Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music
Time Out says
For supposedly disposable music, pop of the last 50 years has drawn a parade of documentarists. Neville himself has been down Tin Pan Alley before with a film on songwriters Leiber and Stoller, and 1619 Broadway - the Brill Building - loomed large in Allison Anders' loose Carole King fictionalisation Grace of My Heart, with John Turturro in Phil Spector-esque wig. Perhaps by way of acknowledging the precedent, Turturro narrates this straightforward memento of the young '60s song factory workers - King and Goffin, Weill and Mann, Jeff Barry, Neil Sedaka - who knocked out, with remarkable fecundity, pop hits for the likes of The Shirelles, The Drifters, Bobby Vee and The Righteous Brothers. It swings into the story at a fair lick, zigzagging through the decade's cultural conditions, the shifting fortunes and the relationships at work, while present-day talking heads vouch for the ingenuousness of the songs' feelings. It's informative, comprehensive - and just a little too dry.
Details
Release details
Duration:
90 mins
Cast and crew
Director:
Morgan Neville
Screenwriter:
Morgan Neville
Cast:
Carole King
Jerry Goffin
Barry Mann
Cynthia Weill
Jeff Barry
Ellie Greenwich
Burt Bacharach
Hal David
Jerry Leiber
Mike Stoller
Neil Sedaka
Shadow Morton
John Turturro
Jerry Goffin
Barry Mann
Cynthia Weill
Jeff Barry
Ellie Greenwich
Burt Bacharach
Hal David
Jerry Leiber
Mike Stoller
Neil Sedaka
Shadow Morton
John Turturro