Gimme Danger

Having read (re-read actually) 'Please Kill Me", and having read a lot about Iggy Pop and the Stooges over the years, I didn't expect I'd maybe learn too much about them from this doc. Little did I know not only I would, but that I would be laughing much of the way (the story where Ron Asheton asks Moe Howard's permission to use the name 'Stoooges' kills, but not as much as Iggy's dead serious response when he is told he *willl* play Peter Pan on Broadway by David Bowie's seemingly scummy manager).

It's also at times dark, at times harrowing, and the most welcome thing to me is how Jarmusch starts with the Stooges at their (first) end in 1973, when they were broke, Iggy was missing gigs and often showing up so wasted on heroin he could "sometimes sing, sometimes not", and it changes up how we usually see these kind of rock documentaries. It often will start with the adulatory remarks. Here, Iggy Pop in the 1973 footage looks like he's about ready to puke all over himself... while stage diving... while probably slathering himself with some substance of unknown origin... maybe genitals out too, who knows(!)

This was an entirely fearless band, and they created art simply by virtue of only doing what *they* liked. F*** popular taste. Hell, if one follows Pop by his word (and how can you not?) there were many, many manufactured acts (Including CSNY? please not them) and that if nothing else the Stooges acted as a counterpoint to so much of what was going on in the late 60's and early 70's while being one of the hardest bands of the era. Jarmusch does an excellent job of showing us through Pop, the late Scott Asheton and other interviews, plus plenty of stock footage and, not unlike Julien Temple with Filth & the Fury, clips from old shows, movies and other rock acts (Soupy Sayles being one of them of course) that make joke of what we're seeing, or at least reference.

Even as someone who thought he knew the Stooges, or at least Iggy Pop (real name Jim Osterberg), this gives as full a picture as you can get while, at the very end, showing us just how massive an influence they had. Think about it: they couldn't play (at first anyway, they got better as they went), and yet they changed things simply by the force of what rock and roll could do and has done when it's at its most pure. The film reflects the aggression, the commitment to absurdity, and Pop's own madness in performance, which was an act depending on the night (or it was all of a piece).

FUN! And I never thought I'd see (or think about) the day when a Jim Jarmusch movie had animated sequences. Bonus!

GIMME DANGER is worthwhile and interesting look at those perennial underdogs of rock music, The Stooges. Long time fans of the band should be mostly satisfied with this documentary about their rise, fall and brief rebirth in the 21st century to a far more appreciative response.

The Stooges primal proto-punk was certainly before its time in 1969 and really wouldn't be embraced more fully until several decades later. The simplicity of their musical ideas may have evolved from their limitations rather than some grand design. The dark and confrontational sound they created together utilized into those basic elements that can make rock music so compelling. Jim Osterberg's transformation into the iconic Iggy Pop gave The Stooges an absolutely perfect front man. While the Stooges rhythm section hardly moved on stage, Iggy's spontaneous, lanky, almost awkward physicality gave their live performances a sense of danger and unpredictability that made their shows so captivating.

Overall, this is an enjoyable enough film, but it does possess some notable shortcomings. One of my main criticisms is that there isn't quite enough focus on the music. There is ample time spent on the songs for The Stooges 1969 debut album, but the songs on FUN HOUSE are discussed only briefly. Even less is said about their landmark RAW POWER album, although though there is some discussion and audio from the early sessions at Olympic Studio. Besides "Search And Destroy", any meaningful discussion about the album or its release are virtually absent here! Instead, the story quickly moves on to the demise of The Stooges and release of Iggy & James KILL CITY project. Although the movie time is approximately 1 hour and 46 minutes, another 15 minutes of musical discussion would have been well worth the time spent.

Early live performance footage of the band was either in short supply or the producers just didn't have the budget for the rights. For whatever reason, many clips are repeated throughout the movie, mainly the classic Cincinnati Pop Festival footage showing Iggy wandering off into the audience, smearing peanut butter on himself while being hold aloft by an adoring (or fearful) crowd. More vintage footage would have made this documentary a bit more compelling.

