And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story

I regret that I did not manage to see this excellent film untill 2002 although I see it was made in 1999. The actress that played Cher must have spent a great deal of time and trouble to 'nail' the part as well as she did. From the first scene in the club, until the last, on the 'David Letterman show' I was spellbound. in fact I argued with a friend of mine, who insisted that IT WAS NOT Cher in those scenes with Letterman, I was totally convinced that it was! I just wish it were possible to find a photo so that I could see what Renee looks like in real life, or indeed a biog of her. To close, WELL DONE GIRL!!!!

It would sure be nice to watch a movie or even read an article that got all the facts straight about Sonny & Cher. Even with all that has been written about them and especially Cher, one would think that the facts would be common knowledge. Alas! That is not true! Even when Sonny wrote the book the movie is based on they still got a few things wrong. The Beat Goes On did not get recorded just before the Tv show started, All I Ever Need Is You did, but they don't mention that. They just get the facts wrong. Next time spend a little time on your sequencing and pretend to care about your subject. Beyond the fact problem the story is nostalgic and the actors do a good job!

I thought it would be really cheesier than it was. I like the fact that Renee who played Cher did an excellent job and Jay who played Sonny did an interesting job, though I had never thought of who would ever play him. Sonny seemed like an interesting man himself so to rekindle that seemed hard. I thought that the screen version of The Beat Goes On was pretty good. The lip singing was horrible, but unless you actually were the one who sang it, it would be hard to recreate. I especially like the end of the movie - I thought that was pretty classic. It was nice to show some footage of the real Sonny. I thought that it could use some footage of Cher too, but I guess since it was Sonny's book than it's ok. Last but not least for those who missed it, it was something worth watching for the two hours.

I am dying to know what Renee REALLY looks like under the wig and makeup that made her so convincing as CHER. Is there nobody out there who can help me? Surely a publicity shot exists somewhere, who ever heard of an actress who DIDN'T want publicity?

I can't vouch to say how accurately the two main characters (Sonny are Cher) are portrayed in this film not in appearance and their mannerisms. From what I have seen of the couple, the actors seem convincing and the story line seems true to events.

The scenes of the couple as hosts on a TV show are particularly, good and are a good representation of TV show hosts in America in the 60's, rather than as they might appear nowadays.

The media/news since has portrayed Sonny as somewhat of an over-bearing character, but the Cher portrayed seems to understand this along along and go with for as long as possible for the career benefits she received, which seems a much more likely and credible turn of events.

I didn't realize until watching this film how much Sonny had contributed to the music production of their songs and how closely he had worked with other producers at the time, including the awesome, and now highly discredited Phil Spector.

Whatever they have done since, we all have to learn to see their actions for what was going on in the context of their time, rather than writing them off because of later historical re-interpretations.

It's a little long at about 2 hours long, but well worth watching right through to the end.