Films about Musicians

Nightowl · 2025-01-06T00:29:03+00:00

I enjoy watching biopics of famous musicians, it's great to enjoy their music while watching their life stories unfold on screen. Over the recent holiday pe...

pseudonym58

"The Only Girl in the Orchestra", a short (35 minutes) documentary about the life and career of Orin O'Brien, the first full-time female member (string bass) of the New York Philharmonic orchestra.
I remember seeing her in the section starting in the early '70s (although she joined under Bernstein's tenure, in 1966).
It's available through Netflix, but there may also be other ways of streaming the film.

BartK

pseudonym58 "The Only Girl in the Orchestra"

I've seen that one. It's very short but I enjoyed it. 👍

ShiroKuro

Ooh this is a great thread! Some listed I recognize (like Green Book) but haven't seen yet, so this is a great reminder. Others are new to me.

I'll see if I can add any to the list as well. 🙂

Nightowl

Stub That film sounds intriguing, I'll look out for it.

Johnny Cash had a distinctive voice and a strong stage presence, which Phoenix portrayed very well. I loved reading the little snippets at the end of the film, which rounded the film off very nicely. It's clear that Cash and Carter were soul mates.

Nightowl

Animisha That's true, it's very gritty in places - parts of it are brutal! 😬

Danieru

Bessie (2015) - Bessie Smith
Respect (2021) - Aretha Franklin

I liked both

WieWaldi

Yesterday
Yellow Submarine

Nightowl

Stub Well, you know what they say - never let the truth get in the way of a good story! 😁 Regardless of how inaccurate it might be, it sounds like it's worth seeing, so that's another one for my watch list.

WieWaldi I'm not a huge fan of the Beatles, but maybe @Player1 would enjoy watching those two films? 😂🙃 <stands back, waiting for P1 to come along and share his love for their music>

WieWaldi

Better Man
Amadeus

Stub

WieWaldi Amadeus

I know the movie got panned for making up a lot of stuff about Mozart and Salieri, but the music--it was wonderful!

WieWaldi

Stub I know the movie got panned for making up a lot of stuff about Mozart and Salieri

Nah, this movie never claimed to be historically correct. It is told from the memories of the old Salieri. And for sure it got way more praise for being great than critic for being inacurate. Come on - it won 8 oscars.

WieWaldi

Nightowl I am also not a huge beatles fan. But I found the Yesterdsay movie brilliant. It is a movie, not a biography. Actually, I enjoyed it more than Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody (despite I am a big Queen fan)! Put it on your watch list!
Yellow Submarine? Forget it if you aren't a Beatles fan.

Player1

Nightowl I'm not a huge fan of the Beatles, but maybe @Player1 would enjoy watching those two films? 😂🙃 <stands back, waiting for P1 to come along and share his love for their music>

Oh you just had to go there, didn't you?

Meanies. Meanies everywhere I go, I tell ya.

Nightowl

Well, that's not a very flattering picture of me, P1, but I'm going to just Let it Be. It's Been A Hard Day's Night, but I know I can cope With A Little Help From My Friends. 🙃

WieWaldi Sounds interesting, on the list it goes. I had mixed feelings about Rocketman, it had its moments but I wasn't keen on the way it kept moving back and forth through time. I enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody and felt it gave a good insight into the turbulent personal life of Freddy Mercury.

Nightowl

Player1 Hi P1! 😄 Meanies.... whatever do you mean?! 🙃🤣

Player1

Nightowl

Player1

I tell ya, it's a March of the Meanies around here

Nightowl

Player1 Nice picture P1 - Do you give that pride of place in your home? 😁🙃

Player1

Nightowl

I had to undo several layers of filters to get to the point where I could even find the search results. More filter layers had to be undone before I could even copy/paste the linky.

Now I have hours and hours of work to do to restore all those anti-Beatles filters. And even more hours ensuring that my computer isn't infected with some kind of Beatles virus that makes it play horrible music at max volume while teenybopper girls scream in the background.

keff

For an emotional ride....Copying Beethoven. Closing scenes from the film can be seen in...

Nightowl

Player1 Aw, I'm sorry about that P1, you clearly went above and beyond to find the right image and music to fit my mean girl image - it can't have been easy going into Beatles' infested territory! 🙃 Save yourself while there's still time, the last thing you want is a Beatles infestation! If it's any consolation, things are so much worse here in the UK, as Paul McCartney is still performing and has a habit of randomly popping up on our TV screens when doing the rounds to promote his latest thing - it's like watching something from a zombie horror movie! Still, maybe he needs the cash, he's probably down to his last trillion! 😁