The Apollo

"The Apollo" (2019 release; 102 min.) is a documentary about the legendary theater in Harlem. As the movie opens, we are watching a modern performance piece (we later learn it's the live performance of "Between the World and Me"). We then go back to the theater's beginning as the "Apollo" in 1934, located at Harlem's ground zero on 125th Street. Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington performed there that year. "It's a model of black achievement", comments one of the documentary's many talking heads. At this point we are 10 min. into the film.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from the Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams. Here he brings us the rich history and significance of the Apollo. The movie is remarkably split (almost 50-50) between the emphasis on the music/dance/performance (in the first half) and the civil rights and political significance (in the second half). Among the music's highlights is of course the (in)famous Amateur Night. Incredibly, we see footage of Lauryn Hill (yes, THE Lauryn Hill), then age 13, being booed off the stage by the crowd (Hill's singing was indeed completely out of tune). Surreal. In the second half, in addition to the political significance, the film makers also look at how the Apollo stays relevant in today's society and what its role is/should be ("new works from the African-American community"}, which leads us back to "Between the World and Me". Bottom line: this is a delightful and insightful documentary about one of the iconic landmarks in New York.

"The Apollo" premiered this week on HBO and is now available on VOD. If you have any interest in knowing more about the rich history and significance of the Apollo, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

While this documentary not only entertaining, it gives deep history of the theater. It captivates an error most of us remember and truly miss. The Apollo is an Epic Center for Black Excellence! Getting a glimpse of how it all began and continues to uplift black culure was tear dropping for my husband and I. The only thing missing from a (10) rating, was the omission of some of the Apollo's most treasured entertainers.. KiKi Shepard, Rick Aviles, Sandman Simms and Steve Harvey!! You can't do an Apollo Doc and miss these pilars of 'Showtime At The Apollo'. The producers missed the ball with not acknoleging these folks!!

The Apollo (2019) a 98 min. documentary by Roger Ross Williams the history of New York City's Apollo Theater in Harlem did not feel complete. It really promoted the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates using his book about teaching son about being Black in America. Using usual talking head shots with spliced transition of archived material, Williams gets to record the early beginning of the theatre owned by the Schifman family then later to Sutton's re-opening the theatre, leading to its current non-profit management governance.

What it does is established the theatre for a significant historic place as a center for Black creative expression. Displaying famous performances by Billie Holiday, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin (rarely seen). But stating the obvious that there is no mention of Jackson family, there only one quick image of a tribute banner, honoring Michael Jackson.

The second element, establishing "Amateur Night" as one of the most famous talent show the world has ever known. Williams puts in needed interviews with Harlem residents, politicians and even a past U.S. President. Notable interviews were with Charles Rangel, a Black/Boricua (Puerto Rican) N.Y. Representative and with singers like Gladys Knight!

It also referenced general Black history, from N.Y. riots to Harlem's poverty and recent gentrification. This film used usual documentary styled techniques. Although Jackson family was referenced, this documentary is needed and served as a slice of U.S. diverse cultural landscape.

You can't have a documentary about this subject without barely mentioning the man who changed the world and this venue forever, Michael J Jackson.

Obviously HBO did not put him in the doc because of the ongoing lawsuit against his estate. The allegations against him has all been debunked and his accusers have been proven to be both criminals and scammers. There has to be something wrong with those who still defend these proven liars after everything that has come out about them

As I started viewing this documentary on my local cable provider, I was hoping for an evening packed with musical entertainment and other archived material from the Apollo's illustrious 100-plus-years past. Unfortunately, as quickly became apparent, we are treated to a preachy cultural awareness exercise, produced during the hyper-sensitive days of the Trump presidency when America seemed on the verge of a return to the Jim Crow era. At least half of this production is comprised of contemporary poetic readings, inspirational song and dance by newcomers, and interviews with today's battlers in the culture wars that tend to become cliched for those of us who have been exposed to many lectures on BLM topics. After viewing this documentary, I read a press interview with the director where he described the great challenge he faced because of a scarcity of actual film and video footage footage from the Apollo's past, due in part to the rocky financial history of the venue. What we therefore find is that many of the clips of performances by celebrated artists contained in this documentary were actually recorded at other locations. For example, I noticed that a vintage clip of the Temptations performing "My Girl" was lifted from a video of a 1960s Detroit-area teen dance party TV show that I came across on YouTube only a couple of weeks ago. This documentary neglects to mention that a number of top white musicians appeared at the Apollo in its heyday, or that Jimi Hendrix had a ground-breaking early NYC show at the Apollo in 1967 (maybe Jimi was too "rock 'n roll" for the producers of this), or that Bob Marley also starred at the venue at a pivotal point in his career. In line with the "culture wars" theme of this documentary, attention is also devoted to the urban upheavals and rioting of the 1960-70s, and the terrible prejudices black musicians faced when touring across America....topics that are frankly dealt with much more interestingly in other documentaries that address these problems in greater detail. Anyway, I'll give "The Apollo" a 5 out of 10 for the noble effort, despite my temptation to fast-forward through parts of it!