"Lambert & Stamp" (2014 release; 117 min.) is a documentary about Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, 2 Brits best known for managing the Who for about a decade (mid-60s to mid-70s). As the documentary opens and after a few words from Pete Townsend, we are introduced to Chris Stamp, who starts telling stories of how t all began, him and Lambert in the early 60s trying to make the jump from assistant director to director. One day, they decide to shoot a movie, cinema verite-style, about an unknown band that they would manage. After looking for months for the right band, Lambert comes across a packed club full of Mods, dancing to an unknown band call the High Numbers. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
There are several factors why this is such an entertaining documentary: for one, it's a great story, I mean you can't make this stuff up! Then we are blessed to have the interviews with Chris Stamp, who turns out to be a master story teller (other interviewees include Pete Townsend, Roger and Heather Daltrey, and many others). Then we have the incredible luck that these guys were trying to shoot a movie, and hence we have all this incredible footage from the earliest days of the High Numbers/the Who (1964-65), and that alone is worth the price of admission for this documentary. There is tons of other worthwhile archive footage, such as the 1967 French TV footage, where we see Lambert give an interview in perfect French. We reach the "Tommy"-era about 75 min. into the movie, and I was afraid that things were going to become less interesting after that, but as it turns out, that's where the fireworks are about to start... As a casual fan of the Who but an ardent fan of rock music and its history, I found this documentary absolutely worth seeing. The only negative comment that I have is that for some strange reason, the sound mix in the theater was such that at times the background music (usually of the Who) played too loudly and as a result I had trouble understanding the interviewee at times. Very strange.
"Lambert & Stamp" opened last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I finally had a chance to see it today, which is the last day of its one-week run here. The early evening screening where I saw this at was surprisingly well attended. Probably other movie or music fans who noticed it would not longer be playing. If you are a fan of the Who or of rock music history, you will not want to miss this. "Lambert & Stamp" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!