Given that this movie is focused on the The Stooges (or Iggy & The Stooges), Iggy Pop's solo career is mentioned pretty sparingly. I respect the reasons for this decision, but it would been interesting to spend a little time talking about Iggy & David in Berlin or even just some highlights. But given how little time in the spotlight the Asheton brothers, Dave Alexander and James Williamson have enjoyed, it is admirable that Iggy's celebrity isn't allowed to completely overshadow their contributions.

It was also a good decision to limit the interview sections to the band and a few insiders. Many rock documentaries are overfilled with a parade of contemporaries, critics and talking heads whom usually only add limited insight and too much hyperbole. Danny Fields slightly overstates the importance of The Stooges during his interview clips, but this is forgivable given that he was the person that basically discovered them. The newer interview sessions with Iggy back home in his parents trailer and James Williamson holding his Gibson Les Paul Custom Pro Black Beauty are each quite interesting and enjoyable.

All in all, i would rate GIMME DANGER 7.5 and would recommend to anyone who wants to learn about the band. I applaud the spirit and well meaning intent of Jarmusch, but wish he'd not moved so quickly through certain eras. It's a very nicely done film, but also a missed opportunity in some ways.

A look at the Stooges career from their first albums to eventual reunion years later with interviews from the surviving members and lots to hear from Iggy Pop.

I expected more from this documentary I guess because I was a little let down. Yeah it had talking heads and archival footage but not that much of it really. It also spent most of the time talking to Iggy, which makes sense since most of the others are dead, but it gives you only one view. I guess because the band had so short a career there wasn't much to work with, but for a legendary crew, this felt too shallow. But it's not terrible or anything, so fans will eat it up.

A friend of my recommended this documentary to me. Just randomly heard about it and was enough of a Jim Jarmusch fan to want to try it out, and he loved it, despite not being a fan of the Stooges, or having it change his mind about their music. As much as it was an in-depth look on Iggy Pop and the Stooges, it's just as much an in-depth look on Rock and Roll, and every Rock and Roll Documentary should be.

I gave it a shoot, as I am a fan of the Stooges and what they have done. After all, I'm sure a lot of the music I listen to they directly or indirectly are responsible for.

Going into the movie, I was expecting somewhat an adaption of the book Please Kill Me, which was an in-depth look at protopunk, which I herd the Stooges be described as before, plus they take up a big chuck of the book, but that's not what this doc is at all. It was so focus on the Stooges that it rarely expanded outside of the band members and those really close to them.

As the only original surviving member at the time of this release, Iggy does a lot of the talking, but not in an egotistical way. He seemed very genuine in his stories about The Stooges and their history. Not that the other Stooges did not get to chime as it looks like Jarmusch had been working on this for a while with the drummer of the Stooges also able to tell his stories before his death.

It is all about rock and roll and all about the music. I can see why Jarmusch selected and loves this band as they seem uncompromising to their love of the music. It's a great message on sticking with it. It also a great message about how it never dies within you, as the doc tells the story of the Stooges second guitarist James Williamson, who rolled with the band and Iggy until they dissolved got himself a pretty square life, but when Iggy calls to say come Jam with the band like 40 years later, he did just that.

Not Just for those people who love the Stooges, it's for those who love a really good rock and roll story. This is one!

So what is this? A quite conventional musical documentary embedding a bands history within a bigger history of society and musical appearances and hereby constantly arguing the uniqueness, the coolness and the relevance of The Stooges and their professional anti-professionalism. It has the same sort of bohemian snobbish feeling to it I already found disgusting in ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE: all this bitter mystifying praise of the „real", „authentic", „good", „true", etc., artistic stuff within a devilish sell-out Disneyland world is just soo much emphasized that it's actually ridiculing itself.

But at the same time it is a fanboy work and a work of friendship, a film not only about the band, but a film in dedication for the band, a gift, an openly political and explicitly personal attempt to immortalize the musicians, communists, existentialists, drug users and drug abusers around Iggy Pop: „The Stooges Forever!", it says on the gong starting and finishing the film. And this is basically the sole purpose the film is made for and this is what adds quite a bit of intimidating intimacy to it, making it more like a letter to Iggy only masked as this educational musical documentary it is trying to be at its surface. This is no offense: The naive and sincere face under the mask is what turns the film into touching cinema, after all. And the sound, well, the sound made me heart jump around hard every once in a while.