Customer Reviews

The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was truly a hilarious movie. Anyone who loves alt. country will want to own this. Graham Parsons meets Spinal Tap.

The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico is an entertaining "mock-u-mentary" that follows the life & career of the fictional country/folk singer-songwriter Guy Terrifico.

Terrifico, who becomes famous as a celebrity hanger-on, owning a concert venue in Vancouver, Canada following winning eight million dollars in the Canadian lottery, then goes on to launch his own musical career.

The music is fun, and the story absurd, in a positive way. With appearances by Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Ronnie Hawkins, the movie is entertaining. If you are in the mood to absurdity.

I watched this film on the Sundance Channel Sunday night Dec 16, 2007, and at first thought what in the hell am I doing watching this amateur parody and then as it moved along there were some incredible moments not because the film was particularly good but because of the old stock footage they dug up. The producers and the director have gone to extreme lengths to give us scenes from the by-gone era when rockers were influenced by country music and even gospel and their products were a hash of everything and anything with lyrics only a drugged or whiskey sotted mind could come up with. Nevertheless, the movie based somewhat on the life and death of Gram Parsons is fascinating to watch once you get passed any criteria for watching jumpy camera movement, bad editing, contrived visual jokes, and cutting off the musical sound track songs just as they get interesting. I thought Kristofferson getting up on stage to receive Country Performer of the Year (actual scene)was outrageous as he was blasted out of his mind and barely got through a rambling incoherent thank you speech. That was history of sorts in the making. Phil Kaufman, the man that cremated partially Gram Parson's remains in the Calif. desert, is on camera a lot and one would think he was talking about Gram, which come to think of it he probably was, so there was a bit of authenticity to the script, if one existed. The songs were kind of nice and I have ordered the CD with the sound track to see how well they turn out. This bio-pic isn't Lawrence of Arabia but light up a joint and sit back and enjoy the years 1968-73 relived by aging and nostalgic rockers and C&Ws legends. The missing person in the film was Chris Hillman (Parson's mate in The Flying Burrito Bros)who would have lent pardon the expression gravitas to the production. Give it 3 stars for trying, and minus a couple for sloppy camera and editing. Sound is just OK. Bottom line: Try it you'll like it if you are pushing 60.

This was exactly what my oldest son wanted for Christmas! And I received it in plenty of time. Thank you!

This is such a great story. I dont know why more people didnt get hip to it. Really sad, funny, musical, etc. I now understand who Gram Parson's ripped off his act from. Is he really alive? If anyone has an address where I can write to him, I've really appreciate it!

A mockumentory that is not funny or entertaining, or even modestly interesting. It meanders on what seems like interminably.