Product Details

• Actors: Bruce Botnick, John Densmore, Johnny Echols, John Fleckenstein, Bobby Gillespie
• Directors: Chris Hall
• Producers: Chris Hall, Mike Kerry
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Start Productions
• DVD Release Date: August 5, 2008
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00197KG02
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,166 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Love Story" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After Arthur Lee's release from prison and his subsequent touring for the Forever Changes album which produced the 2005 DVD, The Forever Changes Concert, Love fans finally had some footage documenting the late Lee's effervescent performances as lead singer and songwriter of this great pop band. Previously, only secondhand biographies, such as Andrew Hulktrans' well-written book, attempted to piece together Love's intrigue and disintegration. But long have we craved vintage film evidence of this Los Angeles group's ascension from the Hollywood hippie underground. Love Story is a fabulous documentary tracing every detail of Love's formation and the release of each album. Spliced with ample vintage film clips, it is organized chronologically, beginning with the stories of Arthur Lee and Johnny Echols meeting in high school told from their perspectives. Infamous for their disagreements and Lee's notoriously difficult personality, Love Story explains from each band member's point of view, what happened to this band slated to become the next Doors or Byrds. Love Story is engaging and quite hilarious. History told by band members interviewed independently of one another makes for wild variation. Bryan Maclean candidly discusses his struggles for recognition, while other band mates, Echols, Snoopy Pfisterer, and Michael Stuart reveal what occurred behind the scenes. Of course, most entertaining throughout is Arthur Lee starring himself. In a never ending array of hats, bandanas, and shades, he cruises the filmmakers Chris Hall and Mike Kerry around his home turf by car, pointing out where he went to school, where the band used to live, and the spaces where clubs they played once thrived. As cliché as it may sound, Love Story really is indispensable for any Love fanatic. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short on Footage But Great Interviews, August 11, 2008

By 

Brian J. Greene "djbrian" (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love Story (DVD)

The only thing keeping this from being a 5-star DVD is the shortage of original band footage. There really isn't a whole lotta Love footage out there, so the band's many fans would've wanted to see some more clips of Arthur and the guys in action. But interviews are what make up the bulk of the doc, and the interviews are fascinating, revealing, informative . . . There's lots of Arthur himself talking, lots of Johnny Eccols, some old Bryan MacLean footage, some with Jac Holzman, some Bruce Botnick, other members of Love . . . Wait till you hear Arthur hold forth on The Gulf Wars, George Bush, Tony Blair, etc. in the bonus footage, and have a seat before you play the bonus segment where a modern-day Snoppy Pfisterer performs some of his, uh, current material. The documentary focuses heavily on Love's first three albums, and of course zeros in on their masterpiece Forever Changes. There could have been more on post- Changes Love, who were never as good as they were on the first three records, but always had their moments. But that's a quibble. Any fan of Love, of 60s psychedelia, of 60s youth culture, of the LA Sunset Strip scene . . . all of you will get something from this excellent documentary.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love - Love story dvd (documentary on Arthur Lee, Bryan etc), September 4, 2008

By 

Joseph Morris "Joe Morris" (Elmwood Park, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Story (DVD)

Superb film. I FINALLY was able to find it in NYC at Virgin (its sold out twice at Rocket Scientist in the Village on St Marks)

WAY too much for an import dvd at Virgin tho. I had to pay $50. OUCH!!

absolutely heartbreaking film. Oh god.. the one band that should've made it, had all the talent, but just burned out..

The film ends at Four Sail, dead. Which may be unfair. But then, how was one to follow up Forever Changes? It really is the best album ever recorded (in my humble opinion!) and if this film can nudge the average Joe to check this album out (or at least Alone Again Or - wisely sequenced by Elektra's Jac Holzman to start the disc) that is not necessarily a bad thing

The film is almost 2 hours - lots of Love, interview. Absolutely heartbreaking. Arthur Lee did get his due, but it was to be much later after a jail term - nice to see UK's Parliament like the album (Forever Changes I mean of course) as well (they put it to a vote in the Parliament, declaring it the best album of all time and pressing people to check out the live Forever Changes tour!)

Video interviews with the late Bryan Maclean from the late 90s (from BBC TV I assume) and audio interviews with the late Kenny Forssi from the early 90s

Extras include Snoopy going solo and Arthur, Johnny interviews, as well as the Parliament guy who did a petition that deemed FC the best album ever made. Right on guys! At least the album did better there in the States (it made the top 30 in the UK - made the top, oh, 160 in the US!)

Snoopy and Johnny are working on albums (H.O.M.E. and FC follow up Gethesemene, respectively). Indeed, you can listen to Snoopys album (and message!) on CDBaby, but, really, this is a celebration of Love in its heyday (the first 3 albums). Nice to hear from "Fleck" (co-writer of "Can't explain" from the first album) after all this time (he was bassist before he opted out for a film career, and the late Kenny Forssi joined from off the Sufari's tour in time for the first Elektra album (simply titled Love)

Arthur is pretty honest here. In fact, sometimes he comes off as a jerk. Hes honest about Revelation too (which most Love fans are pretty tolerant of, curious considering it takes up a full side!) He thinks its the worst thing hes ever recorded (probably true - its certainly longer than some of the dreck on Vindicator or Out Here) and that there was a terrible vibe between the band members on that particular track

Michael Stuart covers FC for us (the band couldn't get it together due to lack of rehearsals, and the first 2-3 tracks (Daily Planet, etc) cut for the album didn't have them playing at all (Stuart notes that while 7&7 Is took 40 takes to get thru, they got nowhere near as many tries to get the material right

Arranger Angel is talked to (hes very kind about Arthur, and seems honored to have been involved in the album). Echols is probably the star of the film, as hes never really been talked to before and a lot of what he has to say about the background of the group (him and Arthur's parents knowing one another in Memphis, him and Arthur playing a great deal in bands during weekends while still in high school - at fraternities parties and the like, his own feeling in holding a guitar at the school for the first time (which seems to have sparked Arthur, who saw him so)

I understand that the filmmakers were limited in using video footage of the band, so theres no full footage of the band on Where the action is, American Bandstand (this was even a problem in the excellent Beatles Anthology, which had talkovers over Hey Jude on the Frost show

That quibble aside (it would be nice to see Love footage from the 60s on dvd, at least the excellent Your Mind And We film, which originally surfaced on a Love Story (2cd) promo of Rhino's

Indesribably essential if you're a Love/Arthur Lee (RIP)/Bryan Maclean (RIP)/Kenny Forssi/Bobby Beausoleil/John Fleckenstein/Don Conka (RIP) and Baby Lemonade fan!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informitive and entertaining, July 18, 2008

By 

Edward Burt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love Story (DVD)

This is a heaven sent for Love fans like myself since their is very little information available on this group. The story of Arthur Lee and Love is one of the biggest enigmas in rock and roll. Despite being one of the biggest bands in LA during the 60's, despite being instrumental in helping The Doors launch their career, and despite making an album 'Forever Changes' that consistenly is listed among rock and roll's greatest records, they never really made it big. Love Story presents a bunch of theories from many of the people involved with the group, including Arthur Lee and surviving members of the group. This documentary also explains the orgins, the dynamics, and makeup of Arthur Lee & his group. I wish they delved a bit more in his life after 'Forever Changes', but you can't be too pickey. The film makers do a excellent job is telling the story, so even people not aware of Love will be entertained. Good show all around.