Sunset Strip opened with Mark Mahoney, a
tattoo artist who has seen the best and the worst of the Strip over the decades
he’s been there, narrating what we were about to see.
“I’m gonna tell you a story of vice and
glory..” and he couldn’t have summed it up better.
The documentary has a lot to live up to. As
someone who has frequented The Strip for years, it is what it is and it’s
something different to each individual. One aspect that cannot be denied about
this infamous LA area that began as a road to connect Hollywood Studios to Beverly Hills
The best of the best have played on the
Strip and even to date others go there to stand on the same stage as Jim
Morrison and Jimmy Page, or to frequent the club where Richard Pryor used to
reign and leave flowers on the sidewalk outside The Viper Room where River
Phoenix died. The documentary attempts to tell the history of the Strip while highlighting
the wild times it’s seen but as is expected when attempting to bottle lightning
and find out what makes it so electric, the filmmakers fail to deliver any real
depth to their quest.
Mark Mahoney narrates he’s going to tell us
a story and that’s what the foundation of this documentary is – stories,
recollections of experiences and an attempt to discover why The Strip is so
sacred to a selection of the people who visit, operate and have performed
there.
“The Strip is where you leave and where you
come back.” – Keanu Reeves
Beginning with what Sunset Strip is, it’s
origin in the 1920s and moving onto how it became a sacred place of cultural
significance to musicians providing a haven that was much-needed and absent for
Western artistes, the movie touches on many aspects of its history but doesn’t
provide an insight into why this no-man’s land outside of Los Angeles city
limits has the aura that it does. Through interviews with inhabitants of places
that used to be there (The Garden of Allah), remain there (The Chateau Marmont)
and businesses that have helped it thrive (The Whiskey A Go Go, The Viper Room,
Sunset Tower), stories are told of mobsters, rock stars and Hollywood A-listers
who have lived and died on the Strip. There are opportunities to probe further
into comments that describe it as a stability factor in artists’ lives, with
Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp and others stating how part of its attraction is that
you can go there and experience a slice of life that will bring you back again
and again.
Johnny Depp’s formation of The Viper Room
receives a great segment that details his hopes for the place as a retreat
which would accommodate few but provide exclusive events with performers he had
always wanted to see, but we’re not shown footage of how it’s changed over the
years. The décor is different from what it used to be, there are no clips of
the lines there used to be round the block or excerpts from some of the parties
the Viper Room hosted that are now legendary. In doing so, they retain it’s
mystique but for fresh viewers who may never go to The Strip or its clubs a
walkthrough of the places highlighted would have been a great addition which
also shows the journey of the area over the past few decades.
“Your journey will begin there and end
there. You can see your dream ending right there on that sidewalk.” – Mickey
Rourke
Parties that never end are talked about and
Led Zeppelin’s now infamous groupie sessions where they’d degrade and put out
cigarettes on the women that frequented them are recounted as is the mobsters
rule over the Strip, some of the performances (Jimi Hendrix, Sammy Davis Jr,
Robin Williams and John Belushi), the penthouse residents of the Sunset Tower,
the burlesque houses and the music. Ironically, Mark Mahoney’s tattoo parlour
doesn’t get a big look in which is a shame given the stories you hear when you
walk into it of who has visited it, what they got and what state they were in
when there.
Mickey Rourke fondly recalls Schwabs, a
pharmacy that used to exist with an old-style soda fountain and nostalgic
decorations that represented the time it was born in, as well as the greats
that had been there. His recollections are interesting especially given how
much time he’s spent there and the impact it’s had on him.
Overall ‘Sunset Strip’ provides a unique
and confident insight into what has become one of the most significant venues
of our time. Complete with history, excerpts mostly from the Sunset Strip Music
Festival 2010 and interviews that describe the highs, the excesses and the
deaths that have occurred there, this documentary is a great starting point for
the uninitiated into the magic and mystique of The Strip. I was left longing
for more though, which I hope will be included on the bluray as extra footage
because you get the sense that filmmaker Hans Fjellestad edited a lot out that
would have made this a real opus that celebrated the reputation Sunset Strip
has.
But as stated when I began writing this,
The Strip is something different to everyone and your experiences are what
binds you to this road of dreams. I would’ve personally liked to see more on
the Chateau Marmont, The Whiskey A Go Go and from those who have witnessed
legends rise and fall rather than stories of who was there, but then any
attempt to cover a magical mystical place that attracts the best, locks the door,
leaves you changed and wanting more was never going to satisfy everyone.
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