Hired Gun

This documentary focuses on what's called "hired guns", especially in the rock and heavy metal genre. Basically a "hired gun" is a super talented musician who can, at a moment's notice, play as a studio musician or actually join a band and tour with them. However, in the often cold and brutal musical world, they will have no tenure, receive low pay, and often get no credit for their contributions.

As one sees in the film, some of the "hired guns" will emerge and prosper from their stints while others will not and even eventually experience tragic consequences. The film, directed by Fran Strine, jumps from one interviewee to another, and initially seemed disjointed, since I really wasn't familiar with most of the musicians and record execs. However, the power of the individual stories overrode all else, in my opinion, and I certainly not only was inspired by these tales but also learned a lot about a genre I knew little about.

As I've read in some reviews this documentary can certainly fall into the category of such other movies as "20 Feet From Stardom", "The Wrecking Crew", and "Standing in the Shadows of Motown", except this doc centers on rock and heavy metal bands and players.

Really enjoyed watching this and learned a lot about the lives these guys had.

What struck me in the end was nobody was overly bitter (at least in this film) or resentful other than the lack of communication when their time was up.

They seemed to know the precarious edge that chose to live on and what that meant in job security.But happy to have been part of something big and creative.

A documentary on the nameless musicians behind the stars - the people in the touring and/or studio bands of major stars. Shows the highs and lows, the pros and cons, how some of them got where they are and their lives as hired guns.

An interesting documentary on rock music's unsung heroes. For every famous, successful artist there's dozens of musicians who played on studio albums or performed in the bands of the famous artist, with little to no recognition. This documentary does a good job of empathising with and highlighting the skills, trials and tribulations of the sideman.

Wasn't always that promising though: started off pretty dully, with a heap of (largely metal) musicians trying to out cheerlead each other. The first bit focuses mostly on how they got their big break and while there are some really interesting, even historic moments (e.g. the guitar solo on Steely Dan's 'Peg" and the drum fill on John Cougar Mellencamp's 'Jack and Diane'), involved it just seems pretty conventional. Moreover, you feel like you've seen this before - '20 Feet From Stardom' and 'Standing In The Shadows Of Motown' already covered the life and influence of backing musicians.

However, in the second half it gets really interesting and engaging. Now we see what touring life is like and how expendable these musicians are. It's quite sad how they are treated and how things turn out for some of them.

The latter half also shows why, despite the insecurity and treatment, these guys still do what they do - the love of music. This leaves the ultimate note a positive one.

Forget about the guy who bitched about Steve Vai and wrote a whiny review. This documentary doesn't look at the most famous session players (Like Vai), it follows people you may have never heard of (but whose talents you may have heard). The depth and honesty of the documentary is palpable. The players it does focus on show just how high the highs and how low the lows are when you dedicate your life to playing someone else's music. A couple superstar artists come out looking like douche bags for the way they treat their side men, but for the most part, the documentary steers clear of drama.

I was excited to see this documentary after a friend told me about it. I've followed music pretty heavily for the last 30+ years and have appreciated its history and the 'behind the scenes' stories. A similar documentary, The Wrecking Crew, is a must see!

I enjoyed Hired Guns but was left wanting more. I felt they could've spent more time showing how a 'hired gun'/A-List player is different, or better, than the guy who is just not making it versus only talking about it.

I would've liked to have seen how an A-List player can quickly learn a tune. Show a couple examples of them knowing nothing about a song and picking it up quickly, a Randy Rhoads solo for example, and tell how that compares to a non A-Lister. Show what makes them different. (Seeing Jay Graydon play the Steely Dan solo was pretty cool. )

I found it a little ironic for Phil X to talk about not selling out for $200-300 but then this documentary has them all playing a couple of rather bland tunes together for a reason that I didn't really understand.

Maybe I missed it but also seeing some guys who were originally in successful bands and then went on to be session musicians would've been interesting too. Jeff Pilson for example.