Sweetwater

Usually, made-for-TV movies turn out to be simply filler, without much substance. Not so in the case of Sweetwater, a film about the first group to perform at Woodstock, and then never heard from since. Amy Jo Johnson turns in a very impressive performance as Nansi, the band's lead singer, who suffers an agonizing blow to her career after a near-fatal car accident which scarred her vocal chords. The movie shows the height of her fame (Woodstock), and then the tragic crash and burn of a singer who refused to give up her life as a singer, until she almost lost her life to booze and destitution. The movie was pretty powerful emotionally, and VH-1 did a great job by following up the movie with a "behind the scenes" look at the real performers of the group, in a "where are they now" kind of format. The one thing I would've liked to see in the movie would have been a showcase of more of Sweetwater's songs. Unfortunately, the predominant song throughout the movie was "Motherless Child", which started to get on my nerves by the time the movie ended. But, all in all, a decent movie - one that VH-1 should be proud of.

Sweetwater shows the viewers how much trouble that music stars go though during their stardom. One day, you lead at a major concert and in the next couple of weeks, your life can really fall apart. Amy Jo Johnson did a good job portraying the lead singer for Sweetwater, and her roller coaster life. The casting was excellent in picking a talented actress and a great singer. I liked how the movie goes back and forth between the 60s and the 90s, with a television reporter wanting to do a story on the Woodstock opening act, Sweetwater. Kelli Williams from "The Practice" is the reporter and she wants to find out what happens to the band and their lead singer, Nancy Nievens. I recommend this movie to whomever wondered what happened to the band, and for the young people wanting to go into music, so they know what being famous can involve.

I just finished watching this TV movie & couldn't believe that people hadn't already began to comment about it. I loved it, personally. Amy Jo Johnson shows she's more than Julie (of "Felicity"), giving a wonderful performance. I have to admit, the working in of the reporter's storyline seemed a little inappropriate. They barely touched it, but tried to make it seem like a big thing. All in all, this was really good, I thought.

I was intrigued when I heard that the music channel VH-1 had chosen the band Sweetwater as the subject for its first original movie production. After all, a band which didn't even get their 15 minutes of fame and who 99% of the potential viewers never even heard of wasn't exactly what one would have guessed would be their first project. As it turns out, there was a story worth telling about the rise and fall of this band who never got anywhere near the top, but did hit rock bottom.

Lest anyone doubt it, Sweetwater actually did create quite a buzz for a brief time with their exciting live appearances, especially at the large rock festivals in the summer of 1969. However, their first album release failed to capture that live energy and the multi-ethnic band with the flutist and cellist quickly dropped from view. What most fans never knew was that Nansi Nevins, the lead singer of this 7-piece group with a Caribbean/Latin jazz flavor, was in a serious auto accident not that long after their Woodstock appearance, an accident which greatly diminished her singing voice. The band struggled on for a while, but without her identity and visual focus as well as vocal talent they had no future.

Nevins' story is the focus of the movie and she hits the skids after her accident in true rock star fashion, but she is redeemed eventually. Amy Jo Johnson plays her and does her own singing. As a co-star on 'Felicity' she sometimes gets the chance to sing as well, but those are usually quiet introspective songs and she probably relished the chance to belt out a few tunes for this film.

The problem, though, is that this is a TV-movie, and almost by definition that means a more bland, homogenized product than a theatrical release. The compelling true story helps ameliorate this built-in shortcoming and, all things considered, it was a decent flick.

In a newspaper review of this film there was the suggestion that the backers of this movie had some sort of financial interest in promoting the recently reformed Sweetwater's comeback and that this movie was part of that effort. I don't know if the same sort of standards we apply to politicians and such apply here, but it is a potentially sticky situation. On the other hand, one could hardly think of a less lucrative moneymaking vehicle than this band, based on their past track record. I am grateful that someone took a chance on this rather arcane subject matter; we could use more of that from television. On balance, I'm glad they made 'Sweetwater,' the movie.

The general theme of the movie was good. It was overplayed in some portions, but what I really enjoyed was hearing songs from their first album. It was sad to see how so many people were effected by one tragic event. Amy Jo did a great job of playing Nancy and her voice was great.