American: The Bill Hicks Story (2010)

It seems like the other reviewers are giving this documentary high marks because it is about a comedian they love. That is a mistake. This is a poor documentary. This documentary consists of friends of Bill's talking about him while we look at old pictures scrolling across the screen. This is occasionally interrupted by 5-10 seconds of actual video of Bill or one of his cohorts.To me, this fails as a documentary, it is purely a fan piece. If you love Bill Hicks now, then this will make you love him more. If you are not a fan, then this will make you avoid his work as much as possible. From what I know, Bill was a very thoughtful and talented person, it's too bad someone as thoughtful as him didn't make the film about him.

I am an enormous Bill Hicks fan. Obsessively so. I think I have all the bootlegged concerts on my computer, and a DVD of rariety camcorder shows as well as enough official CDs and DVDs that I have basically all his material available in one form or another. I also have about three books - two biographies and a book of transcripts and scripts and other writings. So that's the background I took into this documentary.First of all, it's a beautiful film to look at. There's the usual audio history going on in the background, but what the directors have done is taken still photographs and created pseudo-animated sequences to support the narrative. It's odd at first, but very quickly you stop even noticing that the still faces aren't moving in their animated environment. Very clever.Secondly, where has all this new footage come from? There are several camcorder recordings which must go back as far as the early 1980s that I have never seen before. There's some bits (about his father) which I'd never heard before which were used to accompany the section on his early shows. I don't think they are quite as old as that (he looks a bit older than 16) but it's not far off. Some of these early clips also show later material in an earlier form - like the fantasy about the grotesque death of woman that broke his heart seeing him on the Tonight Show as she breathed her last.The best thing about the film, however, is they way everything is brought back to the comedy. With enough reading, you'd already know about the drug stories and the depths of his alcohol abuse and his tragic early death from pancreatic cancer. While all of these are important parts of the story, no-one dwells on the more sensational details, but instead uses them in partnership with recordings to show how they motivated what he was doing on stage. There's clips to show him drinking excessively on stage, clips about his growing dislike of governments (including from Hicks and Kevin Booth's trip to Waco in 1993), clips contrasting his rapturous reception in the UK (the huge rock and roll entrance of the Revelations show at the Dominion theatre) adjacent to the small audiences ("staring blankly back at me like a dog that had been shown a card trick") of a backwater comedy club in the US South. I like this because it feels like the best use of the documentary medium, and gives fresh insight into a topic I (and many other fans) already know well. I mean, I can read and re-read an autobiography of his life but only in a film can I really see the effect on his work. Very much recommended, for disciples and neophytes alike.

About three or four years ago,I picked up an album with a very eye- catching cover (AEnima) by an alternative rock/metal band called Tool.When I opened the case,I instantly noticed a picture of a slightly wild-looking doctor with the heading- "Bill Hicks: Another dead hero."Whilst playing the fantastic album,I could hear some very interesting samples of his material being used in the album.So,I ended up looking around for any CDs/DVDs of his stand-up act.Though I was able to find a good amount of stunning audio/video of Hicks,I always felt a little bit disappointed that no one had made a film about him.Happily,after having watched this great documentary a few times,I feel that it was defiantly well worth the wait.The outline of the documentary:The film chronologically looks at the life and career of American comedian Bill Hicks.It is shown how Hicks started out as being a comedian inspired by Woody Allens performance in Casino Royal!.To,completely transforming his stand-up into some of the most personal performances that a comedian has done in the last twenty years.A over-view of Hicks stand-up act and life is shown with an almost unprecedented amount of never seen before footage of Bills earliest shows,to a huge number of photos which are "animated to illustrate particular moments in Bill Hicks life. View on the film:As the film started,I felt very nervous that the only footage of Bill that would be used in the film, would be of his latter performances which are always used for footage when Hicks is ever mentioned on TV.Smartly,directors Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas (who both also produced the film and also did the "animation" footage with Graham Smith) decide to mainly focus on the very little seen early days of Hicks stand-up.This is done by cleverly using never-seen before photos from the family library,and impressively animating them to make them look very "bold".And for the video tapes, that are well-over thirty years old,the picture and audio is in shockingly excellent quality.The only slight disappointment that I had with this fantastic film,was that there is no interview or mention of Bill Hicks manager (who he was also engaged to.) Final view on the film:A stunningly made film with unforgettable images and videos of one of the greatest comedians of the last twenty years.

I approached this film half expecting a cash-in, as Bill Hicks' legacy seems to have become lucrative for his relatives & each new release is often more brazen than the last (e.g. 2003's Shock & Awe).Happily, this is not the case & the film seems to be both a genuine & sincere homage to the man himself, but also a real attempt to bring something fresh & unseen to fan-boys (such as myself).The plot is fairly simple - it starts off with his early years & ends with his death from cancer. In the process, they place each of the DVD's in context & show lots of interview clips of fellow comedians, friends & family.So far, so predictable.The great thing about this film though is that they have included many, many pieces of unseen footage & have strived to put him in the context of fellow comedians (all of whom are excellent - e.g. Jimmy Pineapple)The most original contribution that the film maker's have made is to take all the 100's of photos of Bill & turned them into action-stills. A lot of the material by the man is the same, but he always had a gift of being photogenic & hence this factor symbolises the director's efforts to bring something new to the table.By no means is this film perfect & I have heard some people say 'It's not that good', but not from anyone who's actually seen it.One thing I can pick out is that there is nothing about his relationships or Girlfriends that were so formative to much of his comedy (e.g. his Fiancé Colleen McGarr).There is also the fact that the film ends with the 'It's Just a Ride' scene, which is fast becoming cliché (e.g. Zeitgeist).(Oh, and there is a bit at the end of the film which grates a little, where the screen says something to the effect of 'The Hicks family continue to live in ... & are all remarkably intelligent'. Although they may be, this seems a little bit of an affectation towards them...)Besides this, there was too much to like about this film. It was really interesting to find out how Mr Hicks used to take mushrooms on a ranch with friends & about his final cancer-ridden days.I hope that, when the DVD is finally released, it will include full extras of his 'Rant in E-minor'/ 'Arizona Bay' routines but, for now, I really hope that people will flock to buy this DVD. If the evidence of George W Bush is anything to go by, America (& the World) could really do with knowing more about Bill Hicks.Here's hoping they move onto George Carlin next...