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Music CD - The Search for Robert Johnson
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Music CD: The Search for Robert Johnson
List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $5.70
Your Save: $ 4.28 ( 43% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony
Starring: John Hammond, Son House, Keith Richards (II), Wink Clark, Honeyboy Edwards
Directed By: Chris Hunt
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780738900797
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 0738900796
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2000-10-31
Running Time: 72
Studio: Sony
Theatrical Release Date: 2000-10-31
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The search for Robert Johnson
Comment: This video was great, if you are a fan of blues music and of history and especially of Robert Johnson who "sold his soul to the devil" you will love it. It is well worth the money.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good Information
Comment: This documentary would have been much better, and shorter without the film maker inserting himself into the film with his singing and playing guitar. I like Robert Johnson, but the documentary maker is just not talented in those fields.
Customer Rating:
Summary: All you need to know about Robert Johnson
Comment: Great coverage of the man and his music. Enjoy it very much.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A wonderful DVD bringing together many people who at least tangentially, knew Robert Johnson.
Comment: This DVD offers a wealth of information about the life of Robert Johnson. We meet a girlfriend of Robert Johnson, who claims she knows where his actual burial ground is, and another girlfriend who had a song written about her by Robert (and who hears it for the first time on the DVD). A man is interviewed who claims to be Robert Johnson's son, along with a birth certificate showing that in fact this may be the case. Johnny Shines talks about how they would play the game of "cutting heads" in Helena, with Robert stealing away the audience every time. We get the insight that the person who poisoned Robert Johnson's drink admitted as such to one interviewer, after first presenting an alibi for a question which was never asked. We are also presented with three possible grave sites of Robert Johnson, though none of them can proven to be incontrovertible as such. In short, there is a lot of good information on this DVD about the enigmatic bluesman known as Robert Johnson (and pseudonyms in various other places). This DVD is clearly a window into the past which will slowly disappear as the years go on......Hammond does us all a great service by documenting Robert Johnson's life and that of his contemporaries.
The one complaint I would have is that at times Hammond (an excellent blues singer in his own right) himself is singing RJ's songs, and at the bottom of the screen it will have the name of Robert Johnson along with the songs title. This may leave those with little knowledge of the blues to conclude it is actually Robert Johnson who is singing, when in fact it is not. Also, there are montages throughout the film when they will be talking about Robert Johnson while at the same time showing pictures of blacks in bars and juke joints, without saying that in fact Robert Johnson is not in the photograph, as there are only two known photographs of him, and each one of these show him alone in the picture. To the novice blues fan, they may not know this and think they are actually seeing Robert Johnson, and I think this fact should have been made clear in the film.
Even with the above provisos, this was an excellent documentary on Robert Johnson's life....Hammond clearly has a deep love for the blues and the early musicians of the delta.
**** 1/2 stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An eccentric and informative film
Comment: What I loved most about this film was how it gave a window into the culture that produced Robert Johnson. When a woman who'd been a girlfriend of Robert Johnson's was asked whether she thought that Robert Johnson had really sold his soul to the devil, she replied "that's what people say." But then she said, (and I paraphrase her), "Why are you asking me? You're a musician, you know how these things work." When John Hammond then said, "I didn't sell my soul." Her reply was an unbelieving "Um-hmm!" Also, when the story was told of how the man who'd poisoned Robert Johnson finally admitted to the deed, his response was "I never thought there'd be all this trouble by killing that man." As though killing most men didn't cause much trouble at all! Anyway, the production is nice, having been shown on the BBC. It's not flashy Hollywood special effects, but for those interested in classic blues its a great trip through the Mississippi Delta.
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