The Little Richard Story (Klein, 1980): Tate Modern, 7pm
I have to confess to knowing little about this, another film in the excellent William Klein season at the Tate, but this comes highly recommended by Little White Lies film critic David Jenkins and that's good enough for me.
Here is the Tate introduction: Klein goes on the hunt for Little Richard, the legendary ‘Architect of
Rock and Roll’, who quit show business in 1957 at the height of his fame
to become an evangelist. Richard was then lured back to secular music
in the 1960s and 70s, but the excesses of stardom led him to a second
retreat from the stage. For years he struggled to reconcile his
religious calling with his flamboyant rock-and-roll persona, and at the
time of filming, Klein finds Little Richard selling ‘Black Heritage
Bibles’ for a Nashville couple. Sensing that his image is being
exploited, Richard quits his sales position and deserts the film. But
Klein turns this into an opportunity to reconstruct Richard’s
personality through the words of his family and friends in his native
Macon, Georgia, and to celebrate his status as a cultural icon by
filming scores of Little Richard impersonators and adoring fans
in Hollywood.
Chicago Reader review:
'Made for West German television in 1980, William Klein's very
entertaining and energetic documentary portrait of the rock-and-roll
idol was shot mainly in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard's hometown, at a
time when the singer was a “media evangelist” for a company selling
expensive commemorative Bibles. Midway through production, Little
Richard had a financial dispute with the Bible company and announced
that he'd received a message from God telling him to walk out on the
film. He promptly disappeared. Ordinarily, this would have left the film
and filmmaker high and dry. But a deft use of archival footage of
Little Richard in his prime, combined with Klein's usual fascination
with media fanfare —including a hilarious procession of black and white
Little Richard impersonators—gives the film more than enough to sink its
teeth into. And because this is William Klein, the teeth are sharp and
the bite is sure.' Jonathan Rosenbaum
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