Intermission: Biography film depicts early days of rock music

"Almost Famous"

Directed by: Cameron Crowe

Starring: Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand and Patrick Fugit

Rated: R

Before Cameron Crowe hit the Hollywood big time with "Jerry Maguire," he had already directed a couple of really good films, "Say Anything" and "Singles," and had written the screenplay for the delightful teenage screwball comedy, "Fast Times At Ridgemont High."

But even before that Crowe was known to rock and roll fans as a journalist for Rolling Stone.

At 47, I'm roughly the same age as rock and roll. I grew up loving it. In my teens it became an avocation and later my vocation for nearly 20 years.

I remember reading Cameron Crowe's articles in the early 1970s in "Rolling Stone," and admiring him for his insight as well as his unbridled love for the subject at hand.

He got his start pretty early, at the age of 15, writing for the legendary Creem magazine and later Rolling Stone.

With his latest movie, "Almost Famous," Crowe not only chronicles his past, but also sends an unashamed love letter to the music and culture he loved, and still loves.

"Almost Famous" is probably the most poignant and touching piece about pop culture that has ever been brought to the screen. While its obvious audience is the group of fans who have lived and breathed rock and roll from early childhood on, the story is so well written that it will surely have enough broad based appeal to engage even those who don't know the difference between Captain Beefheart and The Captain and Tenille.

Crowe's surrogate in "Almost Famous" is William Miller (played by Patrick Fugit), a kid whose mom forbids TV, rock and roll and nearly everything else from her household. Frances McDormand is great in this role. She's not a prude by any means but wants to raise her kids free from the corruption she sees afoot.

When William's sister leaves home, she tells her little brother to check out what she's left for him under his bed. She promises that it will set him free. What he finds is a stack of rock records and they do, indeed, change his life forever.

William begins writing articles for his school paper and other local magazines and even submits some of his stuff to Creem magazine. When Creem editor and legendary rock critic Lester Bangs comes to town, William manages to meet him. Bangs (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman) doesn't care that the kid's only 15, he likes his writing and recognizes a kindred spirit.

In short shrift, William gets a call from Rolling Stone. The powers-that-be there have seen his work in Creem and want to hire him for a major story.

The bulk of the film takes place on the road with a band called Stillwater. William is trying to get their story all the while learning the truisms about life on the road. He befriends a "band aid" (not a groupie) by the name of Penny Lane and also ingratiates himself to the members of the band, the crew and everyone else in the entourage.

The things that happen to Stillwater are an amalgam of all of the things that were going down in the turbulent (for rock and roll anyway) early 1970s. William is trying to get into something that's worthy of what is now to be a cover story for the world's most famous rock magazine.

I loved "Almost Famous" but, as was the case with "High Fidelity," have a hard time dissociating myself from the subject. Crowe's last film, "Jerry Maguire," obviously appealed to more people than those involved in professional athletics, so maybe this one will translate to the masses as well.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.