I’m trying to remember the last time I saw a ‘Hollywood history’ that didn’t leave me feeling at least a little uneasy on the history side of things. Are the lives of the rich and famous (such are most of the subjects) so boring that they need embellishment? When the subject is a musician, would I be entirely wrong to suspect that is as much about the desire to sell a few more records as about the quest to tell true and meaningful stories?

The most recent biopic I’ve watched was Walk the Line (2005) about the early career of Johnny Cash. I enjoyed the music and appreciated the acting and cinematography. However, it definitely fell short on the history front. I’d say it depicted Cash as both more and less than he was: more of an Adonis and less, as he certainly later became, as a man of deep convictions and compassion. I felt a lot less sympathetic to the character portrayed in the film than to what I’ve heard about him elsewhere.

The thought that came to mind was that, if Hollywood made a film about King David, they would have a few flashbacks to the adventures and perils of his childhood (shepherd boy), a big scene about facing Goliath (probably with ‘hidden doubts’ exposed and lots of gore when the giant’s head is hacked off) and then spend most of the movie watching David watching Bathsheba from his roof top, ending with the love story of how, despite the odds, he persuades her to marry him. Bible students will know just how much of the true (warts and all) story that misses out but that’s Hollywood history for you.

I’d be inclined to say that the best film I’ve seen with the story centred around modern music was Yesterday (2019) which, of course, made no pretence about being a flight of fancy (a world in which the Beatles never formed up and wrote their songs). There are some good documentaries too but I think I’d rather listen to an album or two than watch Walk the Line again.