Paul McCartney - Wingspan - An Intimate Portrait
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Actor: Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, Geoff Britton, Jimmy McCulloch, Paul McCartneyDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), PCM Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-11-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Capitol
DVD Reviews of Paul McCartney - Wingspan - An Intimate Portrait
DVD Review: Severely lacking perspective
Summary: 3 Stars
While I'm not exactly the biggest fan of most of Paul's solo music (my favorite solo Beatle is George), this supposed documentary could have had the potential to change my opinion of his solo career for the better. An in-depth analysis and critique of the songs, the various members of Wings besides Paul and Linda, and the process of making the albums could have made me look a bit more kindly on his music and not be so inclined to dismiss it as cheesy lightweight meaningless pop, as many of his critics do. That opportunity was wasted and squandered here. This so-called documentary is little more than the story of Paul, Linda, and their family. What material there is on the actual music is disappointingly brief and shallow. We barely learn anything at all about the other members of Wings, and their names are barely even mentioned at all. Why in the world weren't there any other people interviewed for this project, particularly Denny Laine, the only bandmember who was there the entire time? Their perspective would have enhanced the viewer's understanding and appreciation of the music a lot, and made the story not seem so terribly one-sided. This only confirms what just about everyone has known all along, that Wings were little more than a backup band for Paul.
Having Paul's daughter Mary interview him is barely a step up from someone interviewing oneself. Was he afraid that a less impartial and fawning source would have asked harder-hitting and more specific questions? I'll admit it was really sweet to see the interactions between father and daughter, but it's just not very professional to have your own child interview you. Naturally, she'll avoid questions that might cast her beloved father or his music in a less than perfect light, because of how close she is to the subject. And I totally call BS on Mary's stunned reaction to being told that Yoko moved her bed into the studio while The Beatles were recording the White Album. We're supposed to believe the child of an actual Beatle never heard such a well-known story ever before in her life?
In spite of how the focus is almost entirely on the McCartneys' family life and not the music, and the rather kid-glove treatment of Paul and the late Linda, I did enjoy seeing all of the home movie footage. Whatever I might think about his solo music (and his inclusion of his less-than-musically-gifted wife in the act), it's obvious that Paul provided his kids with a really happy stable loving family life growing up. The footage of a few songs in the bonus material is also nice, as are the clips of videos we see in the actual body of the film. It's just unfortunate that this material couldn't have been assembled by people who weren't so close to the source and who had interviewed other people, not just Paul and using audio clips from Linda.
DVD Review: Wingspan" Paul McCartney and Wings
Summary: 5 Stars
Love it love it love it.
Paul at his best.
Get it.
Great songs, great photos, great everything.
Love Paul, and his band , Wings, was fab.
He is so good in this, and funny, and lots of great footage.
A must for Wings fans.
DVD Review: Could have been much better...
Summary: 2 Stars
First, I'm a big fan of the Beatles, Paul, and Wings. All artists have their hits and misses. And this mockumentary is a miss. As others have stated, this is the story of Paul & Linda McCartney from 1969 to the 1980s, and not about the group Wings 1971-1979. What does the breakup of the Beatles, or Paul and Linda's marriage have to do with Wings? It's odd that Paul starts by saying how he wanted to form a band after the Beatles, then basically ends up proving it never really was a band. He rarely even mentions a band member by name! It's usually "the guitarist" or "the drummer"- as if it was whoever happened to be there. This just comes across as a commercial for Paul by Paul, as most of his videos do.
For an "inside documentary" I didn't hear anything I didn't already know. And I don't think you will either. Most fans already know that Paul, Linda and Denny recorded Band on the Run after the first guitarist and drummer quit. What we want to hear is why? And not just Paul's version, how about asking the band members themselves?
I think Paul ends up answering the question unwittingly: They were probably tired of being ignored and the whole thing being about Paul. Oh this was Paul's show the whole way alright- no question about it- and this proves it. But we already knew that. So what does this documentary accomplish? Not much. It's as if it's designed for someone who know's nothing about Paul (Really? he was in the Beatles before Wings? His wife was in Wings too?)
Not enough music, either. What would have made this documentary work would be a year to year review, with Band members and others, discussing how songs were written and recorded, the concerts, the "behind the scenes" relationships of the band mambers, etc. This DVD is an insult to Wings members and fans. I'm left with a DVD that was mildly interesting to watch once. But I'll never watch it again- I already knew all of this in the first place!
