ViewGuide

Created Mar 06, 2014 10:16PM PST • Edited Jan 05, 2019 09:01AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Charlie is My Darling is the dangerous younger brother to A Hard Day’s Night. Beatles ‘64. Stones ‘65.

   Mercy, Mercy was more than a Rolling Stones song in 1965. It was what they wanted from their ravenous fans, a besotted mob of hormonally charged teens. Beatlemania had nothing on the “girl reaction” Mick, Keith, Brian, Bill & Charlie provoked – primal behavior stoked in the vaginas of early Sixties Irish lasses.

   Brian Jones was the band’s nominal leader back then, a cross between Jagger and Richards. Indeed the nearby video excerpt from Charlie is My Darling “establishes that the distinctive guitar riff to This Will Be The Last Time was played by Brian Jones while the chords and guitar solo were played by Keith Richards,” per Wikipedia. Of course, Brian had to die for Mick and Keith to take over, but that’s another story.

   Charlie Watts was someone’s darling, apparently. Then as now he’s the best commentator on the band, wryly penetrating. Nobody sees Mick, Keith and Brian like Charlie, whomever’s Darling he might be.

   This documentary of the Stones live in ‘65 is 63 minutes of gotta see stuff.

   • They’re profoundly rhythmic, singing travelers, actual minstrels.
   • Shows at the ABC Theatre in Belfast, N.I., devolved into orgiastic disorder. Very Rock and Roll.
   • Mick on crowd theory: “Everybody tries to get to the center.” Guy’s a genius.
   • Keith is always playing – guitar or piano – often working out songs, alone or with Mick.
   • The Glimmer Twins working out how they’re going to play Tell Me from their debut album. “You gotta tell me … you’re coming back to me!”
   • All My Loving plays at one point. Mick sings “Hold Me!” into the camera: Jagger does McCartney.
   • Satisfaction when it was new, in a theatre. That song was kids finally punching back at advertising: cigarettes, cologne, bleach – a MadMen reaction. Plus there was Keith’s riff, the greatest ever.

   In the end they’re seen fast asleep on the flight back to London, heads on each other’s shoulders.

   Five Rolling Stones returning home.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Live backstage Stones circa ’64. Rockstar Erectus rampaging through Ireland.

   Close Encounters

   • Mick said that when “today’s kids of 21 turn 75, things will change.” He got that right. Fifty years later, things have changed, if not always for the better.
   • Keith does Elvis. Then Mick does Elvis.
   • Brian Jones, he of the perfect bowl-head haircut
   • Bill Wyman, who always wanted to be in a band and had one goal for his future – to be in a band
   • Charlie my Darling, who doubts his own competence.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Charlie is My Darling was finished in 1966 but not fully released until 2012. It’s a straight-up documentary, unlike A Hard Day’s Night’s, which was scripted. Whiskey to wine, as it were.

    Not just any documentary, but the very first Rolling Stones’ documentary. MusicRadar has the story of its 21st Century resurrection.

    Glyn Johns got the recording credit on the tour, even if he doesn’t appear in the film’s credits. Bummer

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.5

    Mick says his lyrics have surprisingly little sex in them. Surprisingly little.

    He also says he plays a part on stage, that of an egomaniac, figures he maybe plays it with twice the ego he carries in real life. Which makes him a raving egomaniac, a fact that’s still crystal clear half a century later.

17. Sex Innocent 1.3

18. Violence Gentle 1.4

19. Rudeness Salty 1.9

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    Rockstar was a new species in human interaction in 1965, at least outside of where Elvis and the Beatles had tread. The five Rolling Stones basically doubled the world’s population of globally popular rockstars. This hour long documentary caught them in the wilds of Ireland on their second tour of the country. Thousands of Irish Eyes were waiting.

    Think of it as A Hard Day’s Irish Night of disaffected Beatlemania.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0