‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ – and Jeff Beck! – invade The Belcourt
D.A. Pennebaker is an American documentary film pioneer and the great chronicler of the counterculture movements in the U.S. in the 1960s. Pennebaker’s thoughtful lensing of Monterey Pop (1968), Jimi Plays Monterey (1986), Don’t Look Back (1967) and Eat the Document (1972) helped to define the legendary careers of generational music talents like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and The Who. And Primary (1960) — Pennebaker’s groundbreaking film about John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey’s 1960 Wisconsin Democratic Primary election race — featured a cornucopia of candid coverage of the candidates. The film helped to define our modern era of political news coverage and impacted the development of American documentary films.
While many of Pennebaker’s Boomer subjects turned their backs on rebellious youthful idealism over the course of the 1970s, the director kept his eye on youth culture and the weird and wonderful things that always seem to grow in the backwaters off the mainstream. At the dawn of the Reagan and Thatcher eras, Pennebaker released his strangest, funniest and most transgressive music film. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars captures David Bowie and his band, playing the eponymous alien rock act, in their final concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, in 1973. The film underwent a torturous post-production before debuting at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1979 and opening in wide release in 1983, more than a decade after the original concert.
Pennebaker has both confirmed and denied that – spoiler alert – he knew the Hammersmith Odeon show would be the last time that Bowie performed his Ziggy Stardust character. The “final performance” from a classic period of a rock icon means that Pennebaker’s film makes for evergreen viewing even as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. And the latest version of the film features a 4K restoration and a 5.1. theatrical mix. I don’t usually get so technical when talking about repertory re-releases, but it was Pennebaker’s struggles with sound and vision that delayed the film’s original debut. Pennebaker sought-out Bowie because he’d been hired by RCA to make a short promotional film. Once Pennebaker caught Bowie’s act he realized he had a feature on his hands. In his scramble to make what amounted to a last-minute concert film, Pennebaker made due: improvising microphone placements around the venue and onstage; making the most of the theater’s lighting while encouraging the audience to take as much flash photography as they could. The results were predictably rough, but Pennebaker’s constant closeup framing of Ziggy (Bowie) singing in the spotlight is iconic. And the fan footage and interviews Pennebaker gathered for filler give us some of the movie’s most memorable scenes, and inspired a new generation of counterculture films from Penelope Spheeris’s Decline Trilogy (1981-1998) to Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986).
This new version of Ziggy’s cinematic swan song also includes a turn from the late great British guitarist, Jeff Beck. Beck joins Ziggy for a “The Jean Genie” medley with The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” along with a rollicking take on “Round and Round.” Beck appeared in a version of the film that aired on ABC-TV in 1974, but he ultimately asked for his segment to be cut from the final version of the movie. It’s said that Jeff didn’t think he looked good — he looks great. Or that he wasn’t satisfied with his performance — it’s predictably gravity-defying. Or that he didn’t want to be associated with glam rock — he’s obviously happy to be playing with his friends. We can’t know what Beck was thinking after his passing in January, but watching Beck and Ziggy and Mick Ronson wailing the interplanetary blues can remind you of how much rock and roll has changed our world and the Martian’s, too.
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars screens as part of the Belcourt Theatre’s Music City Monday series on July 10
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.