Product: Ziggy Stardust [VHS]
Rating: 3.0
Better than its reputation
Documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker who gave us a sometimes unflattering look at Bob Dylan in "Don't Look Back," focused his camera on David Bowie during the then orange-haired musician's July 3, 1972 concert with The Spiders From Mars at London's Hammersmith Odeon.Much ballyhooed due to Bowie's surprise announcement at show's end that it would be the band's final concert, the film, though released briefly as a theatrical feature in 1983, first reached American audiences a decade earlier on ABC-TV's "Wide World of Entertainment," a hodge-podge of programming (specials, TV movies, and the like) that replaced Dick Cavett as a late night alternative to Johnny Carson.Less polished than the Dylan film, this concert film is nonetheless more entertaining than most critic's reviews suggest. The performances, especially of material from "Ziggy Stardust," are lackluster in comparison to the album but that's hardly surprising. But there are some fine moments unavailable elsewhere, including versions of Bowie's own "All the Young Dudes," and Jacques Brel's melodramatic but affecting "My Death."There are occasional backstage glimpses of Bowie, but this is a concert film, not a behind-the-scenes look at the star, so it doesn't fascinate in the same way Pennebaker's Dylan film does. But Bowie fans should find this of more than passing interest.Brian W. Fairbanks