Search - The Rocker: A Portrait of Philip Lynott on DVD

Deeply Moving Look at Philo

William Heyer | 05/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a deeply moving and personal look at Phil Lynott's life and times as the first few minutes of footage show us Phil's funeral. This Irish production gave me insight into Lynott's life that I had never seen before. We get interviews from all the central figures in his life including all his bandmates, mother, ex-wife, managers and other musical friends/influences like Bono, Bob Geldof, Huey Lewis (who played w/ Phil) and Van Morrison. The musical elements of stories and live footage was extremely impressive and great quality. If they had stopped there, the documentary would have been very good. But they takes it to another level by showing what kind of person Phil was with his family and how they remember him. Private home movies of Phil with his kids and life at home brings a tear to your eye. The man was fiercely protective of his family and never spoke about them publicly, but here they reveal so much including how good of a father he was, his music room at home and even the last words he said to his mother while he lay dying. Forget the cheesy cover of this DVD - I was deeply moved and affected by this documentary since nothing was sugarcoated and we truly do get a true portrait of his life and times. If you are a fan of Thin Lizzy at all, this is required watching. But I also highly recommend it to anyone who is Irish or enjoys U2, Bruce Springsteen, Hendrix, Elvis, Bon Jovi or Van Morrison. God bless you Philip..."

Portrait of Phil Lynott

Raven Shaddock | USA | 06/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an excellent but brief (58 min.) portrait of Phil Lynott that shows the ups and downs of The Rocker. There are some rare footage of Phil growing up that talks about his childhood & early days prior to Lizzy.
What's interesting is they have footage of Phil talking about Thin Lizzy. You have interviews with Phil's mother, Philomena, his wife Caroline and Thin Lizzy members Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Brian Robertson, Eric Bell and Gary Moore. Thin Lizzy managers Chris Morrison and Chris O'Donnell. I think the interesting interviews was from the band mates who toured & played w/ him.
Some other guests interviews include Bono, Bob Geldof, Huey Lewis, Van Morrison, etc...
I notice some of the interviews are what was written in the Thin Lizzy `Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels' 4CD Box Set.
They do play some songs but not in it's entirety. It's sad he left us at an early time. Rest In Peace, Phil."

A charming, moving, surprisingly good documentary

sir_isaac_newton | UK | 04/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD reminded how GREAT Thin Lizzy are and what a unique, lovable rogue/genius Phil Lynott was. There is good mix of music and interviews and the sound quality is excellent. Towards the end, I must admit, I shed some tears. Having read several books on Phil and Thin Lizzy, I was happy to see that most of the main characters are interviewed, including the band, management, Phil's mother & wife, and it looked realistically (i.e. including drugs & women) but sensitively at the whole package that was Phil. This DVD should help ensure Phil's considerable contribution continues to be recognised and understood. It serves as a fitting memorial for the Black Rose of Ireland - "he loved to rock and roll".

Re. technical aspects, the quality of the DVD is better than I dared expect. It is professionally made and the quality of the images and sounds are superb; the sound quality is better than the CD version of Live And Dangerous). I was happily surprised to see early home cine film footage which, although predicably low fidelity, was in good condition (computer restored/enhanced perhaps). Some early black & white footage of Dublin was worryingly grainy ("surely they could have restored it?") but it was just setting the scene and was probably deliberate left looking "period". Despite viewing several other Lynott interviews on youtube the night before this arrive -- all the footage on this DVD was refeshingly new to me.

I always regret not going to talk to Phil & the boys after we saw them at the Oxford Apollo. Thin Lizzy always treated the fans right. Too late now. This footage is as close as we can get now...except for one thing: see Thin Lizzy touring now. They are still great and you can feel Phil's presence - the heart and soul of Thin Lizzy. Rock N Roll personified.
"