DVD Review: New View of Paul
Summary: 5 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed the interview of Paul and the background of how things unfolded from his view. It was heartwrenching to learn how things went for Paul, Linda and their children when the Beatles broke up. I highly recommend this DVD.DVD Review: Clipped Wings
Summary: 3 Stars
Wings was never really a band with a collective creative force. It was basically Paul's backup group made up of hired session musicians. Paul sang lead and wrote the songs -- it was really all about him. The other members were never really on equal footing with Paul, and Linda was there to accompany her hubby. No one ever a bought Wings record for a Denny Laine song.
WINGSPAN is basically a collection of home videos and concert footage of the McCartney family with some clips of the band thrown in. This set is really about the McCartney family and what a "normal," peaceful, loving, granola-eating, happy Brady Bunch they were, an image that was probably as much reality as it was Public Relations. If anything, the family seemed isolated from reality. This DVD is supposed to emit the feeling of intimacy -- father and daughter (Mary McCartney) reminiscing about the family and the evolution of Wings. It is also a hagiographic tribute to the late Linda, who is portrayed as the ultimate rock and roll Earth Mother.
This DVD reveals that Linda sang the high notes on "Let it Be" because Paul couldn't reach them. Paul tells a stunned Mary that that Yoko brought her BED into the recording studio. We learn that Linda loved reggae, did poorly in school and that she and Paul had to live off HER savings while the Beatles were splitting up because Paul's millions were tied up...blah, blah, blah. All this, and other assorted bits of trivia and fluff about their family life which, in the 70s was intertwined with the band Wings.
Paul remains a bit of an enigma, but one side of him was revealed when discussing Band on the Run. Henry McCullough had quit the band, as did another Wings member and Paul was left on his own, with Linda and Denny to make the album. Paul says he was determined to make "the best Wings album ever" just to "show" those who had quit the band. "I'll show them" he said. Is Paul so insecure that he is constantly needing to prove himself, even to two-bit musicians? Is his ego such that he couldn't handle anyone daring to quit his band? Just how "grounded" were the super-rich McCartney's and why was it so important to Paul to present an idyllic image of family life?
As for Linda, it's obvious the family lost its anchor when she died. But her untimely death is no reason to forget how colorless, vacuous and annoying she was in the 70s. Paul did not have to justify her placement, in what was, after all, his band. But she was an embarrasingly poor musician, a feeble vocalist with zero personality. To ask his audience to pay its hard earned money to listen to her mediocrity was indeed arrogant of him. From the footage, we see her attempts at being "cute" in public, something that made us cringe in those days, as she was not especially endearing. When Paul is asked questions by reporters he answers them only to have Linda interject with some stupid remark. Her frightening, extremistist animal rights views make her look out of touch with the real world.
And how about Denny Laine? What was his beef with Paul? The fact that Paul never talks about him, and he's not even interviewed, proves that this was not a "band" but hired musicians to back up Paul. If you want a more objective view of Paul and Linda McCartney and Wings, you're going to need a more objective director than WINGSPAN director Alistair Donald -- who just happens to be Paul's son-in-law.
Description of Paul McCartney - Wingspan - An Intimate Portrait
Wingspan is the inside story of how Paul and Linda McCartney dared to follow the Beatles with their rock band Wings. The story of Paul and Linda McCartney's early years together is intimately shared through series of candid conversation with their daughter, Mary. Home movies, family photos, and rare footage draw viewers into a very personal story of love and family. Combined with the against-all-odds success of Wings, Paul and Linda prove that there is life after The Beatles. 90 minutes.Paul McCartney's account of his second famous rock band only glosses over his personal and professional life during the 1970s, clocking in at 88 minutes. Still, choice footage and photographs, along with a McCartney interview by daughter Mary interspersed throughout the program, make this an entertaining history of an often unfairly maligned group. Wingspan is also a valentine to McCartney's late wife, Linda, who was always by his side, in and out of Wings. On his insistence, Linda became part of the band, went on tour as nominal backup singer and keyboardist, and even sang lead on a song called "Cook of the House," which didn't endear her or Paul to feminists. The fact remains, though, that their marriage, which some pointed to as contributing to the Beatles' breakup, lasted far longer than either of Paul's bands. --Kevin Filipski
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