You know the film. It’s a film you have never heard of. The cast might be composed of actors you know and love or complete unknowns. A documentary that sounds interesting about a topic you might like. You stumble across it on streaming and wonder if it will be worth two hours of your time. This series will be devoted to reviewing films like these, the strange items that pop up when you are looking for a flick on the streaming service of your choice. This is “We Found It On Streaming”
FILM: The Greatest Night in Pop
Release Date: January 19, 2024
Run Time: 97 Minutes.
Streaming Service(s): Netflix
Rating: PG-13
On January 28, 1985, after the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, a group of 45 musicians gathered together at the A&M Studios in Hollywood to record a song. It wasn’t just any group of musicians. It was a list of legendary music superstars such as Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Tina Turner,and many more. And it wasn’t any ordinary song either. They were there as “USA for Africa” to record the song “We Are the World,” a song meant to raise money to fight the famine at the time in Ethiopia.
It is an iconic moment in pop music history. One well deserving of a documentary such as The Greatest Night in Pop. And that is part of the problem. The recording of “We Are the World” is such an iconic moment that there have been many in depth examinations of that night many times before, ranging from everything from ranking the stars that sung on the track to a minute-by-minute breakdown of the video. The result is that there is very little new ground to be cover in detailing that night, especially with the rosy-eyed view the documentary takes on that event.
As a matter of fact, if you ever saw We Are the World: The Video Event, a video tape that was released as a companion to the song and the album, then you have already seen a lot of The Greatest Night in Pop. A lot of the footage from that 1985 video makes it into the documentary, joined together with subtle reenactments and talking head pieces by the surviving people who were there that night.
The film works best when it examines the creative process. Listening to Lionel Richie describe the writing process he went through with Michael Jackson or seeing how Stevie Wonder helped Bob Dylan with his solo was exciting and showed us a fun side about the creative process that went into making the song. I wish there was more of that in the film.
I also wished they devoted more time to the number of controversies and legends involved in the making of the song. Prince and Madonna, two of the hottest recording artists at the time and legends today, were conspicuous in the absence at the recording. They devote a small amount of time to Prince’s not being there (Boils down to him being shy) but Madonna’s snub is only given lip service (it’s explained that Ken Kragen wanted Cyndi Lauper more). I was always wondered why Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler were part of the proceedings in lieu of other stars more known for their music, but this isn’t delved into either (A Kragen associate states that she wanted them, but never offers a reason why).
Which isn’t to say that there isn’t tea spilled. We get to see Waylon Jennings storm out as the recording session bogs down into a discussion as to whether or not a line of Swahili–a language not spoken in Ethiopia, by the way–should be included in the song. They also say that Al Jarreau was “Over-the-top” drunk during the recording session and show the result of it in his performance. It does devote time to Sheila E’s feelings like she was used just top bring Prince in instead of being asked there for her own merits, which cause her to also leave the recording session.
The reason why the documentary didn’t dwell on the negative stories from that day might be because the focus of the film was presenting the event in a positive light. Richie was one of the producers and they make a point of letting us know that USA for Africa is still a going concern, still collecting donations to fight hunger and poverty across the world. But part of the reason might also be due to the documentary’s 97-minute run time.
Much like the musicians and artist on the night the song was recorded, the film seems to have a hard deadline to get the job done and get out of there. When you have legends like Smokey Robinson and Bruce Springsteen sitting down to talk with you, you should use more of what they say. I could have listened to what the Boss has to say for 90 minutes all by his lonesome. Same with Richie describing working with Jackson. But only snippets of their interviews are interspersed in the film when their time in the song came up. Richie, naturally, fares better in this regard, as he played a major part in the whole production coming together and therefore gets more talking-head screen time.
Perhaps if director Bao Nguyen pushed for a longer run time, the film might have offered something different than all the articles and documentaries that came before it did. If this is the first time you are delving into the events of that night, The Greatest Night in Pop will tell you a lot about that historic night in music. However, if you are old like me and have lived through the time and read everything you could about it, it won’t really tell you much of anything new. Depending on which category you fall into, you might enjoy the film more than the other guy. For me, I would have preferred a film that dove a lot deeper into the events of the night with an eye on delivering something more. As it stands, it is a pleasant diversion through the land of nostalgia that could have been a whole lot more informative.
