DVD Review: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream

There are few rock musicians whose careers have had the vitality of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. There are even fewer that have withstood the pitfalls of life in the music business for more than 30 years and stayed on top of it.

In Peter Bogdanovich's new film Runnin' Down a Dream, the story of Petty and the Heartbreakers is laid out over four hours, from very humble beginnings in Gainesville, Florida, in the mid-1970s, to superstardom by the early 1980s, to changing the way the record industry does business, to battles with drugs and alcohol, becoming contemporaries with their heroes, to being one of the last bands standing that still remain true to the mission they set out for themselves all those years ago.

Runnin' Down a Dream is both exhaustive and exhilarating. Unlike many rock and roll stories, much of the drama and changes in Petty's keeps coming up to the present day. Which is not to suggest they ever had it easy - battles with the record company started as soon as the band was hitting it big, and twice Petty held his ground and changed the way business was done. The first time, he was seeking independence for himself and his songwriting, not unlike Bruce Springsteen's fabled battles with his former manager, and the second time, he held ground on increases in record prices. Petty wouldn't allow his label to institute an industry-wide price increase on the back of his band's latest highly anticipated release, a battle he won in 1981.

Petty and his bandmates - most notably Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch - are forthcoming in this documentary. While the purpose of the film is to celebrate their achievements, it's no puff piece; all the warts and scars are here in plain view, such as Petty and Lynch's disagreements which led to Lynch being fired from the band, the hurt feelings and bitterness over Petty's solo work, and various members' use of drugs, including the death of longtime bassist Howie Epstein in 2003.

The film contains interviews with music industry pros, such as Rick Rubin and Jimmy Iovine (two of the most important players in the business, both of whom produced records for Petty), and other Hall of Fame artists, like George Harrison, Roger McGuinn, Stevie Nicks and Jackson Browne. The band's growth is seen in their collaborations with legends like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Each time the band goes through a period of working with their heroes, you can see them come out different. The film tracks them going from one phase to the next, throughout their career, and the evolution is evident.

One of the most amazing surprises in the movie is the amount of previously unseen footage, very often in the most unlikely of places. The interrogation room in a German airport where the band is questioned on their first tour of Europe? It's here. In the studio with Stevie Nicks recording "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"? Yup. Recording with Johnny Cash? Check. Fly-on-the-wall stuff at the famed sessions for the Traveling Wilburys? You got it. There's even footage from a meeting with a pissed-off Petty, McGuinn and the A&R man from his record label, who is trying to get them to record a song Petty thinks is a stinker.

The picture that is presented is one of a band - not a group of musicians who have simply played together for a long time, but rather a unified band. There are several times as their story unfolds that you realize the band wouldn't have made it but for Petty's foresight, Campbell's skill, or Tench's tenacity. Credit also goes to original bassist Ron Blair, who (perhaps unknowingly) prevents the band's undoing after Epstein's death by rejoining after 20 years out of the music business. Throughout it all, the music is a constant, as is the band's dedication to it.

Strangely, the distribution for this film is at odds with its subject matter. How is it that the man who held the line against corporate greed when it wanted to increase his album prices by $1 can have the DVD of this film sold exclusively at Best Buy? That action is plainly inconsistent with what we come away from the film knowing about Petty.

That aside, the film itself is one of the great rock and roll documentaries. It may be in excess of four hours, but you'll find yourself not wanting it to end, just to see Petty and his bandmates triumph over adversity and play those great songs from their legendary songbook.

More info: Mudcrutch Farm

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Official Web Site

Interview With Peter Bogdonavich About The Film

DVD Review: Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip - The Complete Series

In the opening segment of the pilot for Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Judd Hirsch plays a producer of a late-night live comedy sketch show who is arguing with a standards and practices guy (a censor) over a skit; he's ordered to pull a sketch that the censor says might be offensive to some people. Enraged, he bursts on to the set when the show goes live and gives a Network-style diatribe over what's wrong with television in general. "This show used to be cutting edge social and political satire!" he says, and the point is made: Studio 60, from the outset, was to be just that, and wanted to be smart, relevant television - the kind we rarely see anymore.

And it was.

For 22 episodes, Studio 60 was among the very best things on television. No, it wasn't always funny - it wasn't supposed to be. But audience expectations are vital to how the show is perceived, and when viewers saw a show about a late-night comedy sketch show that wasn't a comedy, the fix was in. Nevermind that NBC never gave the show its due: It was burdened with a crappy timeslot from the beginning (Mondays at 10pm, opposite Monday Night Football) and followed a show that - while popular - didn't appeal to the same audience (Heroes). By the time NBC pulled the series and brought it back to burn off the rest of its episodes on Thursdays, the decision had already been made to kill it.

As a result, the smartest show on TV since The West Wing went away, and signaled the rest of the studios that smart TV - that is, TV that doesn't flinch from controversial topics and which keeps social and political satire alive - wasn't viable. Aaron Sorkin, who created both Studio 60 and The West Wing, fought the good battle.

