And The Beat Goes On - The Sonny & Cher Story (Telefilm)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Telefilm: B-
There is
no doubt Sonny & Cher had something good between them, a chemistry that for a
while clicked and was unrivaled. They
were more than just “safe hippies” or just another duo, but a phenomenon that
was as based on the personalities as it was music. There is also conflict between the two about
what happened, considering control and abuse Sonny put on Cher as their marriage crumbled. Sonny’s side is maybe too much of the sunny
side of how things happened in And The
Beat Goes On (1999), a TV movie based on his book about their life.
It takes
on a strange new twist with his still-untimely death, but has its moments. Jay Underwood is a complementary portrayal of
Bono, which is good enough to keep this film going, then Renee Fala shows up
and (as was the case in real life) shows up as Cher and the film suddenly
becomes interesting. The real Cher was critical at the time of Fala,
but it is a much more complementary portrait of her than she might have
realized, and Fala is more on the money, while Underwood’s Bono is not Italian
enough.
Though
far from trying to be subversives overthrowing the U.S. Government, the couple
were what you saw (at first), and they still got discriminated against for
being Hippies. The truth of the matter
is that they had chemistry and their voices blended well together. They were the joy of the American dream come
true and that is why we are still talking about them. Cher’s world-record durability as a multi-talent
further bears this out, which even she knows would not have happened without
him, as her tearful goodbye at his funeral proved. It only lasted for a few years of true happiness
and prolific Pop/Rock material, but everything from the singing to the great
comic timing made Sonny & Cher an unbeatable pair. Though I have issues with some of what is
omitted in this film or that Cher is made to be the aggressor when she was not, and it is
far from the best film that could be made of their lives just in the period
they were together, And The Beat Goes On
is worth seeing. Just take some of it
with a grain of salt.
The full
frame, color image is decent for a TV movie, looking like it was shot on
film. Anthony B. Richmond, B.S.C., is
the cinematographer who deserves credit for maki9ng this look better than it
might have otherwise. Despite having
some Pro Logic surrounds, the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is not what it could be
and the sound in that mode is too much in the center channel on home theater
systems. The newer music is not too
great and the older classics, which are welcome to anyone’s ears, are spread
around in an ambient way. Too bad more
attention was not paid to this aspect of the film. There are no extras, but the film itself is
more than just a curio, and is one of the better telefilms of late. Now if we could just get episodes of their
show!
- Nicholas Sheffo
