Elegy for a Southern Boy in ‘Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me’

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CHICAGO – Glen Campbell, the singer, actor and personality, is ingrained into a certain late 1960s/early ‘70s ethos. His sunny disposition and clean pop music rhetoric crossed over from country to the mainstream, and in that other era he could seriously call his television show “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.” Today, he fights a losing battle against Alzheimer’s Disease in the emotional documentary, “Glen Campbell, I’ll Be Me.”

The title refers to an off-handed remark that Campbell makes, when he watching old home movies about his life. This is a memory test to exercise the shrinking portions of his brains due to the degenerative disease, and when Campbell assigns roles to the people in the films, he concludes “I’ll be me.” The film is often a frustrating document about Campbell’s journey, as the camera is privy to the most intimate sadnesses in living with the insidious disease. We are witnesses to Glen Campbell’s step-by-step path to the good night, and despite all the privilege of his success, it cannot be reversed.

The Southern boy from Delight, Arkansas, made good in several ways during his show business career. He was one of the most sought after “sessions” men – backup instrumental and vocalist to the stars – because of his virtuoso guitar riffs and plain speaking singing voice. After stints with The Beach Boys, among other work, he spun off as a solo act, which began a string of hits including “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Gentle on My Mind,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston” and his signature “Rhinestone Cowboy.”

Glen Campbell
Then and Now in ‘Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me’
Photo credit: Area 23a

The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease comes early in the documentary. It’s right before his last album is to be released, because his wife Kim and daughter/band mate Ashley realized that sometime was amiss. The rest of the film documents two treks – the one of Glen Campbell’s farewell tour in 2011-12 and that of his slide into the recesses of his disease.

One of the first realizations that come from this film is that Campbell, while courageous in his agreement to be filmed in such a state, is not the most brave. The people who are left behind in this wake – his kids who make up the bulk of his touring band and his amazing wife Kim – had to agree to show all the warts of this situation. This includes some harsh difficulties that Campbell suffers, including the known “wandering off” symptom and misplaced anger, which in a couple sequences are frightening. The family is making a point, that no one gets off elegantly within the disease, no matter how much celebrity or success.

There are miracles, including an incredulous doctor who theorizes that Campbell’s musical abilities, which are prodigious, developed such a hold into his very brain cells that it helped – temporarily – to stave off some of the more difficult other circumstances. The curse of Alzheimer’s is that it steals memories, the stuff that makes you who you are, and there are years of what had to be a pirate’s life – besides his music success, Campbell was married four times – that vanish from the very person who created them.

One of the disappointments early in the documentary is the lack of background about Campbell and his career, highlights and such. But by the end of the film, it doesn’t matter because it is all gone, and it becomes obvious that it’s gone (Campbell has recently been moved to a Alzheimer’s care center). The whole of the first part of his life is encompassed in one of the best title sequences of the year, a kaleidoscope backed with the 1960s instrumental “Classical Gas.”

Glen Campbell
Ashley Campbell Performs with Her Dad in ‘Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me’
Photo credit: Area 23a

And speaking of show business, there is an oddity in the first part of the film. There are two segments shown of Campbell on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” In the first one, both men are bearded (when did Johnny have a beard?) and in the second, both are wearing white suits – Johnny in a Steve Martin-type and Glen in a white cowboy suit. Credit director James Keach (“Walk the Line”) for noticing this in hours of clips…and of course for sticking with and profiling Glen Campbell through thick and thinner.

When a musician fades away, such as Glen Campbell, there is no end to the irony of their former popular songs. For example, this one “…That keeps you in the backroads/By the rivers of my memory/That keeps you ever gentle on my mind…”

”Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me” continues its limited release in Chicago on November 7th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Glen Campbell, Kim Campbell, Ashley Campbell, and appearances by Jay Leno, Paul McCartney, Johnny Carson, Bruce Springsteen, Brad Paisey, Keith Urban, Jimmy Webb and Sheryl Crow. Directed by James Keach. Rated “PG

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Writer, Editorial Coordinator
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2014 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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