Movie Review: Neil Young: Heart of Gold

By Ron Wilkinson Feb 13, 2006, 14:46 GMT

More of an extended MTV video than a film, Jonathan Demme’s latest rock experience features 100% Neil Young playing Hank William’s guitar and backed up by Emmylou Harris. ...more

More of an extended MTV video than a film, Jonathan Demme’s latest rock experience features 100% Neil Young playing Hank William’s guitar and backed up by Emmylou Harris.  No kidding, Hank William’s guitar. 

Young bought it a few years back from a friend and guitar collector before the collector revealed the name of the former owner.  According to Young, Hank last played in the Grand Ole Oprey Ryman Auditorium in 1951 and he thinks they fired him that night.  He also recalls hearing that Hank never returned to the Grand Ole after being judged unfit for proper country folks because of his raucous new brand of music.  And that’s just the way Young likes it.  As he says, “You only have so many chances to be booed in front of an audience and you have to take advantage of every opportunity.”  If only some of that spark would have rubbed off on this performance.  It would have been so much better if Young would have done something worthy of censor.  Unfortunately, Neil seems to have mellowed considerably.  His voice is the same as ever, a miracle at 60 years old, but it never sparkled anyway.  But what is missing in this film is the attitude behind “Southern Man,” "Rockin' in the Free World” or, say, “Hey Hey, My My” (Into the Black).

The first two thirds of the movie is Young’s performance of his new album “Prairie Wind” in its entirety (http://www.neilyoung.com/prairiewind.html) .  The last one third is a selection of his past songs; a few grains of sand, really, compared to the mountain of material he has created and performed.  One has to wonder how he selected the songs he did.  But one thing is for sure, they are not the edgiest, the most controversial or the most entertaining.  They are as laid back as Nashville and if you expect to enjoy this flick you had better be ready for that.

Young is a walking bundle of contradictions.  He can certainly be mean-spirited: refusing to sign autographs or talk to fans.  But he is a tremendously loyal man, both to his family and his band.  He has been married to his wife Pegi for decades (she is one of three back-up singers in the film) and never leaves his son at home when he wants to go on the road with his dad.  His press material for this film is extensive, 33 pages to be exact, and three-quarters of the pages have nothing to do with Neil.  They contain extensive and exacting biographies of the cast and members of the band, all the way down to the last of the 30+ persons who mount the stage for the final performances in the film.  Nine guitars at one point.  That has to be some kind of a record.

As far as Demme’s work goes, he did a good job on a movie that is nothing more than a performance from start to finish.  If you liked “Stop Making Sense,” the Talking heads filmapalooza, you will appreciate the point of view and exacting portraits of the band members in this film.  It was important to Neil that every one be given substantial camera time.  And this is not flashy, special effects camera time, this is long and slow shots where the viewers actually get to experience the personalities of all of the players, not just Neil.  That is loyalty, generosity and just plain guts.  Nothing new to Neil, and nothing new to his fans, at least the ones who know him.

But when comparing  “Stop Making Sense” to “Heart of Gold” the former film had something going for it that this film does not.  It had the New York scene that produced the Ramones, Blondie, Television and countless other bands.  In featuring the Talking Heads Demme was able to encapsulate that excitement and aggressive in-your-face attitude in the screenplay.  He able to use the energy of the period and the setting to drive the film so that those watching did have to be die-hard fans of the band to get the point.  Unfortunately, the message of this film will be lost on the general population who have no memories of growing up with Young.