The Benny Goodman Story

I may have seen this film more than 20 times, unfortunately it has been unavailable in the UK for 10 years and not on TV all that time so I'm missing it right now. It is such a good film whether you enjoy Benny Goodman's music or jazz for that matter or not. Benny Goodman's life was pretty interesting anyway and it's portrayal in this movie is fairly accurate. The music score covers all the best from Benny Goodman and his Orchestra and is a tribute to one of the earlier band leaders in Jazz. There were not too many bands with both black and white members at that time but this was such a band. What was great for the Benny Goodman Orchestra was the fact that many of the members were such well known and respected performers themselves. There was such talent in that group of musicians and how fortunate it was that they should all come together at that time to create and play some brilliant music.

With regard to the film it is based on the life of Benny Goodman and if you know about him the presence of spoilers here would not ruin things. In short though this film shows Benny Goodman from a young boy through to after he has made a success of himself. His challenges, disappointments, love interests are all a part of the story through the film.

I couldn't fault anything in this film, direction, acting, all of it is just right and it makes for a film you can enjoy over and over again.

They certainly don't make movies like this anymore.

9 out of 10. (I reserved 10 out of 10 for my very best 3 or 4 films, this is a top 10 of mine still).

Growing up in the 40's in Brooklyn, I heard the music of BG, Miller, Dorsey, Shaw, etc. on the family radio(Martin Block's "Make Believe Ballroom"). I became a big fan of Benny's in 1950, with the release of the Columbia LP of the Carnegie Hall concert and the 1937-1938 radio broadcast albums.The music on these live performance albums was outstanding and spontaneous as opposed to the sterile studio recordings locked into a 3 minute format for 78 rpm records. These albums resulted in a resurgence of Benny's popularity and, ultimately lead to the movie.

Steve Allen, while not a great choice, was probably the best at that time, since he was a popular TV personality and was a music lover and musician in his own right. As for Donna Reed, well what can anyone say except that she was as beautiful as ever and the consummate pro as the female lead. A fairly fast paced film with loads of musical guest stars and some pretty good tunes made famous by and played by BG for the soundtrack.

Benny was not an exciting or controversial guy, so how do you generate enough interest to draw people to the movie,as is the case today. In 1955, good music did the trick. About the only controversy about Benny was his reputation of staring down any band member who diverted from the the arrangement. One former musician described in an interview how "the old man gave me the evil stare for the whole number after hitting a wrong note early on".

Too bad they could not synchronize the actual concert music with the movie. In particular, the quartet version of "Stompin At The Savoy" in which Gene Krupa's cymbal flew off the stand and was hit by Lionel Hampton on the way by without missing a beat, or the concert rendition of "Sing,Sing,Sing", probably the best ever recorded.

If you like this film go out and buy the newly released CD of the Carnegie Hall concert complete with 2 numbers previously excluded from other releases with intros by BG and no interruptions between numbers allowing you to hear the sounds of the band setting up for the next number, etc. Just like being there.

Jazz enthusiasts in particular, and pop 40s devotees in general will enjoy the fine jazz renditions in "The Benny Goodman Story." Some very fine clarinet playing is heard on the soundtrack by Goodman himself, and there are many wonderful jazz musicians heard and seen as guests in the film. While Benny's story may well have been "reinvented" a bit for story's sake, the over all feel to the film is a typical rise from humble beginnings to the heights of stardom scenario. Those who'll enjoy the musical performances without being too critical on factual matters will undoubtedly find this a pleasant film. Goodman's famed Carnegie Hall concert is recreated as the movie's climax--and what a concert that was!

Writer, director Valantine Davies took on this musical challenge as a testimony to the legendary impresario Benny Goodman and what was then called 'Swing' music.' The film itself is called " The Benny Goodman Story " and it features the late great comic Steve Allen. The movie does a good job of incorporating the early life of the famed musician and the life-struggles he encountered. Striving from an early age to learn his instrument and then later to adapt it to create what he called a 'special' type of music for the era of Early Swing and later Jazz age. The movie does not lend itself any of Goodman's foibles or controversies as there were little in his life. Still it does take a few liberties with his personal history, but nothing which detracts from the established music which he help to initiate. Indeed, his ability to play his clarinet and entrance his audiences is what makes this movie and then the cast which includes Donna Reed, Berta Gersted and Barry Truex as Benny Goodman (at 16), is what marks this Bio-pic as a musical Classic and the late great Gene Cruppa on drums. In addition for any who love the legendary sounds of the Big Bands in the age which started them all, you can do no better than sit and enjoy this musical rendition which is a tribute to that era. Easily recommended. Well done.

Viewed from the point of view of a jazz fan interested in the history of swing, this movie is a treasure. There are moments all through when some of the true greats in jazz can be at least glimpsed, and some have ongoing parts: Buck Clayton, on trumpet, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa, on drums, Lionel Hampton on vibes, Stan Getz on tenor saxophone (he was the farthest to the right on the front row--almost always cut out of the pan-and-scan print shown on TCM, but he has a great solo and closeup in one of the numbers, in the Palomar ballroom section). There are other stars who appear for one scene, but it's fun to see them, even briefly. Ziggy Elman plays his trumpet solo on "And the Angels Sing" glibly verbatim from the famous recording, but rushes, unfortunately. The plot is quite predictable, and there's no clinch at the end, just shining eyes. A must-buy for the jazz sentimentalist--but get the wide-screen version.