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MOVIE: Standing In The Shadows Of Motown
Starring The Funk Brothers
Directed by Paul Justman
Book Written by Allan "Dr. Licks" Slutsky
Elliot Scott Productions
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
Standing In The Shadows of Motown is the story of the house band at Motown Records in the 60's, a loose group of musicians known as The Funk Brothers. Or not known. That was the problem for 40 years.
A history of the Motown will usually mention Berry Gordy, the owner of the label, Holland, Dozier and Holland, who wrote most of the songs and of course all the vocalists, like Smokey, Diana, Stevie, Marvin and scores of others. What they don't mention is that the same musicians, the Funk Brothers, played on all these hits, and that the real unifying element in the fabled Motown Sound was this group of gentlemen from Detroit, molding their jazz, blues and gospel chops into perhaps the finest body of pop music ever created. These accomplished studio musicians played on dozens and dozens of hits, more than the Beatles, the Stones, Elvis and the Beach Boys combined, but their names were never on any albums. Their lack of recognition for their monumental body of work verges on the criminal. Standing In The Shadows Of Motown can't correct decades of neglect, but it sure takes a giant step toward bringing them notoriety they deserve.
Very few photographs of the Motown sessions from that time still exist but director Paul Justman made do with the materials at hand, often zooming into the same shots over and over as it picks out another Funk Brother to concentrate on. There's also a lot of old TV footage, performances and interviews, plus he had some short dramatizations created to tell certain facets of their story. The surviving brothers are also taken back to Hitsville's Studio A, The Snake Pit, where all their best work happened. The room draws out marvelous stories from them. In many ways the best part of the movie is all the new footage of the surviving Brothers playing their standards in concert with the likes of Joan Osborne, Bootsy Collins, Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, Meshell Ndegeocello and Montel Jordan. The Funk Brothers prove they still have what it takes.
The movie soft pedals a bit on some points, not recognizing all the different horn players that played with the Funk Brothers over the years (Tom Scott covers the horn in the performance sections) and the only nod to the songwriting is when one of the Hollands appears in an old interview. There is a short vignette from Stevie Wonder appearing at Eddie Van Dyke's funeral, Martha Reeves talks some also, but otherwise all the better known names, the marquee vocalists, are nowhere to be found here. Oh well, it's good the Funk Brothers are finally getting their own share of the recognition without them. And just in time; since the movie was shot, pianist Johnny Griffith, who contributed quite a lot of stories to the film, has passed away.
Standing In The Shadows Of Motown stands up to anything you saw in Ken Burns Jazz; it's fascinating. This movie will take the Best Documentary Oscar without a doubt. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll dance, you'll sing along, but mostly you'll be finally introduced to the musical giants that you've always loved and yet never knew existed.
The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the movie? Absolutely.
Would I go to see it again? Yes, this is one to see over and over.
© 2002 - Rusty Pipes