Truly Dreadful Film

Pretty Good

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

As a really lousy piano player I am in complete awe of musicians like these who can do almost anything with their instrument.Riveting subject matter but the structure of this documentary is a complete mess. Part of the problem is that the distance in time from when the film was made and the events being chronicled. It would have taken a lot more money and effort to really do this subject justice.Another problem is that none of the musicians they interviewed were articulate speakers and had little to say but this could be blamed on the filmmaker not asking the right questions. The one exception perhaps was his father, Tommy Tedesco who had a few funny and revealing bits in the film.

This is a very nice documentary made by Denny Tedesco, to honor the memory of his father, Tommy Tedesco who died in 1997 at the age of 67. Tommy was arguably the best studio guitarist back in the 1950s and 1960s and was part of a rag-tag group of studio musicians in Los Angeles that became affectionately known as "the wrecking crew." It was a name older coat-and-tie musicians bestowed on them, as in they were wrecking the established image of studio musicians.This documentary is especially poignant for a guy like me, who is also a musician and who grew up on the music of the 1960s. You see, the wrecking crew played the backup music in studio recordings of many of the biggest hit records of the late 1950s and the 1960s. When we listened to a hit record back then we never gave much thought to where the backup music came from. I suppose we just figured that the singer or the group had some musicians and we were hearing them play.That absolutely was NOT the way it worked. The 20 or 30 or so guys and gals that collectively were known as the wrecking crew were hired to play for recording sessions for all the big groups and most of the record labels. They were real musicians, they may only have a chord sheet or a simple line to work with and they would often invent musical lines that they thought would work well with the song. Seeing this documentary also makes it clear why groups often lip synced their records when they made live appearances or were on a TV show. Their traveling band could not play what was recorded in the studio, if they had tried to do it live it just wouldn't sound very good.Excellent film, I really admire those musicians and will think of them every time I now listen to music recorded in the 1960s.

For those of us born in the 40s and 50s, grew up in the 60s and 70s, the background of our lives was a soundtrack these guys created. Every tune you ever hummed, sang or tapped your foot to, these guys played it. Did you like the Monkeys? The Association? The Beach Boys? Glen Campbell? Name your favorite 50s or early 60s group. It was the Wrecking Crew. If you love music, if you play music, if you want to play music...this film is a must see for the history alone. But it is also well filmed and edited. The first person accounts of the musicians are priceless. The stories of the value of hard work and riding the wave while it lasts. Yeah, it's good. Watch it, learn it, love it.

If you are an aficionado of music between the 50s and late 80s early 90s you will find this a fascinating documentary. It is the story of studio musicians who did most of the playing for the recordings of some of the great groups of this time period. The film is lovingly put together by Denny Tedesco and includes a particular focus on Tommy Tedesco who is his father and who recently died after having participated in interviews for this film with many other of these great musicians. You probably did not know that just about all the music of Beach Boys was not recorded by them but was played for the records by the musicians affectionately self named " The Wrecking Crew " The film also features Carol Bass who is obviously a great guitar player and is only really known by people in the music business as these musicians did not get any recognition on the albums they recorded. They were financially well paid during this time and have no regrets for their anonymity. There are film clips from many recording sessions including one with Frank Sinatra. Apparently potential distributors have been skeptical that the producer would be able to get the rights to include all the great music that is in this film but he did it as people recognized the historic value of this documentary. The soundtrack is unbelievable and is a concert in to itself and will make a great CD.FilmRap.net