Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream

Runnin' Down a Dream is a great rock and roll documentary for anyone who likes rock and roll. If you like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, even better. As you watch it, you can see it was done with that purpose, and by people who share the love for great songs, electric guitars, kick ass solos, stunning drums: What rock and roll is all about.Even being big as it is (almost 4 hours long), the story isn't dragged around and when you realize it will be already over and you'll be wanting to see even more of the incredible story of this great band and especially Tom Petty, a singular creature in a world full of schmucks. You can see the great mojo that was cooked between the band along the years, the good and bad things that happened on the way to success, but you will mostly hear about the music, which is what many of documentaries of bands seem to put in the background. The director let Mike Campbell's guitar solos play until the end, unlike other documentaries that the solo is faded out. The worst thing in the world is to start hearing a great solo and have it cut in the best part. Anyway, it's a wonderful film, really impressed me. Go watch it!

Running Down a Dream (2007)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Peter Bogdanovich's mammoth documentary about the history of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers runs a few minutes short of four hours so needless to say there's a lot of information. I think the film's biggest problem is the fact that it runs so long because even the smallest detail of something will get too much attention and by the time the fourth hour was nearing it was really hurting me. Perhaps it would have been best to watch it in two parts as it is offered up this way. Even with that said, this is a very impressive look at the group, which covers their early bands all the way up to their most recent album. Petty and the group aren't shy about sharing their feelings and this leads to some great and sometimes sad stories. Their battle with their record label is covered in great detail as is their 1986-87 tour with Bob Dylan, The Traveling Wilburys days and even their brief work with Johnny Cash. Stevie Nicks, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and various others are interviewed along the way. Another great thing is that Petty must have known they would take off one day because he videotaped all of his early stuff including his original drive to L.A. when they were searching for a record deal. All of this behind the scenes footage is terrific as is the concert footage.

I've always loved Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but like many casual fans, I had a tendency to underrate them. This 3 1/2 hr documentary should go a long way to putting them up there where they belong in the rock pantheon. Bogdanovich gives a warm-hearted and thorough review of the band's thirty-year history. The personal parts of the story are neither glossed over nor sugar-coated, but mercifully they are not allowed to hijack the main theme: Petty's brilliant song-writing and the band's masterful musicianship. I am not, as a rule, a big fan of rockumentaries, but this one is a real gem. Put it on your holiday wish-list!

Tom Petty is one of those 'institutions' if one could call it in rock and roll, though maybe that's too harsh a word to put on a man like Petty, who looks about as relaxed and laid back as a multi-millionaire rock star could get. Beneath a cool veneer lays a bit of harsh anger that really only comes out through his music (from time to time, re: early in career), and he and the Heartbreakers have crafted some of the most indelible, simple-but-complex rock songs of the past thirty years. And Peter Bogdanovich does just about his own version of Scorsese's No Direction Home: a portrait of the artist under the circumstances of those around him.

Where Dylan (who is also featured in Running Down a Dream) had his story unfold as being praised/victimized by the audience and by critics, and his own inward and testy personality a part of his genius, Petty's story is much more related to the band and the nature of working with a group that is so tight and run so well that there is never any kind of break-up. We see how Mudcrutch- Petty's original Gainsville, Florida band- broke-up and soon after the Heartbreakers formed, and a sort of bond that grew not really out of anything overt except that a bunch of musicians who were good at what they could do recognized it in one another, and were friends otherwise because they enjoyed what they do. Sounds a little pat, but as it unfolds Boganovich gets into the mindset of the Heartbreakers, how it's not just about Tom and his songwriting (which is rather incredible at times), but what the other contribute, or don't as case may be.

And it's also a great tour of rock and roll history, as if Petty went through the folds of the second half of the 20th century as if the real all-American kind of kid went along through adulthood. First met Elvis, listened to his records non-stop for years, then heard the Beatles and started a band, got into the hippie scene with his band, then went out more ambitiously into LA and got a record deal right away, became part of a music scene that was all his own amid a 'New Wave' that started in the late 70s into the early 80s, then MTV, heavy drugs, rehab with old friends (Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynn), superstar again with Full Moon Fever, and a kind of semi-comfortable semi-tense period in the 90s broken by divorce and a realization that America was going down a bad path of corporate and governmental control. Bogdanovich and his editors have done a masterful job of combining the footage of rarity (studio sets, rare concerts, European TV, personal photos and such) and pop kind (those music videos are some of the most entertaining).

If there is something of a letdown it's maybe only subjective: a few of the performances from Gainsville filmed in 2006 (or 2007 I couldn't tell) didn't seem to have to same energy and pizazz of Petty at his best, with the film's title song being the biggest exception. One song in particular, forgetting the name, where Petty scats through most of it also sounds a little 'off'. But one must give credit where credit is always due: for a man like Petty, who could've retired years ago when the greatest hits were released and Last Dance with Mary Jane, a classic from 90s rock that is right up there with the best of Pearl Jam and STP as solid, standard alternative rock, to still be on the road is something inspirational. Just seeing little bits and pieces of how he works creatively, how it 'comes to him' without much effort, and how if there is a lot of effort it's almost a waste of time- and seeing the equal contributions of the band like the keyboardist and Mike the guitarist- are enough to make me want to rush out to get some of their lesser known, interesting albums.

Bottom line, the best rock doc you're likely to see this year, least about a band with the longevity of the Heartbreakers.

I would like to thank Peter Bogdanovich for putting together a wonderful movie that really showcases the song writing talent of Tom Petty and the synergy of the Heartbreakers. I was riveted the entire 4 hours and wanted more so I anxiously perused the bonus material.

The contributions of close friends such as Jeff Lynn and Rick Rubin helped to illustrate the talents of Petty. The interviews with Tom himself show that he a modest man but you see the impact of his music when you realize all the huge hits he had over the decades.

The movie did not go into his personal like much, but it was interesting to learn that Tom was married to his first wife for over 20 years. It was sad to learn about the death of their bass player due to substance abuse.