Like NBC's 30 Rock (see below), Studio 60 was an outstanding show that just happened to be about a late-night comedy program. But where 30 Rock brings the audience that satire in 21 minutes of nonstop comedy brillance, Studio 60 presented a complex set of characters through which viewers could see their own culture. Any show about TV producers that can present meaningful commentary about the war in Iraq, the religious right's culture wars and other timely topics is one that can turn any issue on its head and make it fresh.

In what some will see as another sign of the show's doomed-from-the-start bad luck, it starred Matthew Perry, who was excellent in his role as the show's executive producer and head writer, but who brought with him the baggage of Friends. That this show didn't get renewed is sure to bring up the "Friends curse," which is the same as the "Seinfeld curse," referring to stars of former sitcoms starting new projects that fail. But anyone who saw half an episode would know that Perry leaves Chandler in the dust. The guy is capable of so much more than Friends (which was a good sitcom) would ever allow.

The rest of the cast was also great. Bradley Whitford, just off of The West Wing, played Perry's partner and co-executive producer. He also brought a dimension to his character that wasn't present in Josh Lyman, the White House aide he played for seven years. Amanda Peet, Steven Weber, D.L. Hughley, Timothy Busfield and Nathan Corddry all had moments to shine in the series, but it was Sarah Paulson, playing Perry's ex-girlfriend and the show's lone Christian player, who really jumped off the screen and stole every scene she was in. Her character and Perry's fought constantly, were on opposite sides of most issues and had a history of hurt between them, but the actors made their relationship credible and honest.

Back in the 1970s, when his show Star Trek was flourishing in syndication, creator Gene Roddenberry was asked about the competition from another show that was seen as similiar, Space: 1999. Rather than play to the horse race that the press loves to generate, Roddenberry said he thought the fans were lucky, because they got to watch two good shows, if they wanted.

Sadly, fans of 30 Rock and Studio 60 no longer have that option.

More info: Studio 60 Titles and Airdates Guide

Studio 60 Doesn't Take Comedy Seriously

Welcome To Studio 60

DVD Review: 30 Rock - Season One

Much has been made of the fact that NBC launched two series last year that dealt with fictitious Saturday Night Live-type programs, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, and Tina Fey's 30 Rock. Both were excellent programs that deserved to survive. Sorkin's didn't, but fortunately for audiences, Fey's did and went on to win the Emmy for Best Comedy Series last month.

The first season of 30 Rock recalls the great HBO series The Larry Sanders Show in the way it presents a behind-the-scenes view of a variety program, as well as NBC's sitcom classic Seinfeld in the way it presents a variety of eccentric characters who may work in television but act like normal folks going to work everyday. You'd never know Fey's Liz Lemon was running a live comedy show every week by the way she dresses, the food she eats, the movies she enjoys and the men she dates. Fey is hilariously uncomfortable in her own skin, and her conflict between the creative and corporate aspects of her life are at the heart of the show.

Alec Baldwin, long an SNL host, won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the corporate executive that has taken a liking to Lemon and her staff but who also wants to mold the show with his corporate vision, which includes GE ovens. Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy is exactly the type to showcase how corporations have seeped into every surface of our lives.

Tracy Morgan, another SNL vet who is memorable even from small parts, such as in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, gives his character of Tracy Jordan his raging best. Jordan is certifiably crazy, but Lemon has had him forced onto her show by Jack, in an effort to boost ratings. In one episode, Lemon's white guilt brings her to ask Jordan if he can read. Seeing an opportunity to cut out of work early every day to get "tutoring," Jordan asserts "I can't read, Liz Lemon!" In another episode, he invites his co-workers to a party on board a yacht -- one he doesn't own.

The rest of the cast is outstanding as well. Jane Krakowski's Jenna is vain and clueless. Her attempt to convince her boss she's only 29, and her ploys to get what she wants by using her "sexuality," make for a number of embarrassing - and very funny - moments. Jack McBrayer's Kenneth is an innocent farmboy working in the big city, and through him, we see everyone else's faults. Baldwin's Jack becomes fascinated by Kenneth, someone so pure that it upsets the balance at the top of the corporate ladder.

There have been plenty of great guest-stars as well, adding to the show's fun. (The second season opener featured Jerry Seinfeld.) Isabella Rossellini did a couple of great guest spots in season one, much better (and more substantial) than her appearance on Friends all those years ago.

The show's writing has been as consistent and as funny as the best sitcoms - and you could hardly expect less from Fey, one of SNL's best writers in its 30-year history. It's also a very smart show - listen to the references that are thrown in (Jack tells Liz he's busy one night, attending "Ann Coulter's 60th birthday party").

The show's longevity is not assured however, and this second year will establish it or not. But as the Season One DVD collection demonstrates, this is a show as good as anything that has come before it, and which deserves to finish out in style - say, maybe seven or eight years from now.

More info: 30 Rock: Official Network Site

Variety: 30 Rock Review

30 Rock Lives, and Tina Fey Laughs