I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, on the other hand, goes more out of its way to show the long dark path of head Beach Boy Brian Wilson. While Wilson is now acknowledged as the Mozart of the late 20th century, director Don Was gives us a stark black-and-white portrait of a troubled artist still struggling to get his life back. His reminiscence of dad Murry Wilson's beatings is chilling, and Wilson is as comfortable as he'll ever be in front of the camera bragging up his drug use ("Cocaine... the works... put me in jail") and randomly quoting Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon. Through it all, Wilson comes across as a complete original, and if the reworkings of his classic songs don't quite match up to the originals, give the guy a break--he just wasn't made for these times. --Kristian St. Clair

1985's "An American Band" opens appropiately enough with footage of Brian Wilson's 1976 birthday party intercut with scenes from an interview done with him from his bedroom, half - dressed, smoking a cigarette. The rest of the film's made up of interviews with the other Beach Boys that are good, though obviously scripted. The real highlight are the concert footage, featuring footage from their European tour that includes an electrifying performance of "Breakaway", not to mention glowing versions of "God Only Knows" and "In My Room", plus rockers like "Barbara Ann" and "Fun, Fun, Fun".

1995's "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" has Brian coming to terms with his troubled life through various interviews with him and several people close to him, including his two wives, his daughters, Van Dyke Parks, and Carl Wilson, his brother who succumbed to lung cancer in 1998. In between are scenes of Brian doing newly recorded versions of "Meant For You", "Do It Again", "The Warmth Of The Sun" (a real surprise for me), "Til I Die", a rousing "This Whole World" as well as a few others.

Overall, these are two finely done documentaries of one of the greatest artists of all time, a group who forever changed the face of music with their surfboards, woodies, girls, pet sounds and good vibrations. Surf's up.


Excellent combination   May 15, 2003
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

These two films provide a very good overview of the Beach Boys. "An American Band" is a fairly good comprehensive look at the band from their beginnings through 1985. There's a lot of historical performance footage of the group and interviews from throughout the years, with some on-camera narration from Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston from 1985.

"I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" picks up the story about 10 years later, and focuses on the genius (and genial) composer Brian Wilson, showing his at least partial success in dealing with his personal, emotional, and psychological problems, which had plagued him during the previous two decades as recounted in the "American Band" film. Brian comes off in "IJWMFTT" as much more articulate in conversation than I had expected (he's really pretty articulate by any standard), and his new performances of some older songs are well done and compelling. Interestingly, the footage is almost entirely new, including interviews with family (Carl Wilson, mother Audree, daughters Carnie and Wendy), associates (Van Dyke Parks), and admirers (Tom Petty, John Cale, Thurston Moore, Linda Rondstadt), with almost no archival footage. So, between the two films, you have a history of the band and a portrait of its driving force during its glory years. A great combination.

One additional note: "IJWMFTT" is actually in letterbox in this version, not pan-and-scan. When I first bought this DVD, I was dismayed to see on the back of the box that it said the film had been modified to fit the TV screen, which usually means the letterboxing has been scrapped. I was pleasantly surprised to find when I actually watched the film that while the credits were in "full-screen" (i.e., not letterboxed), the rest of the film was definitely in letterbox. Very nice B&W photography.


More than Fun, Fun, Fun   October 11, 2003
W. S. Capuano (Ballston Spa, NY USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

It was great seeing both these documentaries again. "An American Band" has some great concert footage, and includes Brian, eyes closed and totally into it, singing "Surf's Up" for the TV cameras just before the downfall in '67. Dennis' own downfall in the 80's is appropriatly handled; it's painful to see him at the end, barely able to talk. I saw the band in Dennis' last year, and the footage of him here brought back that painful memory. Concert versions of "Good Vibrations" (before it became a ridiculous sing-a-long) and "Heroes and Villains" are also a treat.
"IJWMFTT" shows a mostly lucid Brian, memory surprisingly intact, talking about his creations. But, the reason to watch this bio are the performances. Hearing Carl sing "God Only Knows" with his brohter and mother was a treat. And listening to Brian's ex-wife talk about "Caroline No" segue into Brian totally nailing the song was great stuff.


Beach Boys/Brian Wilson MUST HAVE!!!   December 18, 2002
Mark L. Pessoni (St. Louis, Missouri United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This release is a god-send for any fan. "An American Band", while at times corny is crammed full of great footage. More than an hour longer than the anniversary version (it's the original - clocking in at just under 1 hr., 50 min.), it shows full (or mostly full)clips of songs that I've never seen in their entirety. Entertaining early performances (though most are lip-synched) of all their big hits - as well as a few great non-hits ("Please Let Me Wonder" is a gem). Also includes most of the "Surf's Up" performance in Brians's house), and a lot more live footage. The second feature is a very good biography of Brian with some cool archival footage and of course, the l990's version of the master performing some of his greatest!!! All for only 12.99 - you can beat it!


Endless Disharmony   March 25, 2005
Robert Morris (San Francisco)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

This set of two revealing perspectives on the Beach Boys has enough samples of their best music to be appealing to fans. It also uncovers glimpses of the inner turmoil that developed as Brian Wilson, their primary creative force, left touring and changed the focus of his talents from writing catchy tunes about surfing and girls to writing complex harmonic sequences with lyrics that told stories of lost innocence and finding one's soul.

The turning point came in 1966, when Wilson essentially replaced Mike Love with Van Dyke Parks as his primary lyricist collaborator after "Pet Sounds". After the resulting "Smile" project was abandoned due to internal strife, the Beach Boys minus Wilson re-invented themselves as primarily a nostalgia band, riding the crest of the wave that had formed under Brian's leadership, but whose new songs were weak imitations at best. Wilson himself never fully recovered from the demise of "Smile", although the recent successful reconstruction of this project has signified a partial recovery of his significant talents.

"An American Band" does its best to sugar-coat the conflicts, and has the look and feel of the "official story" of the band, like a 2 hour press conference in which the facts are sanitized. There are two pivotal moments in this video: one comes when squeaky-clean Bruce Johnston walks towards the camera looking like a televangelist, saying confidently with a straight face "We knew Brian was not going to be around [after "Smile"] but that we had to push on without him" (why?) The other highlight of the film is Brian's amazing solo performance of "Surf's Up" accompanying himself on the piano. "Surf's Up" expands the harmonic horizon beyond even "Good Vibrations", and is one of the most original, most beautiful, pop songs ever written. Brian's rendition is unintentionally heart-breaking; he is clearly exposing his fragile soul here on lyrics that are suggestive of innocence, a dark past, and a hope for redemption.

"Brian Wilson: I wasn't made for these times" is a biography of Brian Wilson, and is more detailed in its exploration of the Beach Boy turmoil. It is a little too long on talking heads, but also has good moments, including Brian's rendition of the story of "Good Vibrations" to eloquent tributes by Tom Petty and Linda Rondstat.

The other amazing revelation by watching these documentaries (especially if you watch them after you watch the Beatles Anthology) is the complete lack of character and wit displayed by the band members. Brian is the most interesting of the bunch, but his troubled past has rendered him humorless and incapable of displaying any evidence of wit. Carl looked like a nice guy, but again seems to take it all too seriously; Dennis played the part of a 1-dimensional sex toy, wound up and eventually wound down on substances; Al....can't think of anything to say about him... And Mike Love! He's just plain weird, will someone please tell him that he is not cool?

Buy this for the great music and for a fascinating glimpse into a famous dysfunctional band.