Jimi Hendrix – The Last
24 Hours (Documentary)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: C+
Was Jimi Hendrix not just another victim of a drug
overdose, but part of a murder conspiracy?
So many people, especially when they are Rock stars and popular,
eventually have a conspiracy theory made about them. The latest one, Jimi Hendrix – The Last 24 Hours (2004)
ties his support of The Black Panthers and public exclamations that change was
needed with a government plot that (once again) includes organized crime and
the FBI.
Well, I cannot claim to know much about Hendrix
personally, but why this theory I surfacing al of the sudden is more difficult
to believe. Whether there is some truth
to it is another story. Maybe some of
this has some validity, but the way this program is constructed, people who
know and claim to know him keep repeating the same basic information over and
over again. I was never totally
convinced of the possibility, though this did open the door to the remote
possibility. One problem is that the
creators do not seem to know much about Rock music and their documentary skills
are certainly in question.
Lasting about an hour, this sometimes feels
thrown-together and there are plenty of overlaps. When a program has to repeat itself this much, either the
intended audience is considered dense and dumb, or the makers have problems
believing everything they claim themselves.
Like Freebird – The Movie on Lynryd Skynyrd, this gets very
populist and condescending when it discusses what could have been or repeats
the idea of greatness of the artist(s) in obvious, flat, shallow terms that
feels more like a snake oil salesman and con artist than anyone who truly
cares. The cold compilation feel
undermines anything The Last 24 Hours in tends, making this a morbid
curio.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image has the varied image quality
of most documentaries, with some of the footage outright muddy. The newer interviews were shot on PAL
professional analog equipment, with Hendrix offering the best materials worth
seeing. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
sometimes monophonic, but never has any surrounds, Pro Logic or otherwise. I give it points for actually having some
Hendrix classics on the soundtrack. The
only extras on the DVD are a discography, stills section, and 43-frame
biography, while the DVD case contains an illustrated 32-page booklet with
obvious misspellings showing this was not put together by fans. The Last 24 Hours is very, very mixed
and anyone wanting to see it should go in with low expectations.
- Nicholas Sheffo
