Lambert & Stamp

This film will draw you in and touch your heart as it exposes what it means to live your dreams. A beautiful exploration of the visions and fires that brought the legendary band, The Who into being. Two young men from different beginnings find a common vision to create and break free from their origins. The charming and bold duo, Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert, remind us what it is to be young and believe in no limits. Genius and madness mix as six incredible talents come together and inspire generations through the universal language of music. In a brave undertaking, director James D. Cooper elicits poignant and fascinating interviews from those who remember this incredible journey. His connection and understanding of these men keeps us engaged and wanting more. It is a universal story of passion and frailty. The lyrical editing and incredible soundtrack complete the picture leaving the audience satisfied and hungering at the same time. A film that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.

"Lambert & Stamp" (2014 release; 117 min.) is a documentary about Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, 2 Brits best known for managing the Who for about a decade (mid-60s to mid-70s). As the documentary opens and after a few words from Pete Townsend, we are introduced to Chris Stamp, who starts telling stories of how t all began, him and Lambert in the early 60s trying to make the jump from assistant director to director. One day, they decide to shoot a movie, cinema verite-style, about an unknown band that they would manage. After looking for months for the right band, Lambert comes across a packed club full of Mods, dancing to an unknown band call the High Numbers. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

There are several factors why this is such an entertaining documentary: for one, it's a great story, I mean you can't make this stuff up! Then we are blessed to have the interviews with Chris Stamp, who turns out to be a master story teller (other interviewees include Pete Townsend, Roger and Heather Daltrey, and many others). Then we have the incredible luck that these guys were trying to shoot a movie, and hence we have all this incredible footage from the earliest days of the High Numbers/the Who (1964-65), and that alone is worth the price of admission for this documentary. There is tons of other worthwhile archive footage, such as the 1967 French TV footage, where we see Lambert give an interview in perfect French. We reach the "Tommy"-era about 75 min. into the movie, and I was afraid that things were going to become less interesting after that, but as it turns out, that's where the fireworks are about to start... As a casual fan of the Who but an ardent fan of rock music and its history, I found this documentary absolutely worth seeing. The only negative comment that I have is that for some strange reason, the sound mix in the theater was such that at times the background music (usually of the Who) played too loudly and as a result I had trouble understanding the interviewee at times. Very strange.

"Lambert & Stamp" opened last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I finally had a chance to see it today, which is the last day of its one-week run here. The early evening screening where I saw this at was surprisingly well attended. Probably other movie or music fans who noticed it would not longer be playing. If you are a fan of the Who or of rock music history, you will not want to miss this. "Lambert & Stamp" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Let's play a little name association game, shall we? I'll write a name and you say out loud the first thing that comes into your mind. Okay? Okay. Here we go. Kit Lambert. Nothing? Okay. Christopher Stamp. Still nothing. How about Terence Stamp? Maybe a little flash of something? Maybe? Let's try… Roger Daltry. Pete Townshend. Keith Moon. John Entwistle. We probably got something from some or all of those names, but just in case we didn't, here's one more: The Who. Most people, even those who weren't born when their music was the most popular, are at least aware of the British rock band The Who, one of the most influential of the 20th century. All the names in this paragraph are a part of the story of The Who and the documentary "Lambert & Stamp" (R, 1:57) puts them all together.

Kit Lambert and Christopher Stamp were very different young men when they started talking one day in a London pub in the early 1960s – and had no intentions of pursuing the careers which would end up linking their names together forever. Lambert was a rich kid with an Oxford education and a famous father (a composer and conductor of classical music). Stamp was a working class kid whose father was a tug boat captain who worked on London's Thames River. But these two young men shared a passion – for film. They both wanted to be directors, but they were both working as assistant directors and saw no realistic chance to move up the ladder in the film industry. After spending a day together, they hatched a rather audacious plan which would change their lives, and the lives of many other people as well.

Both Lambert and Stamp were interested in the burgeoning youth mod culture. Their idea was to find a rock band that appealed to that particular segment of society, make that band famous and then make a movie about that band. After months of London nightlife, they finally found the band that they felt was perfect for their project. That band was called "The High Numbers". It would soon be renamed "The Who". Lambert and Stamp became the band's co-managers, with no experience whatsoever. These guys knew nothing about rock music, but they had big ideas, lots of confidence and it soon became clear that they had great instincts. They put The Who on the map and the rest is rock and roll history… and would qualify as a series of spoilers if I told you the rest of the story here.

