Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul (2017)

The story of singer Joe Cocker is told through archive footage and interviews for close associates.

Director:

John Edginton

Writer:

John Edginton

Stars:

Joe Cocker, Pam Cocker, Vic Cocker

Cast

Credited cast:
Joe Cocker	...	Himself (archive footage)
Pam Cocker	...	Herself
Vic Cocker	...	Himself
Rita Coolidge	...	Herself
Phil Crookes	...	Himself
Deric Dyer	...	Himself
Cliff Goodwin	...	Himself
Billy Joel	...	Himself
Glyn Johns	...	Himself
Michael Lang	...	Himself
Chris Lord-Alge	...	Himself
Charlie Midnight	...	Himself
Jerry Moss	...	Himself
Ray Neapolitan	...	Himself
Randy Newman	...	Himself

Storyline

The turbulent life of soul and blues singer, the late Joe Cocker. A former gas fitter from Sheffield , catapulted to world stardom in 1969 at Woodstock with his legendary performance of the Beatles song,"A Little Help from My Friends". But in the early 1970s, Joe Cocker's inner demons nearly killed him. Overcoming his struggles with alcohol and drugs, he rebuilt his reputation as "one of the great primal rock and roll vocalists of all time" (Billy Joel's description). The film mixes Joe Cocker's own words, with rare archive. His family, friends and the legendary songwriters and musicians he collaborated with, tell Joe Cocker's story. The film has raw, electric performance footage throughout.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Distributor website official production company site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 2017 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

£260,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eagle Rock Film Productions, Otmoor Productions Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

User Reviews

Pure Soul

As a singer Joe Cocker was one of the purest, most natural talents of the past fifty-plus years. At his best he often so fully occupied the performance that he was truly somewhere else, a place where he was unavailable for anything else. By all accounts Joe Cocker was a humble and sweet-natured man with little ego to either drive him forward, nor to shield him from what was to come. He entered the American musical scene in an overcrowded rocket made of glass, at a time perfectly primed for his talents, yet tangled with vices that would scar him forever and often lay him low. He alternately disappeared below the waves and skipped beautifully above them for the remainder of his life, never entirely losing that mammoth natural gift of a voice, the fire that he could muster for a performance. Aided greatly by his wife and others, Mr. Cocker had some often good, though never trouble free years in the latter part of his life. That voice and those performances will continue to outshine the bad forever.