Customer Reviews

Steve Earle: Just an American Boy

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

 

 

I'm a great fan of Steve Earle, the outspoken activist/musician and the subject of this documentary. I had read a recent biography of him, so I was somewhat familiar with his life, music, and politics, and was looking forward to learning more when I put this DVD in.
JUST AN AMERICAN BOY contains some terrific musical performances, but sadly it leaves Earle himself unknowable. The 2002 tour, the film's primary setting, occurred during the firestom over "John Walker's Blues", a song on Earle's JERSUALEM album widely misunderstood as being pro-Taliban. There are a lot of issues to discuss here, yet Earle is heard to say little on the subject in the film, and we just get some recycled news clips for context. Footage from a court-ordered concert at a prison comes late and out of chronological order in the film, and little is said about Earle's overcoming some whopping addictions earlier in his life. In one bizarre scene, Earlr recounts a story of being arrested while carrying a gun which accidentally discharges to a woman who laughs uproariously and inappropriately. Also, I would have liked more on Earle's musical roots, there's only a brief mention of the iconoclastic singer-writers who nurtured Earle, like Townes Van Zandt.
Overall, a disappointing film about a fascinating man.

When I first read the review of this documentary I thought,"Wow! I have to buy this". WHAT A MISTAKE!!!
This is by far the worst piece of crap I've ever purchased. The "film-making" was absolutely horrible...Shaky, amateurish edits done with what looks like a cheap, home video camera. It literally looks like someones 12 year old kid put this together. But even if you can stomach the amateurish production, the bad story telling cannot be overlooked. The film-makers seemed to lose focus after the first 10 minutes of so....Very little meaningful insight into the man behind the music. All in all...a horrible document of a great musical talent.

I love Steve Earle, and was really interested in a backstage look at his politics and tour. Unfortunately, this DVD doesn't feel cohesive or complete. And -- although I've heard Steve Earle is quite a character -- I thought the film was fairly dull. Some great footage though, especialy the bluegrass show.

... and there was such great potential here but none of it was realized. Poor sound, poor camera work and way to much of Steve just jabbering on. Where there was finally some music as often as not there was taking over it too. I watched it once and sold it. If you want a lesson in Steve's politics, this is for you. If you want music, forget it.

This movie is hilariously bad. For as many cinematographers and editors that were involved with this film both are exceptionally awful. The picture painted of Earle himself is contradictory. There are lots of great tidbits with him throughout the film. I wish there was a highlight reel of just that footage. Most of the film is shaky bad angles of concerts from 2002. The rest of the film is a mish-mash of verete' footage. I simply must mention the overuse of bad visual fx. It's almost like the editors found the effects tab in Final Cut Pro and used all the ones they could at the most inappropriate times. From random freeze frames to random blue vertical stripes to semi psychedelic tracers this movie has it all. This filmmaker's theory is that the fx were used to hide footage that would otherwise be unusable.
Moreover the technical problems of this film are overshadowed by the poor jumbled storytelling. Even with Wikipedia at my side while watching this film, it still has no narrative hook or structure that is decipherable.
Earle proves to be a fascinating character, amateur filmmaking aside and many of his songs are strong enough to keep the film bumbling along to it's welcomed abrupt anticlimactic finish.
Recommend for hardcore Steve Earle fans only. Although, this movie is so bad you might end up liking Steve less at the film's close. If I were Steve Earle I'd be embarrassed and upset to have participated in a film this bad was made about myself.

I dig steve earle so of course i think it is wonderful. He speaks his peace and i can admire that,he can be my hero.....

I decided to purchase this DVD, in spite of the bad reviews. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. In spite of some bad editing, I truly enjoyed the performances, especially the bluegrass ones and the radio station appearances.
I am a brand new Steve Earle fan, and I found I did learn quite a bit about the man behind the songs. It would have been great to have some more in depth interviews, and also to find out a bit more about Steve's early years, but hopefully, in the future, another documentary will be made. I am glad I didn't listen to the bad reviews, and picked this one up. It certainly was a lot better than I expected!

Let me preface this by saying I love Steve Earle's music but this really is an appalling DVD.
No doubt like many others, I was looking forward to this DVD, hearing Steve speak about making this album and it's subsequent reception from the public, the press and the politicians here in the US.
What we get is a jumbled collection of live footage (which at times hints at how great a Steve Earle concert can be but generally falls short, especially with the Doctor Who-like effects) and some video that looked like it was shot with a Sony Handycam. I have no reason to suspect otherwise. The film has no thread and completely fails to draw you in. Poor sound, poor footage and poor editing will leave you wondering why you wasted two hours watching this - its not 2 hours long but you keep on rewinding because you can't hear what was said. This DVD is the musical equivalent of someone being given a fine piece of steak and deciding to make a sloppy Joe out of it.