Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got

1985

Biography / Documentary / Music

Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 80%
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 159 159

oscar-winner artie shaw

Director

Brigitte Berman Photo
Brigitte Berman

Top cast

Evelyn Keyes Photo
Evelyn Keyes as Self
Billie Holiday Photo
Billie Holiday as Self
Mel Tormé Photo
Mel Tormé as Self
Buddy Rich Photo
Buddy Rich as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.04 GB
960*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 3
1.92 GB
1440*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Quinoa1984 8 / 10

The life and times and troubles of an artist (with some success here and there)

The refreshing aspect of this documentary about the innovative Clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw is how the director doesn't try to steer him in any direction in particular or to make him look or sound like he has finesse. That isn't Artie Shaw, certainly at this later stage of his life, and director Brigitte Berman, armed with a cornucopia of archival images and footage from the period and throughout his career, shows him as craggy and opinionated as he was then.In truth, a lot of what he says makes sense, even when he sounds to be a little insulting (ie the highlight or one of them at least is his episode circa 1939 where he called teens who did the Jitterbug "morons" - he had a pretty good reason in context, but it would have been hard to communicate that in a headline). There is some heady and impressive points of history as well to take in, like during the second World War when Shaw and his band played for one of the great warships, but that isn't the main draw: what hooks us in is that this is about the needs and desires of an artist versus commercial expectations, and how that can lead to constant anxiety.I do wonder if there were points Berman did steer the conversation or answers and we didn't see it so much, but I doubt it. The presentation via the narration is a little dry, and it may cover some parts I personally wanted to know more about (ie his marriage to Lana Turner seems to be hand-waved away), but that is my only main knock against it (that and perhaps those bits where he just sits listening to his own music doesn't add as much as Berman thinks).This is a fascinating capital-C Character of the world of music and the 20th century American imagination; despite all of his existential troubles, Shaw's candid admissions and how often his ornery opinions mesh with a plain spoken sense of his life and career and collaborators (and even his psychotherapist) is involving and you want to keep hearing him talk.
Reviewed by skramer151 10 / 10

Excellent documentary

I was in the new 1984 band when this documentary was being made. I played piano. As I heard it, Artie felt that the film should be put in movie theaters instead of cable TV. Cinemax I believe. So he sued. At the urging of a booking agency Artie decided to put his music back out to the public. He was 75 at the time. We played various venues with a new front man, Dick Johnson playing all of Artie's clarinet parts. I sat next to Artie when the documentary was screened for the band in Toronto. I noticed he was tearing up when Evelyn Keyes was being interviewed in the film. I handed him a tissue. It was a special moment. Steve Kramer.
Reviewed by grafspee 10 / 10

Brilliant documentary on the greatest jazz clarinetist of the 20th Century.

I must admit my surprise at being outdone by my fellow Aussie Peter Blight on the first review of this film having recorded it on Pay TV two years ago. I have been a bit slack on my follow up on IMDb.I totally agree with Peter's comments, I couldn't have expressed my own remarks better. What a great review on his part, deservedly getting top marks accordingly.I have a special link to Artie Shaw through my late father, who was a professional Clarinet and Saxophone Player of the 1930 - 40's' and personally met Artie himself, when he toured with his U.S. Navy Band in the Pacific theater during World War 2. He arrived in Brisbane in mid October 1943, to entertain U.S. troops at Camp Moorooka Primary School a recreational facility for these G.I.'s at that timeArtie gave my father one of his I.D. Cards in U.S. Navy uniform as a pass to attend this concert, which my father did, and I still have that card in my possession to this day.Artie Shaw was a genius of the clarinet with a unique style of playing not equaled by his other competitors like Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey and Woody Hermann who I would never criticize,- they were entitled to their interpretations of jazz and also played great during the swing band era.Artie's story is one of a self confessed, difficult compulsive perfectionist musician who felt he could not achieve his ultimate dream with his beloved clarinet and gave the music business away in 1954 when he said he could not do better. He married eight times,including actresses Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Evelyn Keyes - quite understandably, a very striking good looking man. He then turned to writing, including his autobiography," The Trouble with Cinderella", well worth reading, and also his great passion for fishing.I had the great privilege of acquiring some of his fine clothing from his Estate (which fits me perfectly) plus other great souvenirs.Vale Artie - you were the greatest, and departed this world aged 94 leaving us a legacy of some of the finest jazz clarinet music of all time along with a great succession of superb Swing Bands and magnificent players- Billy Butterfield, Roy Eldridge, "Hot Lips" Page and Buddy Rich and singers like Billie Holliday, Helen Forrest,and Mel. Torme and his Meltones. I agree that a DVD release on the documentary of this great artist is an absolute necessity.
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