(label)
28 September 2009 (released)
30 September 2009
The one thing that struck me about this film, Julian Temple’s often tragic rags-to-riches-style account of 1970s blues monsters Dr Feelgood, is how on earth this band, essentially born out of a London pub-rock circuit, actually managed to break their ferocious blues act into commercial acclaim re-modelling themselves as international blues-rock superstars in a decade that would spit out often more creative and eclectic influences through glam, punk and disco.
Temple’s tale is typically styled on his previous rockumentaries on principal punk figureheads the Sex Pistols (Filth & the Fury, 2000) and Joe Strummer (The Future Is Unwritten, 2007) in which the story is stitched together using a montage of archive and fictive footage and narratives from some of the key players.
The bulk of this story is sold through the eyes of manic-eyed Wilco Johnson, guitarist and arguably the driving force behind the group, who sets up stall (along with bassist John B. Martin and drummer Jon Martin) in the group’s hometown of Canvey Island, Essex to playfully uncover the band’s roots and rise to critical and commercial glory. There are also fascinating insights and contributions from Richard Hell, Clem Burke and Joe Strummer into how Dr. Feelgood helped drive what would become the punk movement in the wake of their success.
Oil City Confidential is without doubt a well documented and revealing take on the band with a gritty and often sad story to tell. But what appears to burn holes in this film’s potential is the almost criminal absence of enough hard live footage, which is where the Feelgoods truly revealed themselves.
