Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune

Many of us are familiar with such songs of the sixties as "I Ain't Marching Anymore," "There but for Fortune", "Love Me, I'm a Liberal," and "When I'm Gone" without remembering that the author was Phil Ochs, a singer/songwriter whose name is hardly recognized today. Kenneth Bowser, in his documentary Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune, makes sure that we find out. The film traces Ochs' rise from his beginnings as a young performer in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early sixties to his prominence as a protest singer in the ongoing struggle against war, racism, and injustice. An artist who developed a sizable following, Ochs' self-inflicted death in 1976 at the age of 35 was a tragic signpost of the end of an era.

Though the documentary breaks no new ground, its format of photos, live concert footage, and personal interviews keeps it lively and interesting, although the quick snippets we hear of Ochs' songs make it difficult to fully appreciate his talent. Interviews are conducted with Phil's brother Michael who acted as his manager, folk singers Pete Seeger, Judy Henske, and Joan Baez, actor Sean Penn, activist Tom Hayden, journalist Christopher Hitchens, and others, but not seen is Ochs' prominent contemporary, Bob Dylan. Bowser reveals that Dylan had a falling out with Ochs when Bob unsuccessfully tried to steer Phil away from what he considered to be his one-dimensional approach to song writing and urged him to express more of his personal feelings.

As a consequence, Dylan, to put it mildly, is not spoken of highly in the film and his estrangement with Ochs continued until Bob joined Phil years later for a benefit concert for Victor Jara, a Chilean protest singer who was brutally murdered by Pinochet. As has been repeated often, the sixties was a time when young people truly believed that energy and idealism could change society, only to be disillusioned when powerful forces in and out of government tipped the scales in favor of political assassinations and military adventurism. As a frustrated protest movement splintered and gave way to the political theater of the Yippie culture personified by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, and the Weather Underground began a campaign of setting off bombs on government property, Phil Ochs career began to slide.

The murders of John and Bobby Kennedy, the democratically-elected Chilean Socialist Salvador Allende, and the killings at Kent State, hit him very hard as did the continuation of the senseless war in Vietnam. Ochs also continued to grapple with alcoholism and the bi-polar disease inherited from his father. His downward spiral was exacerbated when he was attacked while walking on a beach in Dar es Salaam in Africa, causing him to lose strength and range in his singing voice. Ochs' behavior took on bizarre aspects when he appeared at a concert in Carnegie Hall dressed in an Elvis Presley gold suit, shouting at his audience, "We need to turn Elvis Presley into Che Guevara." Though Ochs was not a major artist in the mold of Bob Dylan whose lyrics reverberated with poetry and breadth of vision, much of his work was important and inspiring, a singer who reflected his times and gave it new definition. He was "a young man with many reasons why" but when he was no longer young and the causes he fought for were foundering, his grip on reality started slipping and he knew that he would no longer "suffer from the pain when he was gone." When Dave van Ronk sang "He was a Friend of Mine" at Ochs' memorial concert, the words of Eminem could be heard saying, "And when I'm gone, just carry on, don't mourn. Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice."

"Liberty and Justice For All"......

Originally from El Paso, Texas - Phil Ochs (December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was a protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humour, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful lyrics, and distinctive voice. He wrote 100s of songs in the 1960s and 1970s and released 8 albums.

Ochs strongly believed that his generation would change the world. He performed at many political events during the 1960s counterculture era, including anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies. Ochs described himself as a "left social democrat" who became an "early revolutionary" after the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to a police riot, which had a profound effect on his state of mind.

This "There But For Fortune" documentary is definitely a worthwhile look at the man and the era in which he stood for in American history.

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune (2010) was written and directed by Kenneth Bowser.

Phil Ochs was a brilliant political singer/songwriter during the 1960's and into the 1970's. Phil wrote and sang about some of the most horrible years in U.S. history--the war in Vietnam raging, the civil rights protesters being beaten and arrested, the police riot at the 1968 Democratic Party convention, and the CIA's brutal intervention in places like Chile.

