MovieChat Forums > Grand Theft Parsons (2004) Discussion > What did Emmylou think

What did Emmylou think

posted 19 years ago by KthStefani
16 replies | jump to latest

Having been a Gram fan since 1983, I was really disappointed with this effort. I waited for it to come out on video as it was never released here. I watched it with my boyfriend who had never heard of Gram, and I have to say I was embarrased at this movie. After he saw it he had no interest in Gram and I am sure a lot of people who had never heard of him before probably would'nt be to interested in finding out more, that is a shame. The actors all looked like they could'nt wait to be somewhere else. I've never sen such a wasted effort.I know the excuse is they only had three weeks, well why bother, a high school class project would have had better results. I know Emmylou is very close to Phil Kauffman, but what does she think of this fiasco? They never even played an entire song, how would anyone that was'nt familiar with his music get an idea of what it was like? What about all the errors in it? Everyone knows that Grams dad killed himself when he was 12, and his stepfather would have been the one to claim the body. If this is the film to introduce Gram to the mainstream public then he is going to remain a cult figure at best.

[–] limborepublic 19 years ago

This film is NOT meant to introduce Gram to the wider public, and is obviously NOT meant to be about Gram at all, but about the much wider areas of friendship, honor and decency! When will people understand that this is not a biopic, but a black comedy road movie, and that the reason Gram isn't really the point of the film is that he's dead in it!

As for the facts, well, this isn't meant to be a biopic either - it says at the beginning that it's 'inspired by a true story'. Do you, for instance, think that The Aviator is an accurate representation of Howard Hughes's life?

Enjoy it for what it is - a funny, cool and funky movie about friendship...

[–] KthStefani 19 years ago

I pretty much knew that already, and I can, and do appreciate a black comedy , but this still sucked ,and again I would like to know what Emmylou thought of this lame, inept and amatuerish piece of garbage. Yes, I do know the Aviator is'nt an accurate representation of Howard Hughes either. But Emmylou was there and knew both Gram and Phil. Why bother even putting in the inaccuracies for that matter?

[–] bigmik21 19 years ago

i feel that u r wrong KthStefani...I don`t mean this as an insult as u said youself you`ve been into parsons music since early 80`s and i think that is so amazing...but i never really knew much of gram parsons until i saw this title in the video store, when i read "grand theft parsons" i thought to myself, i know that name "parsons" but why? and i read on and eventually watched this film and it surely made me want to know more about his music and i just feel sad that it`s 2005 and i`m just starting to get into gram parsons...BUT HEY! there`s always time for cake ;) i especially love his *beep* with emmylou singing, plz plz help me with some beautiful song names as i am craving a purchase of this stuff as i need it for my head!

[–] silverballs80 18 years ago

if you can, search out an album called "Another Side of This Life." It's a bugger to get hold of, but it's some very early recordings with just Gram and a guitar. It sounds fantastic, and you get to hear many great songs in their rawest possible state. A must have for every GP fan.

your heartbeat is a countdown.

smile.

[–] seltaebnews 19 years ago

Being a Gram devotee myself, I think both Emmylou and Gram would be happy with the movie. While never attempting to educate viewers on Gram's historical contributions to music, the movie aptly captured the spirit of Kauffman's committment to fulfill the agreement he had with Gram, albeit with creative license. I found the interaction between actors often brilliantly funny. From my perspective, this movie is a golden opportunity to introduce the name of Gram Parsons to countless viewers who are unfamiliar with him. Surely some of them will go on to investigate his rich catalog of music. The "Return of the Grievous Angel" indeed.

[–] scorpion-child_5 19 years ago

Please dont freak out on me, i just saw this movie yesterday and would like to know more about Gram Parsons and his music. the warning been given...who is Emmylou?

Again please dont freak out on me.

[–] macklin-1 19 years ago

I just saw it (TMC) not know who GP was and not only did I really enjoy it, not only did I not know this was based on a real person or real events, but I loved the soundtrack. Just Downloaded GP & Grievious Angel. Cool Movie, Cool Music. Hope I go out like this?

Best Line: Cop says: It's a suicide ... Anything to get away from you.

Macklin Crew

[–] justinmatney 19 years ago

Emmylou Harris. She is a folk/country singer from Washington DC that sang on Gram's last two albums, GP and Grievous Angel.

