Chuck Berry

[billy007]

from www.billboard.com:

Seminal Chuck Berry Film Heading To DVD

January 26, 2006, 10:50 AM ET

Thomas K. Arnold, The Hollywood Reporter
Image Entertainment has secured DVD rights to "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll," the seminal Chuck Berry movie masterminded by Keith Richards. The company will on June 27 release two-disc and four-disc editions with never-before-seen footage, documentaries, interviews and other bonus materials.

The 1987 film, which captures a St. Louis concert commemorating Berry's 60th birthday the year before, features such stars as Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt and Julian Lennon.

It also incorporates interviews with an occasionally testy Berry and his family members, the late Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley.

Also featured is footage of a performance by Berry and his backup band of the 1950s at the long-gone Cosmopolitan Club in East St. Louis, Ill. The film was directed by Taylor Hackford, who most recently produced and directed the Oscar-winning biopic "Ray."


The four-disc set will contain more than seven hours of new material. Highlights, according to Hackford, include "intimate jam sessions" with Clapton, Cray, James, Richards, Berry and Berry's late keyboardist sidekick Johnnie Johnson, extended interviews with some of rock's founding fathers and a conversation between Berry and the Band's Robbie Robertson in which Berry talks about his prison experiences for the first time.

[SactoFan]

Finally! Seeing Chuck go off on Keith Richards is priceless! This is an excellent documentary for anyone who hasn't seen it...

[Elwood P.]

Finally! Seeing Chuck go off on Keith Richards is priceless! This is an excellent documentary for anyone who hasn't seen it...

That the one where Chuck tells him "if you're not gonna play it right, don't play it"?

[lal5150]

i cant wait for the dvd . counting down the days

[DreamIsOver]

That's awesome. I saw this movie on cable a couple months ago, hadn't seen it since the late eighties. Great movie. Sign me up for the 4 disc set.

[jd5150]

The extra DVD footage contains the 1990's peephole footage of the women's bathroom at his restaurant ;-)

[billy007]

from www.billboard.com:

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
As tipped here in January, Image Entertainment is prepping a June 27 DVD release for "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll," the Chuck Berry movie masterminded by the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards. Originally released in 1987, the film chronicles Berry's 60th birthday concert the previous year in St. Louis.

"Hail! Hail!" will be issued as a two-disc "Special Edition" and a four-disc "Ultimate Edition." Both include 54 minutes of previously unreleased Berry rehearsals, encompassing performances with Richards, Eric Clapton, Johnnie Johnson and Etta James. The one-hour documentary "The Reluctant Movie Star" is also included on both versions, detailing the film's genesis.

The four-disc set is bolstered with "Witness to History," an hour-plus roundtable with Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley discussing their shared experiences for the first time. Other featurettes include "The Burnt Scrapbook," with Berry and the Band's Robbie Robertson sifting through Berry's personal memorabilia, and "Chuckisms," a roundup of classic Berry sayings.


The final disc of the "Ultimate Edition" is "Witness to History 2," featuring director Taylor Hackford's three-and-a-half hour collection of interviews rock icons such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Sam Phillips, Ahmet Ertegun and Willie Dixon.

That "Witness to History" sounds cool

[SuckaInA3Piece]

Very cool. I always watch "Hail!" when it's on tv, which has been a lot lately on Comcast.

We give EVH credit for being one of the best rhythm players of all time, but I don't think they get any better than Chuck Berry. He'd go from rhythm to lead at the blink of an eye, all the while singing and dancin on stage.

[Elwood P.]

Good article on Chuck's upcoming 90th birthday. I was lucky enough to see Chuck back in '80. Towards the end of the show, a few people came onstage from the crowd and were dancing to the music. Security tried to remove them. Chuck cried out, "Let my people dance." Security let them.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/n...fare/92023374/

[cdnangel]

Good article on Chuck's upcoming 90th birthday. I was lucky enough to see Chuck back in '80. Towards the end of the show, a few people came onstage from the crowd and were dancing to the music. Security tried to remove them. Chuck cried out, "Let my people dance." Security let them.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/n...fare/92023374/

I was SUPPOSED to see him in '80 but he got to the gig 3 hours late...

[BlindtotheWorld]

Happy Birthday Chuck! I saw him in 2001. He was in his seventies but still had good stature and some pep in his step.

[Jesus H Christ]

[Elwood P.]

Happy 90th Chuck! Long may you rock.



Btw, that's Steve Jordan on drums from the Blues Brothers Band. Among others.

[Elwood P.]

With Bruce. 85 or so?

[RRvh1]

New Chuck Berry feature in this month's GW magazine, with Bob Weir on the cover...