ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke

I can recall no singer of any color being able to move between the races (outside of Jim Crow South) with such popularity as Sam Cooke the gospel, soul singing pop star destined for superstardom (if not already) when he was gunned down in an LA motel seeking out some "strange." It was a loss to music that far exceeded the similar tragedy of John Lennon in that the already famous Cooke was an arrow pointing up and moving perhaps into a new area of appeal with his latest hit "Shake" expanding his style from pop to rock.

In this doc on the singer we are mislead into thinking it is a re-investigation into the motel shooting with the possibility of a massive conspiratorial cover-up possibly related to Cooke's courageous activism (he refused to do segregated shows, did tours of the South when he did not have to) regarding civil rights. It is a bit of a stretch with speculation being relegated to last 15 minutes of the film with most of it hearsay and far from the detail available in bios available for years.

What does make the film worthwhile however is its subject and the story of his rise and success through newsreel and performances along with interviews with friends, fellow musicians and intimates. It reveals an incredibly natural and graceful personality featuring one of the truly great voices of the twentieth century who had at least 30 good years in front of him when tragedy struck. Compare him to stiffs like Andy Williams or Pat Boone who paled in comparison to his smooth style, beating them at their own game while having the ability to belt out soul the equal of Marvin Gaye. The future was wide open for Cooke with anything (variety show, Vegas, touring) in the entertainment business he wanted as well as being an eloquent spokesman and committed individual for Civil Rights. His loss as an entertainer spreading joy through his music was large but his loss as the man in full was beyond enormous. Give him a listen now and feel the pain.

"The Two Killings of Sam Cooke" is a fascinating documentary, whether you are familiar with the music of Sam Cooke or not. While I have loved his music for decades and had some passing knowlege of how he died, the film did a great job of bringing it all to light and putting it in context. After all, it was incredibly weird that a young and incredibly successful pop singer would be on top of the world one day and then killed the next and it being ruled a justifiable homicide!

The story doesn't just recount his death but puts it in context. I didn't know that he was involved with the civil rights movement and that he was friends with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. Overall, a very well told biography...especially because so many who knew and loved him are still alive and participated in this project. Well worth seeing as well as quite sad.

You might not know the name Sam Cooke but you've probably heard at least one of his songs. Probably the most obvious place is a certain movie scene where John Belushi's slovenly student is stuffing himself in a cafeteria. Cooke was behind some of the songs that defined the early '60s.

But there was another Cooke. Oh he was the same man, all right. But he wasn't just the melodious voice singing "nice" songs. He also addressed political issues of the era, and befriended Muhammad Ali. His murder in a motel led to theories that it was an assassination to prevent him from leading a movement.

Netflix's "ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke" looks at this. The title refers to the murder, and the recording companies' subsequent efforts to suppress Cooke's political stances so as to make him palatable to white audiences. The viewers can draw their own conclusions about what happened in that motel that night, but let's not forget Cooke's activism. He was a great singer and a great man, if flawed. Not the greatest documentary - it prods you to think some things - but I recommend it.

Or maybe not so plain. The running time of the ReMastered series is really a draw and of course the subject matters they choose are too. The fact you could call them "Unsolved" instead of ReMastered (I actually have no idea why they went with that title) is a ... mystery.

And while this is coherent and sheds light on many aspects of Sam Cooke (his life, friends, influence and music), it also leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Or does speculate like every good documenatry does (?). Good structure and fine intervews make it engaging, if you can cope with a maybe not satisfying conclusion ... again

I don't mean to slander Cooke with that title. Even though he is my favorite singer of that era, and the owner of the sweetest, most graceful voice I have ever heard, I have to accept based on the research I've done (it doesn't take much) that he was not murdered. There was no conspiracy to kill him. He, with no help from anyone else, set in motion the chain of events that led to his incredibly tragic and humiliating death. He did this by behaving in a violent and unseemly manner, entirely unbecoming to the squeaky clean image he had so carefully cultivated.

I think this documentary does a great job highlighting the musical genius and wide array of other talents this man had. Sam's gift to the world will be everlasting, and he obviously had a tremendous impact on his many fans and of course the people who knew and loved him best.

But I think it was a big mistake to put such a strong emphasis on the "conspiracy" angle. It diminishes the impact of the rest of the film. That is, if you have done even 5 minutes of research into what happened that night, rather than taking the word of a friend or family member who, understandably, found it difficult to accept that Sam could have acted in such a way. I am sure plenty of people will come away from this movie thinking there was some organized, insidious effort to "do away" with Sam, and that is a shame. Why can't we just accept that he was not a perfect guy, and he made an ill judged, fatal decision that night? No one is perfect, and stars of his caliber were and always will be exposed to many more temptations than the average person.

I will end this by quoting from an NPR interview, in which the author of "Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke", Peter Guralnick, says the following:

"Well, his death carried such reverberations within the black community. You know, it was, in a sense, so inexplicable and so sordid in its circumstances and so contrary to the image of Sam Cooke, and the result is that, I would say, within the community, there is not a single person who believes that Sam Cooke died as he is said to have died, killed by a motel owner at a cheap motel in Los Angeles called the Hacienda, which he had gone to with a prostitute named Elisa Boyer. I could have filled 100 pages of the book with an appendix on all the theories about his death.

The central tenet of every one of those theories is that this was a case of another proud black man brought down by the white establishment who simply didn't want to see him grow any bigger. I looked into this very carefully. I had access to the private investigator's report, which nobody has seen and which filled in a good many more details. And no evidence has ever been adduced to show--to prove any of these theories. But, you know, it's--the love that people felt for Sam Cooke, I think, is far more significant than the circumstances of his death. But in the research that I did and also all the people who were closest to him, I don't know anyone who doubts the official story, as much as they might wish that it were otherwise."