Squid wrote:
"Stars on Guitars" is very lively, it kept my interest continuously from start to finish. I didn't even get up once for a snack or chewing gum, and that has not happened in years of watching movies on my large projection TV screen. This was despite no information new to me, as I have been an avid fan since 1960.
The rapid screen shifts and high energy should suit even short attention spans. The speedy parade of interviewee faces was engrossing. I'm surprised that "Perfidia" and "Lullaby of the Leaves" received no mention, and "Hawaii 5-0" was described only very briefly, while "Wipeout" was emphasized. This movie seemed mostly about other peoples' impressions of the Ventures.
The movie doesn't show a stage performance of a song by The Ventures. Although there was a lot of background music, to my ears little was performed by the Ventures. I recognized their "Spindrift" at the end but I didn't notice any others that sounded like them, besides a few seconds at a time here and there. Although Walk Don't Run was discussed at length it was not in the soundtrack. Still, the background music was pleasant.
I consider myself a fair-weather ventures fan but I agree with all of this. I have 13 of their LPs spanning entire genre shifts and this movie could have gone so much further. I'm grateful for it and I enjoyed it, but I'm left wanting.