Maybe Aretha didn’t think she looked her most confident. That’s gotta be the reason why she kept people from seeing Amazing Grace, the documentary and concert film that captured her recording her live gospel album of the same name.
It’s been shelved over at Warner Bros. for damn near 40 years. The original reason for its shelving was that the director — future Oscar winner Sydney Pollack — didn’t use a clapperboard to synchronize the picture and sound for each take. Before Pollack died in 2008, he handed over the footage to music composer and producer Alan Elliott, who properly completed the film. (Although Pollack does get sole directorial credit here.)
Elliott was all ready to release this film in 2011, until the Queen of Soul herself headed him off — she sued him for using her likeness without permission. When he tried to take the film on the festival circuit a few years later, Franklin once again sued, saying she had not granted permission.
Franklin died in August. The film had brief runs in New York and L.A. in the winter, but now it’s finally seeing a wider release. As you watch Amazing Grace, you might get the sense that Franklin didn’t want people to see how visibly nervous she was when she recorded the album. Filmed over two nights in January 1972 at Los Angeles’ New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Grace presents Franklin as a woman who is intensely driven to win over these God-fearing folk. During several songs, she has her eyes closed, seemingly shutting out everything that might distract her from properly making a joyful noise — it’s enough to make you wonder if she was actually enjoying herself.
As her own father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, divulges when he steps to the pulpit, there were black folk at the time who loved Aretha and her eventually iconic secular hits, but they still wanted her to sing for the Lord. Even though Papa Franklin stood up for his pride and joy, proclaiming that she never stopped singing in Jesus’ name, Franklin knew how to summon her gospel upbringing when the occasion called for it.
Although the album — which went double platinum and, naturally, scored a Best Gospel Album Grammy — proves that Franklin was an exceptional live gospel performer, the film catches several amusing visual moments. Franklin is backed up by a peerless crew of session musicians (guitarist Cornell Dupree, bassist Chuck Rainey and drummer Bernard Purdie), along with the silver-vested Southern California Community Choir (who can do their thang while sitting!) and the Rev. James Cleveland on piano. Whenever Franklin hits those high notes, Cleveland declares his approval by throwing his handkerchief at her. (Both Franklin and Cleveland sweat buckets in this one — even Franklin’s daddy pats down her face at one point.) And when she performs “Never Grow Old,” Gertrude Mae Ward of the legendary gospel group The Famous Ward Singers gets so wrapped up in the Holy Spirit that it takes a bunch of people (including her gospel-star daughter Clara Ward) to restrain her from going onstage and joining in her damn self.
Even if the doc caught only Franklin’s first night at the church, it would’ve been perfect. She closes out that evening with the title song, a rendition so emotion-stirring that it causes both the audience and the choir to stand up and cheer in solidarity, and also makes Cleveland step away from the piano to have a good cry. But Amazing Grace goes on to depict the second night (when the camera catches Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts in the audience), full of enthusiastic numbers that fully highlight the choir and once again shine a light on how powerful Franklin was in a church setting.
Amazing Grace is a truly joyous and energizing celluloid celebration of live music, right up there with The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. Even if you’re not into gospel, I challenge anyone to not tap their feet once Franklin kicks off a church revival with her singing. The lost — and now found — movie is a glowing reminder of what a friend we had in the late, great Aretha.
