Program – Some sympathy and some taste

Two music fans use their talents and skills to bring us excellent movies about their passions.
Bert Stern is 78 and still is an active commercial photographer (check out his latest Lindsay Lohan shoot). He also made one movie – “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” – that portrayed one day at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. The whole movie is great. It created a new standard of how to film live music performances. Standout music are the opening credits by the Jimmy Giuffre 3, an outrageous Anita O’Day dressed as if she were going to tea in one of the Newport mansions, and Mahalia Jackson's late night gospel performance.
On the other hand, “Sympathy for the Devil” is a car wreck of a movie. But, there’s a way cool car in this pile-up. Half of the movie consists of brief agitprop scenes. Watch them. Think of this as penance at the church of Godard. The other half (and these are mashed together, lest you try and watch only what you want) is the evolution and creation of the Rolling Stones song and its orchestration. Well worth it.