The Who: The Kids Are Alright (1979) on Netflix
PG19791h 41mDocumentaryMusic
Concert footage, promotional clips and interviews follow the Who from 1964 to 1978. Encounters with variety and talk show hosts run through the film, along with Keith Moon's antics.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb8.0/104,173 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
An American fan had put together a photo book from the group's 1971 tour, and in 1975 he asked Pete Townshend about gathering their film clips as a historical record. Townshend first said no, then the band's manager won his cooperation, and a preview of television clips won the whole group over. Encounters with variety and talk show hosts, Townshend's exchanges with fans and critics, and Moon's antics hold the performances together. For more than two years the collector hunted footage in Britain and the United States, and also in Germany, Sweden, France, Norway, Finland and Australia, sometimes rescuing reels from the trash. Gaps in the archive led to new filming: a rehearsal of old songs at Shepperton Studios in 1977, five days at Keith Moon's Malibu home covering his 31st birthday, and a 1978 Shepperton concert.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Who: The Kids Are Alright (1979)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Stein spent more than two years gathering film, television and fan footage from Britain, the United States, Sweden, Germany, France, Australia, Norway and Finland, in some cases rescuing footage from the trash, because many of the Who's best performances had been lost, erased or discarded.
- The film was driven by American fan Jeff Stein, who had no previous experience in filmmaking but convinced the Who to back the project and served as its director; he had produced a book of photographs from the band's 1971 tour at just 17.
SPOILER
Keith Moon died on 7 September 1978 while the film's sound was being edited; all of the band except Pete Townshend had seen a rough cut a week before, and after his death they were determined not to change anything.- A one-off Who show at the Kilburn State Theatre in December 1977, staged for the film, was considered too rough to use, so a second show in front of an invited audience was staged at Shepperton Studios on 25 May 1978.
- John Entwistle supervised the sound editing: he replaced a missing bass track on a 1965 "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", Keith Moon overdubbed drums onto silent 8mm footage, and Entwistle fought for and won redoing the Who's "dire" Woodstock backing vocals.
- Stein wanted to show the Who recording "Who Are You" in the studio even though the song was already finished, and planned to have them mime it, but they played live at Ramport Studios, London, on 9 May 1978, with only Entwistle's bass, the acoustic solo, backing vocals and synthesizer on playback.
- When Stein and his editor Ed Rothkowitz previewed a 17-minute compilation of the Who's US television clips to the band and their wives, Townshend was on the floor banging his head, Moon was hysterical, and Daltrey's wife laughed so hard she knocked over the coffee table.
