Runnin-down-a-dream

Tom Petty: Not Quite the Superstar That Peter Bogdanovich Led Us To Believe?

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Idolator passes along the news that networks are feverishly trying to counterprogram against “the allegedly low starpower of the veteran rocker” at the center of Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, Tom Petty. But how could that be? Peter Bogdanovich spent four hours telling us that Petty is the biggest, most beloved, and most important rock star IN THE WORLD. I simply refuse to believe that a work-for-hire hagiography might have embellished the appeal of the man who commissioned it. If Spike TV execs think their competitive eating special will out-draw “Free Fallin’”, then I can only assume they didn’t see Bogdanovich’s movie.

To be fair to Bogdanovich, Idolator’s Maura Johnston calls a bit of bullshit on the story, which originated with The Hollywood Reporter, and Idolator’s hipster commenters come out in full force to defend Petty’s demo-crossing likability.

That still doesn’t change the fact that the most interesting thing about Bogdanovich’s film is the way it betrays the fact that Petty paid him to make it, an issue which I went into in this podcast. Also of note: I sat through the entire four-hour film, totally sober, and didn’t nod off once, and I STILL don’t know who did the guitar solo on Runnin’ Down a Dream. I would have liked to find out because, to use what I believe is the appropriate parlance, it’s fucking sick.

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Indies

NYFF: Peter Bogdanovich and Running Down A Dream

By Karina Longworth posted 2 years ago

I did it: I survived Peter Bogdanovich’s 4 hour and 15 minute Tom Petty documentary, Running Down A Dream. I cannot call myself a Tom Petty fan–In fact, I’d probably be more inherently receptive to a four hour documentary about Peter Bogdanovich–but there’s something about this film that fascinates me. I think maybe it’s that, in terms of the nature and total efficiency of the production, it actually achieves Bogdanovich’s apparent lifelong ambition to emulate Howard Hawks.

But more on that in a future episode of FilmCouch. Right now, here’s what you need to know: it feels shorter than four hours, it’s gonna be a wet dream for Tom Petty fans, it’s screening in 20+ cities on October 15 (you can find out where and buy tickets at TomPetty.com), the DVD will be available at Best Buy only the next day, and it premieres on the Sundance Channel October 29.

Bogdanovich did a press conference after the screening, and surprisingly, in forty minutes he lapsed into just one impersonation of a dead film icon. It makes sense that he’d want to make most of his time on stage at Lincoln Center to promote the movie–after all, this is his first appearance at the New York Film Festival in almost forty years. “This is the first time I’ve had a film in the New York Film Festival since 1971, when I had two films at the festival, The Last Picture Show and my first version of Directed By John Ford,” Bogdanovich said. “Which [together] totaled about four hours. So every 37 years, I get four hours at the New York Film Festival.”

The director is well aware that the film’s length lends it a bit of stigma–and he’s more than prepared to defend it. Listen to him do so here. We’ll have more Bogdanovich soundbites on next week’s podcast.