Customer Reviews

Hendrix [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

This made-for-cable movie is an honest attempt to boil down Jimi Hendrix's life and music down to less than two hours. Unfortunately the producers were unable to obtain the rights to any of Jimi's songs, so the musical score is entirely made of up his covers (Hey Joe, All Along the Watchtower, Wild Thing, etc.) plus some unattributed jamming. You get the typical 60s montages (JFK, Malcom X, the Beatles, Dylan, etc.) along with the cookie-cutter dialogue and vastly oversimplified story.

Despite some good performances, the script doesn't really offer the scope to examine why Hendrix's music was so revolutionary, or the problems that led to his early death.

There's not much fire here, either, as the film suffers from wooden pacing and is never especially absorbing.

The documentary film "Jimi Hendrix", also available on DVD, is a far better way to gain an appreciation of this artist.

This trainwreck is better than Oliver Stones excreble Doors movie, at least in terms of the facts, but thats the only thing positive I can say about it. Its not an entertaining view by any stretch of the imagination and the flaws, of which there are many, are glaring and so egregious they spoil the movie. I'll touch on a couple of the most criminal. First off the actor playing Hendrix simply does not have the acting skills or physical resemblance to make a believable Hendrix. He's not a horrible actor, just in no way convincing as Jimi. Perhaps they should have cast somebody who had even a remote clue as how to play a guitar. Likewise the guys playing Noel and Mitch are in no way convincing. In fact that criticism holds true for everyone in the movie except perhaps for Billy Zanes' portrayal of Mike Jeffrey. Many of the character portrayals are at best laughable. Second and most importantly NONE of the music in the film was written or played by Hendrix. Since the filmakers couldn't get the rights to Hendrix's music they could use only those songs Jimi covered, such as Hey Joe and they couldn't use Hendrix's performances either. Instead they used some studio band to play the covers and bad Hendrix-like songs/jams instead. I'm sorry but watching the actors badly pretend to play BAD Hendrix-like songs performed by some studio hacks creates more pain than should be inflicted on any movie goer. This film does a diservice to Hendrix's memory and legacy. Avoid it at all costs.

Hmmm... Where to start?
Wood Harris isn't really that terrible of an actor. (Although I've only see him in one movie.) This has to be one of the most challenging roles for any actor. Wood, however, plays Hendrix as if he was a mumbling airhead. The filmmakers also needed to get an actor who could actually play guitar. He didn't have to necessarily be good, just know enough to fake it. (Hendrix is one of the best guitarists in history, so it's okay if you can't play like him.) Also, this film, being a TV-movie, had a limited budget. The Woodstock scene was painful to watch, especially when it appeared as if Hendrix was only playing in front of a crowd of 10 extras. The costumes were great, but the hairpieces really needed some work.
The biggest disappointment was the music. Since, the filmmakers were unable to license Hendrix's music, we get some really bad cover tunes with a singer that doesn't even sound like him. It should have been a sign that his movie should have never been made.

Don't pay money to see this.

Wood Harris is not a bad actor; quite the antithesis. He made a heroic effort to portray a man whose persona, mannerisms, and "vibe" simply cannot be imitated. Kudos to Mr. Harris for his bravery. His biggest mistakes were 1. to listen to the director and turn his character into a mumbling buffoon, and 2. Wood made NO EFFORT to learn anything about how to play the guitar. While making the movie "Crossroads", Ralph Macchio actually took guitar lessons, so he would look like a guitar player. Wood's hands moved clumsily and uncertainly; and were always out of sync with the music. This was a mistake that doubtless will plague him forever.

The director did a mediocre job bringing life to a badly written script. Granted, Hendrix' story had a great deal of tragedy; but I have it on good authority that Hendrix was also a lot of fun to be around.

The scene that described his death was not historically accurate. I know people who were personally acquainted with Hendrix and were around when he died: and they told me what REALLY happened that day.

The cinematography was trying to hard to be "hip" by modern standards; and at the same time create illusions of environments the production clearly hadn't the skill to create. This was especially noticeable during the concert scenes. The sound was poorly done and failed to recreate the acoustic environment of a concert hall.

The music was marred by the fact that nobody can play the guitar like Hendrix without sounding like someone trying to imitate him, and Hendrix' estate refused to allow them to use any of his original compositions. In fact, the music was quite pathetic. Whoever was playing guitar on the soundtrack is clearly a hack.

The glossing over of the music; which was Hendrix' greatest accomplishment, was truly irritating. All it was was sensationalism and Hollywood glamor: all flash and no substance - which does a great disservice to Hendrix' legacy, musical genius, and life.

The whole thing made me sick.

I really enjoyed this movie. Wood Harris did the best job that he can do as far as playing the role of Jimi. I enjoyed both this and the 1973 biography release. This is a must have for any Jimi Hendrix fan.

