Family Band: The Cowsills Story (2011)

Way back in the day, for my friends and me, it was all about rebellion against the mainstream, and the Cowsills seemed about as mainstream as you could get. You could just look at them and be pretty sure that while we were dropping acid and blowing our minds with Abbey Road, they were downing Hostess Twinkies and hanging out with their mom and little sister. Well, it turns out that they were a bunch of very talented and fun people who accomplished a whole lot more than my wasted friends and I ever did. You get to know them and like them in this movie, and hear all about the extreme ups and downs of their lives. It's great, I'm glad they seem to have hung together as a family, although a number of them have died. I think Susan is my favorite. How could you not cheer for a precocious little girl with seven big brothers. One thing that's kind of interesting to me is that they all appear to be very self-confident and outgoing people, both now and as kids, despite their tumultuous upbringing. It makes me ponder the "nature vs nurture" thing, especially since nurture was lacking in that household. Anyway, a really good movie, I enjoyed it and have done a complete 180 regarding my opinion of the Cowsills... they are fantastic!

It had to be tough pulling all 7 of the surviving (at the start) Cowsills together and having it weave a coherent narrative, but in part, this documentary does that. For those of us who remember their meteoric rise, perfect harmonies and sudden dramatic disappearance, this documentary answered a lot of questions. Contrary to Cousin Brucie's theory that the music industry changed - they still had a huge number of fans who were left wondering what had happened to them. As musically talented as they were and still are, they could have easily gone with any changes the musical landscape had to throw at them and not only survived but thrived.I wish it had gone a little deeper in parts - their mother's part in all this was glossed over and she got off way too lightly, but maybe it was a time issue. I mean, she kicks her only daughter out of the house for surviving an attempted rape by her father? Stood around smoking while the father beat all of his sons bloody? Who does that? The woman had the best escape route in history (the marketable talent of her kids, which was impressive), and she didn't take it to protect them from the brutality? We never understand why.So, for what it did cover, I found this to be a well produced and very interesting documentary. Answered a lot of questions. Just not all.

Hailing from Newport, Rhode Island, the Cowsills, harmonious teen and pre-teen siblings in the 1960s, are driven into show business by sheer talent and a love of music--but also by their domineering father, who pushed open doors. Bud Cowsill, an ex-Navy recruiter with no love in his heart (though with an apparent ear for commercial pop music, for which he isn't really given his due here), is the mysterious question-mark roaming through this documentary. An alcoholic, and perhaps bipolar and sexually abusive towards relatives and his own daughter, Bud pulled the strings and got his kids (and his wife, Barbara, who joined the group in time for their first album) on television and on the charts. He is painted as a walking powder keg, explosive and reckless and irrational...but what would have happened to the group without his input? The aging kids, now embittered, splintered and scattered, have nothing good to say about their sonuvabitch father, whom they blame for destroying the band. It's an extremely one-sided film, with the surviving principals leaving no room for discussion, though the well-researched clips and music snippets are enjoyable, as is the reunion concert at the finale. **1/2 from ****

Wonderful documentary by Louise Palanker that chronicles the oft posed but rarely answered question: What happened to The Cowsills? The music cleverly used throughout the film tells us a lot without trying to but what is especially refreshing is that the film allows the story to unfold naturally (and this is so important to this kind of story) in the family's own words. I never get the feeling that the filmmaker intrudes upon the story in any way. The music is a large asset to the film because it was truly refreshing and creative. Interesting insert by Shirley Jones who played the mother in the televised version aka The Partridge Family. I often wondered why TV executives did not just let The Cowsills play themselves on a televised version. This would have been a successful reality TV show had the Cowsills happened today. Brought to mind another greatly talented family group, The Jackson Five with a similar issue of paternal bullying and worse. At times shockingly revealing, the film shows what being a family is truly about, dysfunction, tragedy and all. Don't miss it.