The documentary about Lambert and Stamp's lives and their personal and professional relationship is inextricably linked to the story of The Who, but the movie's focus remains on the two men who worked tirelessly to make the group famous. The film is driven mainly by interviews and illustrated by a large amount of historic photographs and archival footage. Interviewees include Christopher Stamp (but not Kit Lambert, who died in 1981), Chris' older brother, actor Terence Stamp (who, obviously, was around for much of this story and even helped finance his younger brother's ventures at some point), and, of course, the two surviving members of the original band The Who, Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend. But this documentary is a lot more than a series of talking heads. Since Lambert and Stamp were originally out to make a movie about The Who, they were doing a lot of filming, which provides this documentary's director, James D. Cooper, with an abundance of background footage which he uses quite well.

The appeal of "Lambert & Stamp" has much to do with the enduring popularity of The Who's music, but it goes well beyond that. This documentary is a fascinating look behind the scenes at the music industry, at least in one particular time and place, and an unlikely story of two men from very different backgrounds coming up with an idea that was both clever and ambitious, but then succeeding beyond their wildest dreams – in a very different direction. On the level of a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction human drama and a kind of Behind the Behind the Music story, the film works well. Unfortunately, it could have worked even better – and should have – with just a few improvements. The interviews are not really interviews in that those clips mainly just show the subjects talking and when we do hear a question asked, it's not well-stated or well-mic'ed. The film also should have provided some more background – especially at the beginning. It was a little disorienting and frustrating to have no context to get into the story. The film's opening minutes even felt a bit disorganized. Still, this is an interesting and entertaining film that's likely to please music fans and anyone who just enjoys a good story. "B"

Who are The Who? They're Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Of course, you first come up with the names Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey because they actually play that wickedly-good rock. However the first two names in this essay are the founders of The Who, filmmakers with a dream to make a rock documentary but sidetracked into managing one of the best rock bands ever.

Director James D. Cooper hits the right notes: plenty of talking head from handsome, articulate Chris Stamp (brother of famous Terence, who appears with commentary), entertaining clips from the band's early years, and a thriller of a break up story (almost required of all rock band stories, fact or fiction). Never could anyone be bored with such a complex, fascinating rags-to-riches tale.

Pete Townshend, not much to look at as a young man but distinguished now with a naughty glint, gives as much as Stamp, especially when we try to understand the dynamic that led to the breakup. Although the posh Kit Lambert, whose dad was Constant Lambert the maestro, was an intrepid entrepreneur, he pushed himself to early death with cigs and drugs. During the growth times, however, he pushed the band into unknown territory. As did the better thinker, Stamp.

Although Kit Lambert died before the making of this doc, he is so carefully edited in as to make it seem he was here all the time. Stamp is especially effective as we are taken through the creation of the mega-hit rock musical Tommy and the release of Lambert & Stamp from the organization. The Who buying Shepperton Studios, where the founders met, is a nice piece of irony. Lambert's brainy discussion of class and youth with its manifestation in the "mod" era directed by the youth of London elevates the documentary from curiosity to demanding to be heard to understanding the wild youth of London.

In comparisons to such documentaries about musical artist like Nas, Time is illmatic and I Can't stand loosing you, which is about the Police, I found this movie uninspiring. The inspiring ones usually make me what to listen to their music all day long, and I have the Who's records on my iPhone, so I was ready. This doc did not do this for me.

In all fairness, the film was more about Two filmmakers names Kit Lambert and Chris Tramp who began managing the Who as a way to make a documentary of the band. Yet, I'm still left with the same unspring feeling as I'm a huge fan of films and the idea that the Who was practically created as a film project seem right up my alley.

The documentary is too self-serving. I know that seems a little Ironic to say, but I've seen docs that praise Keith Moon as a legendary Drummer and barely mentions John Entwistle (how unfortunate to be a great musician who got to live to old age). Pete Townsend attempted to tell us how awesome John was to the band, but it wasn't enough, and this goes for anyone vital to the band (like Keith) who is not alive to tell their own story (In defense the people getting interviewed seem unapologetic about their own self- worth). It's a little uneven.

So while well crafted, Lambert and Stamp seems to show me that one of the most interesting bands in the world has a very uninteresting origin story. I just prefer to listen to the music.