Jerry Lee Lewis: The Story of Rock & Roll (1991)
*** (out of 4)
This tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis was directed by D.A. Pennebaker as well as Chris Hegedus who I'm guessing put all the footage together. This "documentary" features a lot of early performances from Lewis as he appears on several television shows including the Steve Allen Show where he performs Whole Lotta Shaking' Going' On. We also see live versions of You Win Again, Great Balls of Fire while at the same time seeing footage taken from the Toronto Rock 'n Roll festival from 1969, which Pennebaker also turned into a movie with Lewis in KEEP ON ROCKIN'.
For the most part this is a very entertaining documentary, although there's really nothing too deep or detailed. It clocks in just under thirty-minutes so if you want to see the complete Toronto performance then you'd want to check out KEEP ON ROCKIN' from 1969. The archival clips are all great with the young Lewis really rocking and it's easy to see why he became a hit. The scandal that ruined his career is also covered here with various archival news programs.
