Movies based on musicians

What is your favorite movie based on a musician or band? I thought The Doors was pretty good and Walk the Line as well.

"Bird" by Clint Eastwood - based on the life of Charlie Parker.

Grand Theft Parsons is based on Gram Parsons and the plot to steal his body and scatter his ashes at Joshua Tree!

Stoned which is based on Brian Jones and his death.

I just remembered another one.

'Round Midnight (1985) - film combines elements of the life stories of Bud Powell & Lester Young into a very effective narrative about the life of an aging jazz musician in the late 50's (starring Dexter Gordon, who led a very similar life to those he was portraying, he just lived longer).

I would say The Doors directed by Oliver Stone not very factual but entertaining, 'Bird' directed by Clint Eastwood, great and factual account of the great Charlie Parker.


I have not seen Ray or Walk the Line yet, I hated 'Sid and Nancy' which has not been mentioned yet.

I loved "Sid & Nancy!"

I also dug "The Doors" (though as has been mentioned, it's full of Oliver Stone's trademark revisionist history) and VH1's "Warning: Parental Advisory" movie about the PMRC hysteria, starring Dee Snider as himself and Mariel Hemingway as Tipper Gore. That was just about the only "Vh1 Original Movie" that was worth a damn.

I forgot about the Def Leppard movie made for VH1 that was so bad, it is unwatchable.

manny wrote:

I have not seen Ray or Walk the Line yet, I hated 'Sid and Nancy' which has not been mentioned yet.

Ray is a fantastic film.

manny wrote:

I forgot about the Def Leppard movie made for VH1 that was so bad, it is unwatchable.

Yea, it's pretty bad. Fortunately I like bad movies. Though I'm amazed that VH1 bothered to release that Def Leppard movie on DVD, but didn't bother doing the same with the far superior "Warning: Parental Advisory."

Two I really like are La Bamba and The Buddy Holly Story.

jstate wrote:

The Buddy Holly Story.

I saw that in the theater when it came out, I was 8 at the time. After the movie was over I made my Mother take me to the record store so I could buy a Best Of Buddy Holly LP.

That's the type of reaction you want people to have after seeing a film like this.

jstate wrote:

Two I really like are La Bamba and The Buddy Holly Story.

Was that the one with Gary Busey in it?

manny wrote:

jstate wrote:

Two I really like are La Bamba and The Buddy Holly Story.

Was that the one with Gary Busey in it?

Yes

detuned wrote:

manny wrote:

jstate wrote:

Two I really like are La Bamba and The Buddy Holly Story.

Was that the one with Gary Busey in it?

Yes

I have to rent that, I saw that when I was a kid and barely remember it, as an adult do you still think the film holds up, detuned?

manny wrote:

detuned wrote:

manny wrote:

jstate wrote:

Two I really like are La Bamba and The Buddy Holly Story.

Was that the one with Gary Busey in it?

Yes

I have to rent that, I saw that when I was a kid and barely remember it, as an adult do you still think the film holds up, detuned?

I last saw it about 10 years ago, but yes, I think it holds up quite well.

Great Balls of Fire. My 2 favorite things. Jerry Lee and Winona Ryder. Ah...bliss!

SpectreFate wrote:

Great Balls of Fire. My 2 favorite things. Jerry Lee and Winona Ryder. Ah...bliss!

Love that movie! "EN-G-A-LAND, can KISS MY ASS!"

Ray was one of my favorites.
Didn't care for Walk the Line. Love Johnny, but the movie was not good.
The Doors was good, but how factual it was is debatable. Plus, it seemed to be more "The Jim Morrison Story" than the Doors.
Never saw Great Balls of Fire from start to finish. I liked the parts I saw, just never got around to watching the whole thing.
Grand Theft Parsons was ok.
Stoned was surprisingly very good.
The best movie based on musicians is, of course, This Is Spinal Tap. It goes to 11

SpectreFate wrote:

Great Balls of Fire. My 2 favorite things. Jerry Lee and Winona Ryder. Ah...bliss!

Great flick right there! I also liked The Doors movie.

I also saw the hirrible Def Leppard TV movie recently. It sucked just as much as the Meatloaf movie they made before it!

The Def Lep movie sucked bad....
I liked Sid & Nancy
Walk the line was good
Spinal tap rules (LOL!)

I thought 'Walk The Line' was a good film. Other than that, nothing jumps to mind.

Smindas wrote:

I thought 'Walk The Line' was a good film. Other than that, nothing jumps to mind.

The problem I had with Walk the Line is that it seemed to come about too close on the heels of Ray. Movie execs saw it's success and just took some bullet points from Ray and applied 'em to the Man in Black.

Childhood trajedy to overcome. Check
Trouble with women. Check
Drug addiction. Check
Success despite all the hardships. Check
Redemption and acceptance. Check
Actual person recently deceased. Check

I also didn't care for Joaquin (sp?) Phoenix as Cash. Not for nothing, but even as a young man, Johnny Cash was not really a handsome man. He always had a craggley face and big ears. Joaquin was too pretty. But I get that. Hollywood doesn't want ugly trolls in the lead. Maybe if Walk the Line had come out before Ray, I would have a different opinion, but as it stands, Ray was the better of the 2 films by far.

"Rock Star" was loosely based on Halford and Priest but was rejected by them as a movie. I thought it was decent...

Grand Theft Parsons was boring as hell to me. The Def Leppard movie was not too good because the actors looked nothing like the actual charactors and there was a cheapness to the overall look of the film.

Buddy Holly, La Bamba and Great Balls of Fire are classics to me.

Selena was interesting but i couldn't stand the music.