Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must See Film for fans of Lucy or Desi, June 6, 2000
By FAR, the best film about America's famous couple of the 1950's TV. If you are a fan of Lucille Ball and/or Desi Arnaz, you owe it to yourself to see this wonderful and warm film. The program is a documentary hosted by Lucie Arnaz. It is not a movie featuring people portraying the Lucy and Desi. It features some extraordinary home video of Lucy, Desi and family - at the pool, in the yard! It is 10 times better then any other "Lost Lucy" or other Lucy program I have seen. It focuses of the lives of two people that made America laugh - all the while struggling in their personal lives. I don't think you will find a better program about this incredible couple. New generations to come will no doubt watch "I Love Lucy" reruns and laugh! This is the story of the people behind those great laughs.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fine Documentary, June 30, 2002
I have read many books and watched several videos/documentaries on Lucille Ball in an effort to better understand her life and further celebrate her comedic genius, and I've got to say that this was the best purchase of them all. "Lucy and Desi" is a fine, objective look at a troubled, but supremely talented and well-loved pair. While most other tapes I watched had the same pictures and clips, this one was full of things I had never seen or heard before. There are many, many interviews, and to anyone who has seriously studied Ball and Arnaz's lives, many names will be familiar. The tidbits they provide are alternately funny and heartbreaking. That brings me to the one reservation I have regarding this production. For anyone who thinks Lucy and Desi were just like their alter egos, the Ricardos, and would like to hang on to that myth, don't watch this film. Though it is a loving look, it doesn't shirk from revealing the dark areas of their personalities as well. Personally, I think this objective approach is important and should be commended, but when I first began to study Lucy, I was greatly shocked by the pain and unhappiness in her life, and it temporarily altered my unbridled enjoyment of "I Love Lucy". Just a warning. Still, any Lucy lover who is prepared for a few hard truths should thoroughly enjoy this fascinating, well-made treat.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything told that could be told, October 26, 2000
This documentary which digs deep into the private lives of legendary comic husband-and-wife team Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is certainly remarkable. The information has been thoroughly researched, home movies are shown dating back to the early forties and late fifties, and even love letters written by the two to each other are shown. Also interwoven are comprehensive looks at their professional careers. Also included are interviews with relatives, children (the documentary is hosted by daughter Lucie Arnaz), and Hollywood friends and associates. However, there is a great deal of bittersweet drama in their stories, especially during the beginning of the lives of both. Ball's father died when she was three, she did not get on with her stepfather, and her family endured legal hardships for several years when her grandfather was sued for accidentally allowing minors to shoot a gun. Arnaz's family fled Cuba and watched their house burn down during the Cuban Revolution of 1933. Ball and Arnaz meet in Hollywood and wed, but there is always an underlying suggestion of philandering on Arnaz's part. In the early fifties, when the "I Love Lucy" show began, and Ball had her two children, both Ball and Arnaz became consumed by work. Arnaz would spend time with the children, but also drink. Ball is portrayed as a constant workaholic. It is during this part of the show that there is a lot of uneasy candor on the part of Ms. Arnaz and interviewees about Ball's difficulty being a mother, and Ball comes off sounding very unsentimental and hard. Even more difficult to swallow is the candor involving the eventual breakup of the two told by Ms. Arnaz and her brother, Desi Jr. The documentary ends on a very bittersweet note, with several interviewees recounting that both thought it terrible that things worked out as they did, but there is a little complacency for the viewer, because the last home movie shown in the film is Ball and Arnaz in a pool in the early eighties, playing with their first grandchild, Simon. However, eerily dramatic scoring, some literally frightening stories and photographs, and the difficult unravelling of the story may make some "Lucy" fans uneasy. Be warned.
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