November 19, 2024
FILM: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ALLEE WILLIS
DIRECTED BY: ALEXIS SPRAIC
RATING: 3 ½ out 4 stars
By Dan Pal
What do the Earth, Wind, & Fire song September and the theme from Friends have in common? They were both co-written by Allee Willis. That’s right, two of the most successful and profitable songs in the history of pop music were created by someone most of us don’t know by name. The new documentary The World According to Allee Willis celebrates the life and career of the woman who not only had a great pop sensibility but was a true artist working in several facets of the entertainment industry.
While the film provides a fairly linear approach to its detailing of Willis’s life, what’s particularly cool about it (and something that I can personally relate to) is that Willis began documenting parts of her own life in the 1970s when her career started taking off. As such the film is filled with footage of Willis in her flamboyantly decorated home in the San Fernando Valley. We also see cassettes that she saved, boxes of projects, drawers of song lyrics, and a wide assortment of offbeat art that covered almost every inch of that bright pink home.
Director Alexis Spraic also includes childhood home movies and photos which provide a great sense of who this self-described tomboy was in her early years growing up in Detroit. Fortunately, there are so many visual recordings of Willis that it almost feels as if she has developed this entire documentary to tell her own story. Sadly, Willis passed away at the age of 72 in 2019. However, her many friends and colleagues are interviewed to fill in many additional details about her life. These include Pamela Adlon, Lily Tomlin, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Vilanch, Patti LaBelle, Mark Cuban, and the late Paul Ruebens.
On the surface one might wonder who this project is for, but it becomes very clear that Willis was a major force in the entertainment industry and represents what it was like for women as they battled their way to the top during her era. For instance, it was almost impossible for her to get producing credit on much of her work, even after becoming a Grammy winner for the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Willis is credited as also being the writer of such mega hits as Earth, Wind, & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland and the Pointer Sisters’ Neutron Dance. The film provides plenty of interesting details as to how these songs came about and the various struggles she had in gaining and maintaining status within the industry.
Simultaneously, Spraic provides a peek into Willis’s private life as a lesbian and the difficulty she found in being out as an artist during the 1970s and 80s. She also had other interests and skills such as in the production design of music videos and television sets as well as painting, for which she received great acclaim. It’s clear from the work she’d done that Willis had the great ability to express herself using her own unique sensibility in each of her creative projects.
Near the end of her life she received accolades for the music she wrote for the Broadway production of The Color Purple. The film shows her at this new height in fame just before her sudden passing.
Overall, the documentary is inspiring and very entertaining. It’s hard not to tap your toes or think back to your own fond memories of the many songs and projects Willis was associated with. She was a major creative force that brought a lot of joy to people as the film so lovingly illustrates.
The World According to Allee Willis will be screened in select movie theaters tomorrow. It will then be available on digital streaming sites beginning Friday.
FILM: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ALLEE WILLIS
DIRECTED BY: ALEXIS SPRAIC
RATING: 3 ½ out 4 stars
By Dan Pal
What do the Earth, Wind, & Fire song September and the theme from Friends have in common? They were both co-written by Allee Willis. That’s right, two of the most successful and profitable songs in the history of pop music were created by someone most of us don’t know by name. The new documentary The World According to Allee Willis celebrates the life and career of the woman who not only had a great pop sensibility but was a true artist working in several facets of the entertainment industry.
While the film provides a fairly linear approach to its detailing of Willis’s life, what’s particularly cool about it (and something that I can personally relate to) is that Willis began documenting parts of her own life in the 1970s when her career started taking off. As such the film is filled with footage of Willis in her flamboyantly decorated home in the San Fernando Valley. We also see cassettes that she saved, boxes of projects, drawers of song lyrics, and a wide assortment of offbeat art that covered almost every inch of that bright pink home.
Director Alexis Spraic also includes childhood home movies and photos which provide a great sense of who this self-described tomboy was in her early years growing up in Detroit. Fortunately, there are so many visual recordings of Willis that it almost feels as if she has developed this entire documentary to tell her own story. Sadly, Willis passed away at the age of 72 in 2019. However, her many friends and colleagues are interviewed to fill in many additional details about her life. These include Pamela Adlon, Lily Tomlin, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Vilanch, Patti LaBelle, Mark Cuban, and the late Paul Ruebens.
On the surface one might wonder who this project is for, but it becomes very clear that Willis was a major force in the entertainment industry and represents what it was like for women as they battled their way to the top during her era. For instance, it was almost impossible for her to get producing credit on much of her work, even after becoming a Grammy winner for the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Willis is credited as also being the writer of such mega hits as Earth, Wind, & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland and the Pointer Sisters’ Neutron Dance. The film provides plenty of interesting details as to how these songs came about and the various struggles she had in gaining and maintaining status within the industry.
Simultaneously, Spraic provides a peek into Willis’s private life as a lesbian and the difficulty she found in being out as an artist during the 1970s and 80s. She also had other interests and skills such as in the production design of music videos and television sets as well as painting, for which she received great acclaim. It’s clear from the work she’d done that Willis had the great ability to express herself using her own unique sensibility in each of her creative projects.
Near the end of her life she received accolades for the music she wrote for the Broadway production of The Color Purple. The film shows her at this new height in fame just before her sudden passing.
Overall, the documentary is inspiring and very entertaining. It’s hard not to tap your toes or think back to your own fond memories of the many songs and projects Willis was associated with. She was a major creative force that brought a lot of joy to people as the film so lovingly illustrates.
The World According to Allee Willis will be screened in select movie theaters tomorrow. It will then be available on digital streaming sites beginning Friday.