings a wave of new faces and personalities to the scene...and the Strip lives on. ** from ****

You won't be bored at all watching this film. It is full of interesting nuggets about the Strip but it is so disjointed in its telling. Some of the important people in the history of the Strip tell some great old stories, but many of them have little relevant stories to tell. I have a certain nostalgic feeling for the Strip myself where I probably spent over a hundred nights in the 70's being a bad boy and seeing some remarkable music.

Rodney Binginheimer who should be able to tell great stories about the glam era on the Strip has surprisingly little to add. Mickey Rourke whom I admire as an actor and some tattoo artist guy have a lot of screen time but add little to the proceedings other than the viewer wanting to figure out if Rourke is still using after all these years or not. On the plus side you have some great comedians telling stories, STeve Jones from the Sex Pistols and Johnny Depp and some other nice story tellers, but there are just as many folks involved that probably should not have been. I am sorry, but Kelly Osbourne is just too young to be nostalgic about anything. It is a really disjointed film, but always interesting in spite of itself.

The Sunset Strip started out as a strip of land that connected Beverly Hills to the studios of Hollywood, but feel out of the jurisdiction of both. That pretty much sums up the history of this iconic strip of land. Whether it was the speakeasies of the 20s or the counter culture of 60s the sunset strip as always had an intriguing outlaw vibe that has attracted people from all over the world. "Sunset Strip" tells the story of the strip through interviews with the people who lived it. Anecdotes are shared and the viewer learns that the sunset strip has mirrored and also influenced society. As a music fan I found myself engrossed from start to finish. Maybe someday I'll buy a ticket and head to the strip, but until then this doc will keep my daydreams alive!

This is a bunch of celebrity interviews spanning decades about the Sunset Strip. Not a timeline continuity and skips around years and decades in minutes. Definitely need to pay attention or you will miss a story or two All about their memories and thoughts. Old videos and pictures based on some of the stories told. Yeah some history but mostly from their eyes and inferences. Literally had to pull up how old this was as the filmmaking felt older than 2012. It is okay, not a typically historic documentary but if you want to hear all the celebrities talk about their experiences, this is a good one for you.

I thought this was a really interesting film about the Sunset Strip. I loved all the footage from all the different eras on the strip. For example, there is footage in there from when it was just a road but nothing on either side of it but dirt, just emptiness. This original strip (not the Vegas one) has so much history. It's great hearing celebrities (like Johnny Depp, Ozzy and Sharon Osborne, Peter Fonda) telling their stories as they re-live their personal memories from famous hotels and clubs. Also in the film, there's footage and recollections of both River Phoenix and John Belushi's deaths on this famous strip. It's an awesome strip so you've got to have both happy times and sad times to go along with it. There's just a lot of good stuff in this film.