Big City Dick: Richard Peterson's First Movie (2004)

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Directors:

Ken Harder
Scott Milam

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

This is a captivating journey into the world of a savant street musician and his lifelong struggle to become a successful recording artist...

Plot Keywords:

Apostrophe In Title | Punctuation In Title | Character Name In Title

Cast

Jeff Bridges	...	Himself
Pat Cashman	...	Himself
Gary Crow	...	Himself
Dean DeLeo	...	Himself
Robin Erickson	...	Herself
John Keister	...	Himself
Johnny Mathis	...	Himself
John Maynard	...	Himself
Scott McCaughey	...	Himself
Muriel Peterson	...	Herself
Richard Peterson	...	Himself
Mike Rhodes	...	Himself
Ken Schram	...	Himself
Ross Shafer	...	Himself
Steve Wilson	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Seattle, Washington, USA

Company:

New Ziv Pictures

Movie Connections:

Features "Sea Hunt" (1958)

An incredible achievement

Hi.

I don't normally post on here, but after viewing the current lone, negative posting about this movie, I decided to share my thoughts.

I also viewed this film at the Boston Independent Film Festival, and I have to say, after seeing tons of both mainstream and independent films in my lifetime, this is one of the best. A truly stunning achievement and fascinating subject. I'm not sure what the previous reviewer of this film was thinking honestly, and disagree on basically every point that he/she brings up.

If you can see this film somehow, I STRONGLY encourage you to. It is unlike any film or documentary you've seen before, especially ones about sauvants or people with autism (ie the Rain Mans out there). It is a truly all encompassing study and look into a person -- a true film biography that film biographers can only dream of accomplishing.

Mixing film styles, animations, clips, photographs and music, Big City Dick is surprising from the beginning, and never lets up, following a savant with a speech impediment named Richard Peterson on his adventures in Seattle, from playing the trumpet on the streets, making his own albums, forging (and sometimes forcing) friendships with local radio and TV personalities, meeting actor Jeff Bridges, obssessing over Johnny Mathis, making his own albums, etc....it's a tough-love movie with no over sentimentality, giving you the full scope of Richard and the people (some good, some really, really bad) around him...

At the screening I attended, the audience unanimously loved the movie and I imagine it received quite high ratings. One audience member, a street musician himself, paused on his way out, stood in front of the crowd, and said how much he appreciated this look into a much-under-appreciated profession.

Just a truly great film -- I could talk for hours about it. Yes, as the previous reviewer says, it goes on for a bit too long and could have been edited smoother (but really, when you consider how much footage and story there is, it's AMAZING it was edited AT ALL.)

Thanks guys, for making this film!