My wife and I were active in the peace and justice movement, and we became very active in 1969. (We are still peace and justice activists.) The political folksingers like Pete Seeger, John Baez, and Phil Ochs provided us with inspiration, determination, and courage. Now, almost 50 years latter, most people have boiled down what we did to making the peace sign and saying "make love not war." We did those things, but we did much, much more, and we did them to the songs of the political folksingers like Phil Ochs.

The film is unusual because we don't get much footage of Phil Ochs talking about his work. We hear him singing, and we get a few clips of him talking, but mostly we hear other people talking about Ochs. These include singers and activists like Erik Andersen, Joan Baez, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Sean Penn, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Hayden, and Judy Henske. In addition, Phil's brother, wife, and daughter reminisce about Phil. (There's also footage of combat in Vietnam, in Chicago, and in the southern U.S.)

This is an excellent movie, but a somewhat discouraging one. We in the peace and justice movement felt as if we were pushing against a solid brick wall. We couldn't bring it down. In fact, we couldn't make a dent in it. And, all the while, we knew that the FBI was watching us. (The FBI had hundreds of pages of reports on Phil Ochs.)

Singers like Phil Ochs gave of themselves to help keep the peace and justice movement alive. However, he paid a price for his singing, and after a while, his situation spiraled down, out of control.

We saw the movie on DVD, where it worked well. It's not a must-see movie, except for peace activists and people interested in the history of the peace movement. The film certainly validates the anger and discouragement we felt. More important, it demonstrates the uplifting quality of really great protest songs. That makes it a good movie for everyone.

I have missed hearing Phil Ochs for a long, long time. This brought back some of those amazingly political times in which he was so instrumental. No one seemed to have the complete dedication and full on driven voice for us since. He always was there when needed and he always had an intelligent and beautiful voice to say so. He fought for the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, those victimized by the government, both in the U.S. and abroad. This movie captures his unfailing work for those wonderful ideas and people he embraced. The only thing that could have improved this movie was to make it longer and with more of Phil's performances. In the end, it is a tragedy due to his bi-polarity, but thank heaven he was here for some time anyway.

There is nothing more beautiful to me than a hardcore topical protest singer-songwriter; Phil Ochs, a seminal presence in the folk movement, was the greatest among them during his heydey. A handsome humanitarian, gracious folkie - Socialist, Ochs started out an idealist in the radical 1960s, was a leader in the protest scenes from civil rights to Vietnam, and became darkly disillusioned with the assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy. His disappointment was exacerbated at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and riots, by Kent State, and the hi jinx of Nixon.

Kenneth Bowser did a tremendous job with his portrait of the life and career of Phil Ochs, a brilliant and charismatic musician who was part of the Greenwich Village music scene in the early 60s. Ochs aspired to be the best songwriter in the country, however, after meeting Bob Dylan, he relented and decided he would be second best.

No matter how witty, intelligent, and alluring Ochs' rousing leftist lyrics and clear, reaching tenor was, they had their limits. When the world wasn't transformed by the activism he devoted his whole self to and his career faltered, Phil's boyish sanguinity sagged. He attempted a different approach with the elaborate 1967 album, "Pleasures of the Harbor," but it fell depths below his expectations. In 1970, he made a tongue-in-cheek "Greatest Hits" album, decked out in gold-lamé parody of Elvis that met with a lukewarm embrace.

Phil then turned to travel. In 1971 in Chile, he became friends with folk singer Victor Jara, who he connected with personally and politically; in 1973, Jara was publicly tortured and murdered in a military coup. Also in '73 Ochs traveled to Africia where he was mugged and strangled on a beach in Tanzanian, which damaged his vocal cords.

He was depressed, his behavior grew erratic, and he spiraled down into alcoholism and was labed bi-polar. Ochs committed suicide in 1976, at the tender age of thirty-five.

Family members, including his producer-brother, Michael, and well known contemporaries Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Peter Yarrow, Tom Hayden, and Abbie Hoffman, and more, share anecdotes and memories of Phil Ochs, a man committed to organizing anti-war rallies and labor events and singing out against rascism, Vietnam, the struggles of the working class, and the hypocricy of right and left-wing hyperbole. An example of this is the classically sardonic, "Love Me, I'm a Liberal."

This historical rememberence of the times and a tremenously talented Troubadour took my breath away. I highly recommend this film, and will watch it again.