Rocket Man vs Bohemian Rhapsody

**Purple_Camel** · 07-17-2019

Originally Posted by wilcox660

Art with a capital "F" as they say. By the by, Brian, John & Roger were all portrayed as mindless, cardboard cutouts riding Freddie's talent. Why did that bother no one on this board other than me? Queen were a band of 4 strong songwriters, not 1.

I was bothered by the complete absence of Elton's Band in Rocket Man. I don't think there was even one speaking line from one of his band members which all played a huge role in his success. I saw RM first, so was pleased to see that BR was inclusive of the band in the movie, and not just a Freddie only story with a passing shot of the band playing in the background.

Elton's band was fantastic and extremely talented. His band could have been successful with a different singer in my opinion, just as Queen could have without Freddie.

**arabicadabra** · 07-17-2019

I'm too opinionated about the heights that Elton and his band reached to be able to NOT see those tunes coming together in a biopic. Hell, even the Classic Albums episode about Goodbye Yellow Brick Road doesn't spend any time at all on one of the greatest guitar hooks of all time, the world-shaking Love Lies Bleeding. I get more out of the Beatles doing acid with Dewey Cox scene in Walk Hard than I do out of many of these "about" films. A notable exception that really tells and shows some stuff is Ballad Of Mott The Hoople.

**Facelift** · 07-17-2019

Originally Posted by JKL2000

There must be loads of bio-pics that are mostly liked but where liberties were taken to make a good film. Was “Yankee Doodle Dandy” very accurate? The movie about Liberace? The Doors movie?I don’t actually know, but I suspect this often is done.

In service of what, exactly, were the "liberties" in the EJ film contributing?

It was mostly laziness, as far as I could tell. Like, for example, the trip to the therapy session in costume didn't likely happen, but who cares? That's fine. A lot of the other stuff though; damn.

There is only an extent to which the story of a real person can be fictionalized; ootherwise, what's the point?

**Facelift** · 07-17-2019

Originally Posted by wilcox660

I think things could have been more chronologically correct without lessening impact. The flat out lies were unnecessary.

Agreed. The flat-out laziness in the editing of both films was appalling.

**mozo-pg** · 07-17-2019

Overall, I totally enjoyed BR. I thought the Elton movie was quite a bit weaker but still entertaining.

**Plasmatopia** · 07-18-2019

Originally Posted by wilcox660

I think things could have been more chronologically correct without lessening impact. The flat out lies were unnecessary.

Maybe...I guess I'd have to see the screenplay to know if that's true. I think a movie with impact could be made that way, but would the same emotional recipe be the result? I almost get the impression that someone decided what they wanted the emotional finale to be and worked backwards from there to set that scene up.

**Purple_Camel** · 07-18-2019

Originally Posted by Facelift

In service of what, exactly, were the "liberties" in the EJ film contributing?

It was mostly laziness, as far as I could tell. Like, for example, the trip to the therapy session in costume didn't likely happen, but who cares? That's fine. A lot of the other stuff though; damn.

There is only an extent to which the story of a real person can be fictionalized; ootherwise, what's the point?

No doubt to me that the opening scene from Rocket Man was going to be Elton John telling "his story" from "his perspective" and how "it felt to him".
In that sense, it made sense despite the inaccurate timeline which might have just blended into one thing in "Elton's Mind".

BR, however was a blatant attempt to re write history and tell a story that simply did not happen using a dead man's real tragedy to profit. I know Brian May is a smart guy who ponders Astrophysics when he can, but maybe the history channel didn't hire him to help pay his lavish bills from his former lifestyle? Didn't he leave the lab and go back out on tour after his Vegas show bombed and his "Bad Company" singer bombed as well? Queen album back catalog sales have been soaring since the release of this work of fiction.

**hFx** · 07-19-2019

There are tons of movies based on biographical content and it's very hard to find any that doesn't contain any fictional content or time warps to spice things up. The Theory of Everything (about Stephen Hawking) and A Beautiful Mind (about John Nash) come to mind. Even documentaries, especially all those modern ones with actors that portray historical persons, are spiced to make "good TV/movies".

But I do agree that a story spiced up to the extent that the result is blatant history revision (intended or out of carelessness) isn't acceptable.

**JKL2000** · 07-19-2019

Originally Posted by Facelift

In service of what, exactly, were the "liberties" in the EJ film contributing?

It was mostly laziness, as far as I could tell. Like, for example, the trip to the therapy session in costume didn't likely happen, but who cares? That's fine. A lot of the other stuff though; damn.

There is only an extent to which the story of a real person can be fictionalized; ootherwise, what's the point?

Maybe I didn't make it clear that I was responding to comments about Bohemian Rhapsody. I haven't seen the EJ film.