The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector

First Hit: What I loved about this film was the sound track, it was the music of my teen years but understanding what Spector is really about is more complex.

Phil (Phillip) Spector is not beyond telling you, the audience, that he is great and belongs in a group of people that includes Da Vinci, Galileo, and Bach. He sees himself as providing more of an impact in music than Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney. He claims he doesn’t have an ego, and his words belie him.

This film is an interview of Spector during his trial for murdering Lana Clarkson who was an actress / model he picked up one night while clubbing in LA/Hollywood. He talks about how the judge is out to get him, that he isn’t respected by people and many people in the music business.

He says that Tony Bennett had this huge drug problem but because his lot in life is a good one, no one demeans him for it. While he gets demonized for his stands on issues and the idiosyncrasies of his behavior.

He states that he accepts his lot in life and there are moments in the film one can believe he means what he says, but then he’ll say something that points in another direction and you think he is full of hog wash. Spector, regardless of what one thinks, is an interesting person who lives his truth his way. Regardless of his behavior, one thing is true, he produced come amazing music and wrote a number of musical hits himself.

The license plate on his car tells you how Phil thinks of Phil; it says “I(heart)PHIL”.

During the interview, there are snippets of his trial for murder. As an audience member you don’t get to see or hear much of the ongoing trial but the look on his face is at times telling and at other times haunting – you just wonder what’s going on in his head.

Vikram Jayanti directed this filmed interview and frankly did a very credible job of it. I couldn’t help but think Spector paid for the film to be made to get his point out, about how great he really is, but I don’t know.

Overall: The music was wonderful and gave the audience a snippet of where Phil came from and how he got there.

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