Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Harry is one of the greatest actors of all time and he is been in nearly hundred well known movies. That makes him a legend of actual modern and contemporary film history. From the 70´s till now in 2022.

He and M. Emmet Walsh used to appear in a lot of movies, they were cult classics or well done movies, so the critics told us that if we find a movie where they were acting we will be entertained and with quality filmaking. In my opinion, he deserved an honorific award from the academy, but They didn´t give him. No problem, he will be forever one of the greatest, a reference of good quality cinema and a great character that makes a movie greater than it is. Long live to Harry!

7 stars out of 10.

Intriguing and uniquely strange insight into the life and more properly the thinkings and philosophies of the man. Whilst the film does look at a number of his films and acting style, particularly Paris,Texas, the subject is almost incidental. What you get is largely face time with Stanton as he ponders his life and thinking, punctuated for probably half the film with him singing, rather beautifully, I might add, a significant number of great old songs. He does talk briefly about acting, film making and friends from the industry - it's nice to see him and Kristofferson chat lovingly - and interestingly, Stanton's assistant advises that whilst he is to a degree the Forrest Gump of the film world, make no mistake, he works very hard to get things right.

So not your typical movie type documentary, but grab a glass of Tennessee Whiskey, sit back and let it wash over you.

As a fan of HDS, I was looking forward to a factual documentary and a celebration of his work, but this collection of clips, old songs and ramblings was deeply irritating. We kept giving it another five minutes to see if it would come up with something interesting, new or informative, but it never did. We gave up after about 30 minutes.

HDS was a talented actor playing mostly supporting roles but nevertheless making an impression and the only thing we discover with this "documentary" is that he was also a good singer.

His craft does not make him a particularly interesting man. In fact, he struck me as a very uninteresting person with little or nothing to say and/or incapable of saying anything of relevance.

Or maybe it's the grating, annoying style of the "documentary" that doesn't do him justice.

Filled with out of focus random images, super-fast editing and - mercifully - some clips from HDS movie - the "documentary" present zero structural narrative and it's nothing more than a very suspicious case of the director's style being more relevant than her subject matter.

I saw this twice in the theaters - a rarity for me. The film is part musical (Harry sings quite a few songs), part verite (days in the life of an unsung hero in showbiz), and part retrospective of the man's career. I found this to be a wonderful change of pace from the run-of-the-mill documentary we see every day. Great black and white photography and very interesting conversations with Kris Kristofferson, David Lynch and others. Harry does not 'spell' anything out for you, so don't come looking for answers! Some of the best moments come when we see Harry drinking at his local bar and mingling with the patrons. Make sure you watch the credits for his wonderful rendition of Danny Boy.' Overall, this film is something refreshing and different for those seeking new and unusual ways to piece a documentary together.