I would hope that this movie was not intended to be historically accurate. Like it was stated before, Gram's history was not the point of the movie. His story was simply the vehicle (no pun intended) for a dark road comedy. There were problems with the movie, of course, but I enjoyed it for what it was. I thought Johnny Knoxville did a great job with Phil Kaufman's character. It was a very endearing performance. His scenes with the "hippie" were quite funny as well. Christina Applegate was a trainwreck as usual, but real nice to look at.

I give the film 7.5/10. Not a bad effort at all. Being a Johnny Knoxville fan, as well as a Gram Parsons devotee, I really enjoyed it. I wish they would have played more of Grams music though. I think Devil in Disguise (Christine's Song) would have been a great, ironic choice at some point during the Barbara Mansfield scenes.

Oh well though. They were working with a low budget and a short time frame, so I think they did just fine. I'll probably watch it again sometime.

[–] BrkfstClub72 18 years ago

Emmylou is actually from Birmingham, Alabama.

[–] Sumerah 18 years ago

I'm one of the people that discovered the superb music of Gram Parsons through this movie. (And I liked the movie too)

[–] weeziebug 19 years ago

Emmylou didn't even go to the "Phil Koufman Koffin Koncert" to raise the fine money for the whole incident. She didn't want to be involved, so I doubt she even saw the movie.

[–] wanbliwinyan 18 years ago

I doubt EmmyLou would think much about it one way or another, she loved him his music and I am sure she would rather keep those precious memories.

I haven't seen the movie, so can't give a opinion one way or another, but I did love GP and love'd his music. I'd rather read the good bio's on his life than watch some thrown together piece of junk so someone could make a few dollars off his name.

One day the powers that be will give us a movie on his life and death, that will honor the lost young man that gave the world so much in the form of music.

He was truely a Earth bound Spirit, that went home when the pain of being here became to much.

His daughter produced a good DVD in honor of her father, if you want to see how much he was loved and honored buy it, "Return to Sin City a Tribute to Gram Parsons. I bought mine on Amazon.

L. Hayes

[–] KthStefani 18 years ago

Hi, I have'nt seen that video, but I did see the recent documentary, Fallen Angel, and there were several people who were offended by what happened to Gram at Joshua Tree, among them his wife at the time Gretchan, has half sister Diane and Chris Hillman. i know the movie is supposed to be a black comedy about friendship, but what about the people that were affected by what happened/ I know they probably did'nt watch it. I just felt let down myself.

[–] GypsyMinivan 18 years ago

I was pretty let down as well. I'm a huge Parsons fan and, while I didn't expect the film to be *about* Gram, and I didn't expect it to remain true to "facts" -- I also didn't expect it to take such EXTREME liberties with the story. I mean, the truth was a darned interesting story -- they didn't have to jazz it up quite so much to keep folks interested. As for the whole Phil Kaufman thing ... that guy will say anything to make a buck, so consider the source. BTW, for those unfamiliar with the scene -- that's Kaufman himself coming out of the police station as Knoxville is going in -- He's the fat guy with white hair saying they got the wrong guy.

And for the guy that asked for music, there have been some good suggestions, but one of my all-time faves is "Hot Burrito #1" off of the Flying Burrito Brothers LP.

I thought the actor that portrayed Gram just wasn't him AT ALL.

[–] KthStefani 18 years ago

Hi Gypsy, thanks for your comments. I could'nt have said it better. Did you see the Fallen Angels documentary? That was pretty good, there really is'nt that much footage of him available, so it was kind of short on that, but I knew that going in. Miles ahead of the GTP movie.A lot of people seem to be offended that I feel the way I do, and I don't know why. I thought the whole thing was lame, they did'nt even play an entire song. The only good thing was that it did expose people that would not have known about him, to his music.

[–] sevenhawk 18 years ago

First of all Emmylou may not have attended the Kaufman Koffin Koncert but you should bear in mind the timing and circumstance shortly after Gram's death. Everyone here has failed to mention is that not only did she hire Phil after Gram's death to be her road manager she also sponsored the benifit concert in Nashville years later to raise money to help defer the medical costs of Phil's cancer treatment. You can verify this by doing a web search for "The Concert for Manglerdesh" And in knowing Phil and Emmylou and the remaining members of the Flying Burrito Brothers personally, I am pretty sure that they all may have some reservations about creative license that was taken with this film, I thank they are all pretty well satisfied with the story as it was told.

"Road Mangler Deluxe, the sequel"