Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

We ordered this recently and settled in to watch it last night, and were disappointed with the final product. The black and white was fabulous, the songs are timeless, the musical talent was wall-to-wall but the audio production was too obviously disconnected from the video. It felt like the editors had put the movie together with the sound turned off, and then tried (and failed) to sneak a synchronized audio layer back on top. There were other holes in the audio track, where instruments or voices were submerged but that might be our bad; we'll have to watch it again with theatre sound to get to the bottom of that. And only 64 minutes? With not one syllable of audience rapport? Coulda been miles better. And there was too much of Bruce Springsteen, God bless 'im, playing like he'd steal the show given half the chance.

Perfect pitch in a range exceeding 3 octaves...delivery as flawless as an angel landing softly on a 'pavlova'...timeless graceful melodies sounding fresh as newly fallen snow, though written long ago, and performed countless times over a 25 - 30 year career prior to this magic night of nights...the joy of of the 'young' musicians sharing the stage with the 'Master' is a rare privilege to behold....Roy Kelton Orbison had the purest, most expressive tone of any singer of his generation...this film captures the essence of his genius better than any music 'video' this viewer has ever seen...the all star 'support' is anchored by James Burton, lead guitar phenom, to my mind playing on a level others can only dream of, including mega star Bruce 'the boss' Springsteen, who is frequently shown, delight radiating from his face....tasteful backup harmonies by KD Lang, Bonnie Raitt, and Jennifer Warnes blending perfectly with Roy's soaring notes that only Roy can hit...I sat in rapture for the entire 64 minutes, dreading the moment when the performance would end...a perfect 10, don't miss this one, music lovers of the 50's and 60's, it is VERy special film-making

Local PBS station is showing this one tonight, and well worth seeing. This show was filmed for HBO (not MTV/VH1)in September 1988. They showed it in October, and sadly on December 6, 1988 Roy passed away. Roy was an absolutely incredible singer,who was often forgotten by the time the 1970's rolled around. He started getting noticed again in the 80's. David Lynch included Roy's hit "In Dreams" in his classic film Blue Velvet. People began to remember how great Roy was. In May 1987 he appeared on Saturday Night Live, and was the first singer to sing three songs! Most musical guests only get to sing two on SNL. His career was taking off again by 1988, his joint effort with Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and George Harrison as the Traveling Wilburys was really heating up when Roy died.If you like real rock and roll music, do not miss Black & White Nights.

I own this on DVD, but to this day whenever it shows up on PBS (roughly every 24 hours, where I live, lol!), I am compelled to watch it start to finish.There is a phenomenal array of musicians on stage, all there to play with one of the greatest talents in musical history. It's quite possible that a lot of people think Elvis and Chuck Berry when they think of the start of popular rock and roll music, but Orbison's writing, musicianship (and that voice!) tower over the others of that era. The presence of all the other names doesn't make one think of a 'star studded' VH1/MTV made-for-TV extravaganza, but more a group of able musicians both paying homage and participating in a real musical performance, in concert with each other, not taking star turns even as they step up to play a solo or sing with 'the master'.All the players are fantastic and are thrilled to be there, but Springsteen in particular looks like a little-league 11-year old getting to play ball with Mantle, Ruth, Robinson and Aaron. His awe and exuberance at being there mirrors what anyone has to feel watching this show.(and a P.S. - no audio problems on my disk or on the televised version.)