Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

George Hickenlooper

Writer:

George Hickenlooper (writer)

Release Date:

26 March 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Tagline:

You Should Have Been There ...

Plot:

A look at the history of fame in the world through the eyes of pop star impresario, Rodney Bingenheimer

Plot Keywords:

D.J. | Eccentric | Celebrity | Retrospective | Music Promoter

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Rodney Bingenheimer	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tori Amos	...	Herself
Billie Joe Armstrong	...	Himself (as Green Day)
Beck	...	Himself
Jello Biafra	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bing Bingenheimer	...	Himself
Zelda Bingenheimer	...	Herself
D.J. Bonebrake	...	Himself
Sonny Bono	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Bowie	...	Himself
Leo Braudy	...	Himself
Clem Burke	...	Himself
Neve Campbell	...	Herself
Belinda Carlisle	...	Herself
Chris P. Carter	...	Himself
Exene Cervenka	...	Herself
Camille Chancery	...	Herself
Cher	...	Herself
Tre Cool	...	Himself (as Green Day)
Alice Cooper	...	Himself
Elvis Costello	...	Himself
Bing Crosby	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cherie Currie	...	Herself
Tony Curtis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Michael Des Barres	...	Himself
Pamela Des Barres	...	Herself
Henry Diltz	...	Himself
Dion DiMucci	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mike Dirnt	...	Himself (as Green Day)
John Doe	...	Himself
Denny Doherty	...	Himself (archive footage)
Micky Dolenz	...	Himself (archive footage)
India Dupré	...	Herself
John Easdale	...	Himself
'Mama' Cass Elliot	...	Herself (archive footage)
Corey Feldman	...	Himself
Kim Fowley	...	Himself
Liam Gallagher	...	Himself
Noel Gallagher	...	Himself
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Herself
Leigh Gorman	...	Himself
Jed 'The Fish' Gould	...	Himself (as Jed the Fish)
Green Day	...	Themselves
Deborah Harry	...	Herself
George Hickenlooper	...	Himself
William Holden	...	Himself (archive footage)
Rock Hudson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mick Jagger	...	Himself
Joan Jett	...	Herself
David Johansen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Davy Jones	...	Himself
Kato Kaelin	...	Himself
Liza Kumjian-Smith	...	Herself
Janet Leigh	...	Herself (archive footage)
John Lennon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jerry Lee Lewis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lance Loud	...	Himself
Courtney Love	...	Herself
Annabella Lwin	...	Herself
John Lydon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ray Manzarek	...	Himself
Johnny Marr	...	Himself
Chris Martin	...	Himself
Dean Martin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paul McCartney	...	Himself
Miss Mercy	...	Herself
Kramer Morgenthau	...	Himself
Jim Morrison	...	Himself (archive footage)
Michael Nesmith	...	Himself (archive footage)
Yoko Ono	...	Herself (archive footage)
John Phillips	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mackenzie Phillips	...	Herself
Michelle Phillips	...	Herself (archive footage)
Poe	...	Herself
Iggy Pop	...	Himself (archive footage)
Monique Powell	...	Herself
Elvis Presley	...	Himself (archive footage)
Domenic Priore	...	Himself
Joey Ramone	...	Himself (archive footage)
Keanu Reeves	...	Himself
Paul Reubens	...	Himself
Linda Ronstadt	...	Herself (archive footage)
Gavin Rossdale	...	Himself (credit only)
David Lee Roth	...	Himself (archive footage)
Brooke Shields	...	Herself
Frank Sinatra	...	Himself (archive footage)
Nancy Sinatra	...	Herself
Phil Spector	...	Himself
Gwen Stefani	...	Herself
Chris Stein	...	Himself (archive footage)
Danny Sugerman	...	Himself (as Danny Sugarman)
Peter Tork	...	Himself (archive footage)
Pete Townshend	...	Himself
Frankie Valli	...	Himself (archive footage)
Edward Van Halen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ronald Vaughan	...	Himself / Isadore Ivy:Spaceman-at-Large
Sid Vicious	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Wendt	...	Himself
Louise Wener	...	Herself
Jane Wiedlin	...	Herself (archive footage)
Brian Wilson	...	Himself
Carnie Wilson	...	Herself
Lisa Worden	...	Herself
X.	...	Themselves (as X)
Neil Young	...	Himself
Rob Zombie	...	Himself
Billy Zoom	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content/nudity, language and some drug references.

Runtime:

Canada:94 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Caldera Productions

Trivia:

After making its world premiere as the Centerpiece Film of the 2003 IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival the movie sold to First Look Media and Lakeshore Entertainment for $1.3 million, making it the second highest selling documentary of all time, next to Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine (2002).

Quotes:

Rodney Bingenheimer: [pointing to a frame on his wall] Elvis Presley's driver's license.

Movie Connections:

Features "Hullabaloo" (1965)

Soundtrack:

All The Madmen

Excellent, But Not Enough Music

As an Angeleno, I was a long-time listener to KROQ, but gave it up the day grunge came to town. I used to listen to Rodney back when he was on at a decent hour. He was so weird and you always felt like you were terribly cool and on-the-edge for listening to him. It is too bad KROQ abandoned Rodney's kind of music in favor of the crap they play today.

But on to the movie itself. I thought it was excellent in its own right, which had the classic tragedy theme. Looking at it that way, this movie could not have been better.

But from a music standpoint there was something lacking. Rodney is Rodney because of the music, his love of the music, his ear and knack for the music. There was plenty in this movie about the musicians but very little about the music they play. I would have liked a few comments along the lines of, "Oh, the first time I heard the opening riff of such-and-such a song," or "Man, when I saw so-and-so play for the first time at the Whiskey!" There is a curious lack of talk about the actual tunes in this movie. One DOES come away with the feeling that it was just celebrities that Rodney loved and not the art they created...and I know this is not the case.

But back to the "tragedy" that was this movie's real purpose. It was so excruciating to watch some of these scenes. A truly great movie in this respect. The encounters with the family, the dumping of his mom's ashes, the freak-out with Chris Carter, the horrible, horrible side-story of the 50-year-old wannabe rock star. This movie was positively Shakespearean! And knowing what a tragic landscape Los Angeles really is, I loved that this was conveyed so well in this film; the Denny's, the stripmalls, the ugly apartment buildings.