Dogs and Mad Dogs

Before my comments on Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs & Englishmen (1971), I want to say a few words about a movie I’ve wanted to see ever since I found out it existed: Renaldo and Clara.

In 1975/76, Bob Dylan had a film team (?) led by Sam Shepard film his Rolling Thunder Revue, and intersperse some of the concert footage with odd semi-improvised, semi-backstage scenes. Most of these are boring (the tour bus), creepy (a roadie picking up a couple of groupies, the whole crew going to a brothel), documentary (David Blue playing pinball and talking about the Greenwich Village folk scene, man-in-the-street interviews in Harlem about Rubin Carter) or all of the above. It sort of culminates in a short scene where Joan Baez walks into a crummy hotel room where Renaldo and Clara - Dylan and his wife Sara - are staying and try to steal Dylan away. Considering the real life situation amongst these three, it is at least in very poor taste.

The concert numbers are incredible, of course - Dylan had a hot band, some of his best material ever, and a bunch of friends, including Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Mick Robson, and Ronnie Hawkins of the Hawks. But that only makes up about one hour of the four-hour edit (!) we acquired (probably a bootleg of a European TV presentation). I am enough of a Dylan fan to enjoy the whole thing, but Ms. Spenser found it to be revoltingly sleazy.

The next day, we watched Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and what a difference. Very similar - a big name musician on tour with a killer band, a mix of behind-the-scenes and concert footage. But it was all so wholesome! The band toured with mommas and babies and even a little terrier. Even the groupies seemed sweet, worried about the young girls who didn’t know what they were getting into.

The band was thrown together at the last minute, lead by Leon Russell on keys and guitar. They had a three piece horn section and something like twelve backup singers, cadged from Delaney and Bonnie, including Rita Coolidge. And this group cooked! Every song just came through 11 out of 10. Joe Cocker screams, cries, whispers, dances and plays eccentric air guitar through the whole thing. It was also fun to see Leon sort of running the show - directing the horns, trading licks with Ronson, sort of the way Dr. John did for Lightning in a Bottle. And when the camera was on him backstage, he slipped into the shadows, or turned his back, ever elusive.

This left us feeling uplifted and energized, while the Dylan made us feel like we needed a shower. Watch Renaldo and Clara if you are a completist (or maybe check out the <2-hour version that is mostly the concert parts) or just watch Mad Dogs for a good time.