The Beach Boys: An American Band

(*Lyrics excerpt*) - "Do you love me?... Do you, surfer girl?"

If you really dig the "California/Surfer Sound" of The Beach Boys, then here's a super-duper documentary that's sure to please.

Aptly titled "An American Band". This entertaining, 100-minute program (from 1985) features lots'n'lots of music-videos (from the 1960s and 70s) of The Beach Boys.... As well - There are interviews with each of the band members, too.

What's great about this film, is that it doesn't just show you a series of little fifteen second sound-bites of vintage performances, but lets each clip run it's course, so you get to hear the entire song. Although many of them are obviously lip-synched (most notably "California Girls" from the Bob Hope special), there are enough rarities here to satisfy even the hardest of hard-core fans. The highlight of the movie, for me at least, was "In My Room" with a full orchestral backing from 1963, that must have been Al Jardine's very first filmed performance with the group. If only all musical documentaries were this good!

What an uninteresting and lack luster documentary of such a great group. It's mostly consists of archived footage of the group fetched from previous TV recordings and film footage.

Whenever there is an interview you sense that it's all heavily scriptet (and that is written by a hack as well...). Absolutely no depth or authenticity seen anywhere in this totally boring documentary. Save your time and steer clear of this train wreck!

This movie contains some amazing footage and it goes from the beginning of the band until the mid 80's when Dennis Wilson passed away. It's a bit of a flaw that the live performances are sometimes out of sync making the whole thing look a bit ridiculous. In between the concert footage the band members tell their story by some scripted lines, which is more than just a bit silly, but still fun to look at.

Above all, this movie is not to be viewed as a factual documentary. Most of the band's conflicts and troubles are only addressed shortly if they are addressed at all and the movie tries to paint a picture of endless harmony between all the band members, which wasn't there for most of the time. It's like watching a propaganda movie from a time of war, where most facts have been spun around. In hindsight, if you look at such movies and you know how things really went down, it's still very intriguing to see how they have been presented at the time. That's the main fascination of "The Beach Boys: An American band".

There is some very intimate footage in this movie. We actually get to see Brian lying in his bed with the blanket up to his chin as he did for most of the late 60's and early 70's. He is giving interviews without leaving the bed, trying to act as if this behavior was completely normal. We're at Brian's 34th anniversary party with Paul McCarntey. We see the press conference the Beach Boys gave after Dennis had passed away and somehow you get more information if you read between the lines than from listening to the things the band members say in interviews.

The most amazing thing to look at is Brian, who does seem uncomfortable for most of the time, but not exactly deranged. He could actually speak fluently up until the 80's, so even though he probably feels better now he somehow seemed healthier back then than he does when he's babbling on stage these days.

It's been a long way for Brian and the band and this movie covers most of it. "It's a dramatic story! It's the story of the Beach Boys", as Brian puts it at one point in the movie.

I was expecting the standard 90% obscure people who think they are experts talking to themselves and 10% sound bites through the years.

What we get is 90% songs (Most complete) and 10 of the Beach Boys themselves giving insights as to production and their personal struggles.

I realize that a lot of their later songs such as "Sloop John B," the seventh track on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, were my favorites; however, I did not associate them with what I think of as the California surfer set.

All in all, the whole presentation is pretty professional and thorough. I hope your favorite songs were displayed.

Makes you want to retire in Capitola.