Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent

The story relates that Jeremiah studied Architecture at Harvard until he was 30 and then was supposedly cut off financially by his family. There is no information at all about his parents or family, except they were wealthy and often traveled first class around the world with Tower in tow, but left to his own devices.

Wikipedia states his father was a managing director for a film sound company, and that Jeremiah went to school in Australia, Connecticut, England, and at Harvard, and that when Jeremiah's grandfather died, Jeremiah was cut off financially.

The film gives us Tower as a person emerging without family or connections at the age of 30, moving to California and getting a job at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. The film jumps from Jeremiah leaving Chez Panisse and starting up the fabulously successful Stars Restaurant in San Francisco.

According to Wiki, after leaving Chez Panisse he spent the next 6 years working at various restaurants in the Bay area."He worked at the Ventana Inn at Big Sur beginning 1978, taught briefly at the California Culinary Academy, and revived the dying Balboa Cafe in San Francisco in 1981. In 1982, he became head chef and co-owner at Berkeley's Santa Fe Bar and Grill. In 1984 Tower opened Stars Restaurant, his passion and greatest success.

According to wiki Tower also "opened branches of Stars restaurant in Oakville (Napa Valley), Palo Alto, Manila, and Singapore." He was also busy with a number of other ventures according to wiki including "the Peak Cafe in Hong Kong in the 1990s, as well as various related ventures in San Francisco including a more casual cafe, an upscale bistro, and a kitchenware shop, and celebrity endorsement contracts, including one for Dewar's Scotch. In 1998, Tower sold a part interest in the Stars restaurants to a Singapore real estate company, but the new owners closed the restaurant in 1999.

The film tries to give the impression that Tower was a man of mystery who disappeared from the world after leaving Stars for unknown reasons. But it is more likely his multiple ventures were ultimately financially unsustainable.

Wiki also has some information on his whereabouts during his years out of the spotlight. "Tower moved to Manila for a year, then to New York City for four years, then Italy and Mexico. In 2014, he was hired as executive chef of Tavern on the Green in New York City, but he left in April 2015, after six months."

The thing that I get from this movie is there were a lot of holes in the story. In many ways I get the impression that Tower manufactured much of his own history, or lack of it. Apparently he was a motivated and talented chef, but overextended himself in business and wound up being able to pack up all his possessions in 4 hours and place them in two bags in a pickup truck.

While the film seems like an interesting love letter to Tower from Bourdain, it just reeks of BS to me. It portrays him as a sort of Great Gatsby, a man of wealth and taste and mystery. In fact he lived a life of great pretense, success and failure. The most honest moment in the movie seems to be when he says at the end, I'm writing a book, about how to be a well mannered idiot.

Be aware that the DVD has no subtitles or captions for those who need them.

If you lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 70's to 90's and dined out or followed the food scene in the press, this documentary is a must see.

It starts with a shocking revelation from Mr. Tower about a childhood experience. It then proceeds chronologically, until about two thirds of the way in, where the storyline becomes shuffled, perhaps in an attempt to make it more interesting.

There are lots of holes in the story, such as what JT did between Chez Panisse and Stars, any personal life he had (was there ever a boyfriend or anything more serious?) and where he went after Stars closed. Also, his attempt to create a Wolfgang Puck style culinary empire, with restaurants around the world, was barely mentioned. When they finally wind back to the closing of Stars, the 1989 Earthquake is blamed. The restaurant remained open for ten more years, so that could not have been the reason. They don't even mention the closing date.

There is much talk of his parents at the start of the film. Once JT graduates from Hahvahd, his family is never mentioned again. Did they ever visit Stars? Did they cut ties with him when they found out he was gay? Did he cut ties with them over money issues? Did they die young and leave him the money he needed to open his own restaurant?

Lots of talking heads and not enough historical footage. They could have done much more with still photos, Herb Caen clippings, and other media articles. Clearly, they started this documentary when JT tried to tackle Tavern On The Green, and there is ample footage of him working in that kitchen.

Unfortunately, Alice Waters is not interviewed. This is unexplained. If she declined to participate, the documentation of her response would have been interesting. If JT insisted that she not be given a chance to tell her side of the story, the viewer should have been informed. Instead, how she feels about JT today is just another hole in the story.

What this movie tried to convey and what the rest of the sources state about this one particular man is jarring. There's no true mystery or revolutionary actions or suffering or some deep trauma. It's all claims with no receipts. No wonder the majority showed no interest or even know about this man or this film about him. It's a fan-fiction piece made with and for overly privileged people. All in all, an aesthetically pleasing film that may work as a fantasy piece or even as a episode of Gossip Girl, but doesn't work as a documentary.

"Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent" (2016 release; 103 min.) i a documentary about the celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower. The documentary opens with a quote of his: "I have to stay away from human, because somehow I am not one myself", as we see Tower walking around historic Mexican ruins. After a brief introduction as to his peak achievements (Chez Panisse in the 70s; Stars in the 80s), we then go back in time as Tower himself narrates and muses about his upbringing (including his complicated relationship with his parents) and how he came to love food and cooking (showing both archival 8mm footage and re-enactments).

Couple of comments: this is the directorial debut from TV personality (and chef himself) Anthony Bourdain. Here he tackles a subject matter that I assume is near and dear to his heart, or at least one that he i thoroughly familiar with. Let me admit upfront that I had never heard of Jeremiah Tower before seeing this (I am not really a foodie). It is quite interesting to see how Tower, with no formal cooking schooling whatsoever) rise in the world of restaurants, eventually becoming a "brand" himself and perhaps one of the first celebrity chefs as we know that term today, "Tower is like a conductor of an orchestra" comments one of the (many) talking heads in the movie. At a certain point, Tower retires from the restaurant business for 15 years (so we are told in the documentary), leaving nary a trail as to what he's up to, only to come out of retirement to become the chef at Tavern on the Green in New York in late 2014. At that point, the movie bring some tension as we don't know how all that will play out (just watch!). I couldn't help but notice that the documentary skips entirely what Tower does in the 90s after Stars and before retiring for 15 years.

"Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Sunday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (5 people in total, including myself). I enjoyed the documentary for what it was, but must say that it isn't up to the level of various other documentaries that leave you astonished (such as the recent "God Knows Where I am", just to name that one). But if you are a foodie, you will definitely want to check this out, be it in the theater, on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

The original celebrity chef, Jeremiah Tower is finally introduced via film to receive his due. Thanks to a biased push courtesy of present foodie king Anthony Bourdain (producing this doc and offering visceral cameos), "The Last Magnificent" is a bit of confusing celluloid.

It's all a very juicy story: the lonely rich boy, left to his own devices, becomes a revolutionary chef after his career in designing underwater housing is derailed. And that's just a mere sip of the nectar. Our chef is indeed a towering figure, transforming the culinary world with American Cuisine, and inventing the celebrity cook persona which he was born to berth and star in. Chez Panisse, Stars, Tavern on the Green: this is the glory trifecta of eateries, and Tower ran them all.

Food aside, there's much more to the delicious history here, which, unfortunately is handled clumsily at times. A stormy, love/hate relationship with Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters is touched on but left dangling, while footage of Tower wandering in sandals among Mayan ruins is used as contemplative segues.

His sudden retreat and decade long hibernation from the restaurant world, is never truly explained. As much as this film is chock full of glorious revelations, it is missing large pieces of the Tower puzzle. A pompous, arrogant, entitled, talented character who elicits both disdain and admiration with alarming frequency, the mythical Jonathan Tower remains a true enigma, and quite possibly, the next reality television star.

Intriguing, charming, exotic, insufferable and frustrating; Tower and film both.