by Mark Demetrius
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Lynn Denise, Charlie Musselwhite, Mike Stoller
Intro:
This is a wonderful doco, and emphatically recommended.
Willie Mae (“Big Mama”) Thornton had one of the greatest blues voices of the twentieth century. If you’ve ever heard her thunderous original version of Lieber and Stoller’s ‘Hound Dog’, you’ll understand what Mike Stoller means when he says here that Elvis sang it like he was talking to a dog, but she sang it like she was talking to a man. And, for that matter, why Janis Joplin — who covered Thornton’s own composition ‘Ball And Chain’ — saw herself as a rock star version of her.
Big Mama (1926-1984) was born in Alabama, and started her musical career as a child, travelling around that state as part of a variety show. There’s a stack of evocative footage in this documentary, particularly the black-and-white stuff from the Thirties and Forties. And it also boasts fascinating and entertaining interviewees/raconteurs, not least among them being the veteran harp player Charlie Musselwhite. Throw in all the important musicians who are mentioned, incidentally or otherwise, and the film is a virtual roll call of American cultural history.
Although Big Mama was a very tough customer indeed, her life story is in part the all-too-familiar one of a black artist — and of course a black woman — being ripped off and exploited. It has its share of tragedy and violence too, notably her presence at the self-inflicted (but accidental) death of the R&B singer Johnny Ace.
Times changed radically and for the better for some blues players in the 1960s, when white audiences started to ‘discover’ them, initially in Europe. The turning point for her was the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival, and it’s at this point that the film bursts into colour — like the Sixties themselves. But her fortunes eventually took a downturn, and there were serious drinking and health problems along the way.
Big Mama Thornton wasn’t just a phenomenal singer – she was also a harp player and drummer, and had a sharp line in stage patter. Although she was widely believed to be gay, she never actually came out — but her disdain for conforming to gender stereotypes was groundbreaking.
This is a wonderful doco, and emphatically recommended.
