Lambert and Stamp

Opens the window on a pivotal time in 1960s (and early 1970s) pop culture.

Lambert and Stamp are at least a bit fascinating, or at least somewhat interesting. But this film runs nearly two hours. They are at best an hour-and-a-half's worth of interesting.

Lambert & Stamp is at its best when it chronicles the high-wire act of the band's early years, as the pair guided the band through ever-greater levels of success.

An engrossing business story that approaches the band as a showbiz concern, recognizing the two managers as full creative partners and probing their relationships with the fractious musicians.

You might call this a business story. But I call it a love story, and I think director Cooper might, too.

Who fans will be this film's biggest audience, but the storytelling is limited by the fact that Lambert died in 1981 (of alcohol and drug abuse).

Cooper's cinematic scrapbook captures a relentless whirlwind of explosive rock history, in which a non-linear narrative and slick cinematography rollicks furiously through the decades, rooting the audience directly in the band's volcanic timeline.

Though it's not just for Who fans, those well-versed in the band will enjoy picking out some of the more obscure, copyright-friendly songs used in the appropriately loud soundtrack.

Lambert played an essential role in encouraging Pete Townshend's songwriting, which is an important tidbit, but most of the info here won't be new to Who fans. That early footage, on the other hand, is documentary gold.

"A fresh and invigorating film that avoids many of the clichés of the 'rockumentary.'"

Cinematographer James D. Cooper makes his directorial debut with this entertaining, if incomplete, account of how the six men made it together as far as the creation of the rock opera Tommy before self- destructing.

I did not think a documentary about The Who could possibly surprise me.