When Mick Jagger contacted Brett Morgen about making a
fiftieth anniversary documentary on The Rolling Stones, the filmmaker
rightfully believed Mick wanted a series not unlike the great Beatles Anthology. Not so. Mick was very
emphatic about wanting a lean, under-two hours documentary. Why the hip shaker
wanted to place such a ridiculous constriction on such a bountiful history is
anyone’s guess. This left Morgen with the task of condensing five decades of
dirty work and eighty hours of audio interviews down to 110 minutes. I don’t
envy the dude, yet as a hardcore Stones freak I can’t be anything but
disappointed with Crossfire Hurricane.
No use crying over the miniscule running time. It’s how
Morgen chose to fill it that I find inadequate. He condenses the band’s story
down to a handful of overly familiar tales: Mick and Keith’s first songwriting
efforts, the Redlands bust, Brian Jones’s death, Altamont, Keith’s heroin
issues, the band’s self-imposed exile from England, Mick Taylor’s departure and
Ronnie Wood’s arrival, etc. What salvages the narration is having the Stones do
it themselves, and it’s particularly enlightening hearing Mick and Keith talk
about being scared during the Altamont insanity and Mick discuss Brian (his
shocked exclamation of “fuck” after Morgen informs him that Brian died just two
weeks after being fired from the band is an unexpectedly poignant moment).
The main problem of Crossfire
Hurricane is that the guys’ chatter plays out over footage that makes
“Satisfaction” seem like a long-lost outtake. Way too much of these 110 minutes
are wasted with extended clips from readily available films such as Charlie Is My Darling, The T.A.M.I. Show, The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, One Plus One, Gimme Shelter,
and Let’s Spend the Night Together. Eagle Rock Entertainment somewhat makes up for this by supplementing its
DVD with choice unreleased live and TV footage from 1964 and 1965. However,
these bonus features just shine further light on how the film could have
comprised more exotic footage. Some of Morgen’s other choices are kind of
questionable too, such as overlaying orgasm noises over Keith’s statement that
being in the band was like an orgy or dropping pig oinks over Mick’s discussion
of the hedonistic seventies. Still, it was smart on the director’s part to
spend the vast majority of the film’s running time in the sixties (the eighties
and beyond barely sneak in before the closing credits).
So, if a UFO lands on Earth tomorrow, and the aliens slither
down the ramp and ask, “What are these Rolling Stones?” the president would not
be out of order to show them Crossfire
Hurricane. However, to proclaim that this doc “is and will remain the
definitive story of the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band,” as the liner
notes of this DVD does, is ludicrous. At least, I hope it is, because I’m gonna
hold out for a truly all-encompassing, anthology-style documentary on The
Rolling Stones until I croak.
