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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Oh, the nostalgia..., 4 September 2005
9/10
Author: artnathan-1 from United States

I saw this movie for the first time tonight. It has a special meaning to me as Big Brother (with Janis) played at my Senior Prom in May, 1967. For better or worse, I wound up meeting her again at a concert they did that summer at Lake Tahoe (old Kings Beach Bowl). While there is undoubtedly much more film of her that has never been released, this movie does a decent job of showcasing a woman whose talent still remains unsurpassed. When I had a shot of Southern Comfort with her at 10:30 in the morning the day after the concert, I was too naive to see the seeds of destruction that led to her premature death in 1970. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, there is an excellent display devoted to her life and her music, with some revealing letters sent home to Port Arthur, Texas while in San Francisco. On the whole I very much enjoyed the movie and recommend it to others who lived through this era or want to know more about it.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A great collection from a gutsy blues singer., 12 March 1999
10/10
Author: Jean-Paul Montfort (jeanpaulmontfort@hotmail.com) from McAllen, TX

This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It documents Janis Joplin with her 3 bands: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Kosmic Blues Band, and the Full Tilt Boogie Band. It is a collection of her best songs, Ball & Chain (1969), Piece of My Heart (1969), and Maybe (1969, also). I personally think that the Kosmic Blues Band is the best, especially their rendition of "Summertime". This is a must-see for fans of Pearl.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
The only piece of Janis we have left, 28 July 1999
7/10
Author: Casey-52 from DVD Drive-In

Well, this isn't the best of Janis ever captured on film, but it is the lone document of the best female singer ever! I just wish they had more Big Brother clips. There are many other TV shows, concerts, etc. that were filmed, so this is incomplete, but it does highlight some of the best: Monterey Pop Festival, the best performance I think Janis ever gave; Woodstock, but she isn't in it very much (there was so much more filmed!); Cheap Thrills recording sessions, and The Dick Cavett Show. But seriously, Laura Joplin needs to release a complete documentary, with all performances uncut and unedited! A lot of the concert footage is severely edited, either cut in half or the last fraction of a song is heard, which is disappointing from such a talent as Janis. Most of the Frankfurt concert (with "Maybe", "Summertime", "Ball and Chain", "Piece of My Heart") is horrible and only an interview from the excellent Swedish special is present. For more live Janis, try COMIN' HOME, BALL AND CHAIN, and a few compilation videos have stuff from the Swedish special. Try this movie out if you're a budding Janis fan, but I think you'll be sorely disappointed when you discover how much more perfect performances could have gone into this one.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Kozmic blues again, 19 July 1999
7/10
Author: lib-4 from Florida

Having seen Joplin live in concert in the 60's it was good to go back and see footage of her singing, and the interviews. also it was great to hear her sing again- no one could wail like "the rose"-- parts of the film seem dated- but of course this was 30 years ago--- ah nostalgia!

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Janis, 2 June 2006
10/10
Author: (foreverjanis@gmail.com)

this is "must have" for all the people out-there that are loving Janis.It's a really touching film,Janis is just playing herself.Beautiful,magnificent and above.Unfortunately,Janis's story hasn't yet really been said properly and it is my feeling that she deserve much more than she got by now,at least for the passion that she put in her music.Watch her in this film,see with what intensity she can perform and you'll understand.Janis is among the few that live for whatever she is doing and that thing is shown in every aspect of this film.Watch her especially in live performances,you never saw anything like that before! A film on which i could die watching it.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Superior rockumentary, 12 September 2005
7/10
Author: John Seal from Oakland CA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Though I am not a fan of the music of Janis Joplin, I found this to be a refreshing look at the brief life and times of the Texas-born wailer. Completely lacking in artifice, Joplin comes across as the archetypal high school outcast, a frumpy artistic type who found liberation living the life of a San Francisco hippy and singing the blues. Joplin comes across as extremely likable and is bluntly honest about her shortcomings as a singer: she pays tribute to Aretha Franklin, acknowledging her own lack of subtlety which, she hoped wistfully, might come in time. That time, of course, never came, and we are left with the extremely erratic results. Joplin is best remembered for her decent if clumsy takes on Ball and Chain and Piece of My Heart, and those tracks are represented here, but the versions of Tell Mama, Cry Baby, and Maybe are frankly embarrassing. Joplin also struggles with Gershwin's Summertime, but the results there are better, partly because the song is so mighty it defies all attempts to lessen its power, and partly because the Kozmic Blues Band wisely chose to arrange it in a raga rock style which still sounds quite fresh today. The film ends with a wistful photo montage set to the tune of Me and Bobby McGee, the posthumous 1971 hit that reunited Janis with the country music of her childhood. Regardless of how you rate Joplin's music, I defy anyone to watch this film and not come away deeply impressed by the humor, intelligence, and warmth of its subject.

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