It was like a Christmas morning for the MC5 fans that had faithfully gathered for the second showing of the long-awaited documentary film MC5: A True Testimonial. Two showings were scheduled for the opening night of the Chicago Underground Film Festival and I was one of the lucky ones who picked up their tickets in advance since both shows were completely sold out. A tremendous line had already formed outside of the theatre entrance by the time we had arrived, mostly young adults who had never seen the MC5 back in their heyday but you could tell that these folks were ready for some action.

People were growing impatient as the wait grew longer, seems that there were some technical difficulties with the equipment and the staff was trying to fix them before the 10:30 showing. Finally people poured into the overcrowded theatre. People were crowded in into the aisles, on the floors and anywhere else they could as the anticipation built up for the lights to dim. The theatre manager came out to apologize for the delay and explained that there were problems with the equipment which caused slight glitches in the film occasionally. Producer and director David Thomas took the stage briefly to express his dismay with the theatre's lack of proper equipment and offered refunds to anyone who wasn't satisfied with the quality of the showing. The audience was not having it though and I think that if the theatre was on fire that night that they would have let the place burn down around them before exiting the building.

Finally the lights went dim and a roar from the crowd went up as the trailer for the Monks documentary "Transatlantic Feedback" got the crowd warmed up for some rock and roll action. I'd never heard of the Monks prior to this trailer but any band that Genesis P. Orridge is a fan of has got to be interesting. Then a brief interlude as tapes were changed and then ATT began with images of the Grande Ballroom in its' present dilapidated state that gave way to footage of the Grande in its' heyday. The credits began to roll and the place went wild. Sporadic cheers went up as each member of the 5 was introduced, each with a montage of classic and rare shots of each individual.

The film starts off with Brother Wayne Kramer driving a muscle car down the streets of Detroit reminiscing about his early days with the guys in the 5. Dennis Thompson takes the viewers back to their old high school in Lincoln Park, Michigan and talks about what it was like for him back in those days. Mike Davis appears intermittently in footage shot in Arizona amongst the backdrops of the desert where he now calls home. There are also short pieces from past interviews with our departed comrades Rob Tyner and Fred "Sonic" Smith that makes the story as complete and accurate as possible.�

In between all of the powerful testimonies given by each member there is a barrage of film and photographs that will blow even the most initiated fans away. Much of the footage in the film was previously unreleased and unseen and there are so many amazing pieces of the 5 playing live that it is hard to pick out a favorite. There is some pretty powerful footage of the 5 getting down at the West Park Bandshell from one of the free concerts that they used to play every Sunday in Ann Arbor. It's worth it just to watch them do chorus-girl like kicks in unison as they play. The footage of the MC5 playing in Chicago's Lincoln Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention is pretty interesting as well especially since it was filmed by undercover police officers attending the festival. But there is other footage that will just leave you speechless whether it's Fred and Wayne trying to pull off the "MC5" gig in Finland or Fred Smith in his silver super-hero suit that Dennis Thompson mockingly claims was the inspiration for KISS's costumes.

The interviews are tough and honest, a lot of emotion in their words. There is no candy coating here, no glossy interviews glamorizing their drug use. It is a highly charged and personal look into these people’s lives and they all answer with complete sincerity and it will leave you with not only a better sense of the MC5 as a group but as human beings as well. It seemed that the cameras were forgotten about as Wayne Kramer sullenly discusses what it was like at the end of the bands' career and you can tell that in a lot of ways they were discussing things that they may not have ever been able to address before.

Between the energetic footage and the powerfully candid nature of the interviews, this film will leave you exhausted. It is highly evident how much work went into making this film and I can just imagine how difficult it was to edit this story down into a two-hour film. I don't know if this film lived up to the expectations of the people who made this film but I know that it surpasses the expectations of those of us who saw it. Outside of a Rocky Horror crowd I've never heard an audience cheer on a film as much as this one and I expect that this film will eventually have a cult-following of its' own. Maybe there won't be midnight showings were people come dressed up as Sinclair and throw TP but for those of us who have never seen the 5 it will be our way of connecting to a past that many of us missed out on.

Back to top
To Creem Article by Brian J. Bowe