Here are the flaws with this movie, they failed to detail his stints with the dixie circuit, his time in the army, his wild times during the european tours, fights within the band, his excessive drug taking, and the making of his 3 great albums (Are you experienced, Bold as Love, and Electric lady land). This movie only focused on his financial and creative disputes with Jeffrey Leonard. This movie could have given the mainstream exposure to a lot of his great songs that did not get radio play but, instead of forced fed us his generic radio hits such as purple haze, watchtower, like a rolling stone, or Hey Joe. I guess it didnt occur to this film staff to enlighten the public instead of rehashing old history that the average joe would know of.
This movie was clearly done by a a bad director who did little research on Hendrix's life but, only chose to focus on the news clippings instead of the more obscure aspects of his life which would have made this movie more interesting.

Oliver Stone should have made this movie and only he can bring a true perspective on who Hendrix really was.

I knew this was going to be bad but was not prepared for just how much.

Many facts are ignored/distorted/fabricated. Small things like accents are wrong: Chandler and Jeffery were both from Newcastle - I know that at least Chandler had a broad Newcastle accent. Hendrix mumbles and bumbles like he has a really low IQ. Hendrix's clothing is near perfect in the Monterey scene yet they get the guitar wrong - it was red and white in real life - why go to the trouble of detail in one area and leave it out in others.

Possibly the most damaging thing in the movie is the complete lack of an attempt to make it seem as if Wood can even mime the guitar parts. Gurning and poking the tongue doth not make a Hendrix impersonator. The jam with Cream is incredible - both guitarists parts are played by the same guitarist with the same guitar sound adn with just the merest hint of a difference in style - neither sounding like Clapton or Hendrix - no attempt is made here to show how bowled over everyone was - just chummy smiles all round.

It just gets worse - the discovery of Hendrix's death is innacurate and misleading.

My copy of this is going back on ebay and I am the sort of person who keeps every newspaper clipping on Hendrix etc.

Total excrement.

Yes, the music wasn't that great, though the playing for the M.L. King tribute in N.J. was excellent, a real highlight. Harris did portray Hendrix well, at least in comparison to documentary footage of the man. As TV music biographies go, this is quite good. I gave it an extra 1/2 star, being a Hendrix fan. Worth renting for Hendrix and rock and roll fans.

I really thought this movie sucked, so much so that I couldn't watch the whole thing. I have been a Hendrix fan for a long time, and he is my biggest influence and musical idol. So naturally I was dissapointed when the actor playing Hendrix was not even playing the guitar; not to mention the studio musician they used for the guitar work was channeling texas blues, maybe SRV. It didn't even sound like Hendrix. And as has been mentioned, they didn't get the rights to any actual Hendrix songs, so the soundtrack didn't include any of Jimi's original music(how absurd is that?).
Personally the movie offended me; this movie is useless to anyone who already knows anything about Jimi. And worse, to someone who does not know anything about Jimi, the movie portrays him as a corny goofball who stumbles into stardom. I mean you can listen to the dialogue by the lead actor and you can tell which individual interviews he studied to prepare for the role; yet when he delivers these lines, he sounds like such a loser. When Hendrix spoke, he was certainly a little out there sometimes, but he was cool. He spoke the language of the 60's. This actor definitely lost something in the translation.
I would recommend that you not see this movie; for the same price you could purchase something valuable, like the documentary "Jimi Hendrix" (1973?). This actually has some really good clips of live concert footage. Honestly, I would recommend that anyone who wants to learn more about Jimi should just buy as much of his music as you can afford and listen to it. That is what Jimi Hendrix was about; creating revolutionary music. If you want to get into the story of his life, which was quite sad, read a biography or something.
"Hendrix" does not focus nearly enough on Jimi's music (clearly, they didn't get the rights to!) and instead tries to make a drama of his lifestory, and seems to do that very poorly too. Zero Stars

a lot of people put this movie down. i'm here to tell you that i saw it about a month ago & i dont know much about hendrix, but this movie made me so curious about him that i've purchased 3 books, and 2 dvd's just to learn more. he was so unique--in one book someone called him a beautiful butterfly that people tried to cage. he was bad to the bone and yet so vulnerable. he went thru hell never seeming to find the serenity he needed. anyhow i gave this movie 5 stars cuz i've been buying jimi hendrix material ever since i saw it, and will buy more. he was amazing!! FAST FORWARD...IT IS NOW 5/08, and i looked at this movie again after watching berkely, monterey, isle of wight, etc. and after viewing so much of the real thing, i can now see where they went wrong with the movie. for instance, the wording was all backwards when Harris tried to say what Hendrix really said "I can say thank you, thank you, thank you," before he performed wild thing. nevertheless, Harris really tried after all Hendrix was so unique & beautiful. I can imagine that it was difficult trying to play him. And this is the movie that made me so curious about the real man that I now have books and dvds all about his life. and i'm glad to know that Hendrix may have been vulnerable, but he was still a man and put ppl in their place when he needed to. his only fault was signin those contracts, but he wanted to get that outta the way so he could play his music. thats all he wanted.