THE BEACH BOYS - Mark Reviews Movies

The Beach Boys, Walt Disney Studios

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 24, 2024

Directors Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny's The Beach Boys is about the music, of course, but this documentary knows the story of the eponymous rock group, which made some of the catchiest tunes ever recorded, is about more than just the music. This is, after all, a family story, too, as well as one about the changing tides of American society and culture in the 1960s, the difficulties of keeping up with the times, and how the business aspect of making music can ruin everything worthwhile about it.

It's comprehensive about the band's history, including parts one might think the filmmakers would ignore. The film, though, also places the Beach Boys in their proper place—as a, if not the, key part of the music of the era and within the general history surrounding their rise, fall, and enduring legacy. They were one-of-a-kind in their day, which was a gift that became a curse but would ultimately result in being part of the pop culture of every generation after their heyday.

People still know about and listen to the Beach Boys, because their most popular songs have come to define an entire season and a sense of innocent escapism. It's difficult to imagine that changing anytime soon.

The music keeps being passed on to kids and grandchildren, as was the case with Janelle Monáe, whose grandmother introduced the singer to the band by way of vinyl albums the two would find and buy in little shops. Stories like that are part of this documentary, too, as other musicians of different generations explain how the Beach Boys came to their attention and became part of their musical diet.

Don Was was the just right age for the band when they were at their height, and growing up in Detroit, he notes that songs of the beach, the surf, and the sun of Southern California appealed to him simply because it meant there were warmer places than one would find during a Midwestern winter. Ryan Tedder, meanwhile, grew up in Oklahoma a couple decades later, and coming from a religious family, the Beach Boys were the one exception to his mother's rule about not having rock music in the house. The band was too peppy and positive to not be the sole exception.

These particular interviews are important, if only to cement the band's legacy and to have professionals not directly associated with band explain what makes the Beach Boys' music unique. Most of the story, though, belongs to the many and revolving members of the band, which started as three brothers and a cousin in their respective family garages and homes but would take the world by the storm while more than half of them, including a close friend who became one of the founding members, were still teenagers.

The three brothers were Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, who were raised around music in their home—having a songwriting father and a mother who played multiple instruments. They were all talented, obviously, but it was Brian, spending hours and days figuring out the harmonies of his favorite vocal quartet on the family piano, who inspired his siblings to make their own music. Mike Love, the cousin, would join the brothers on visits and holidays, and Al Jardine, one of Brian's friends, knew guitar and bass.

Brian, Love, and Jardine—as well as other current or former members of the band, including David Marks and Bruce Johnston—are still alive and interviewed for the film, while Carl and Dennis, who died in 1998 and 1983 respectively, are present by way of archival interviews (One wonders how much the eldest Wilson brother was willing to participate, given how much of his part of the story comes from similar footage, but hearing from him in any form or period is always worthwhile). The narrative proceeds chronologically, as the band makes a local hit, signs up with a big record label, becomes an international sensation, and, in less than a decade at the end of the '60s, would already be perceived too old-fashioned for and unable to stay relevant within the changing cultural, societal, and political landscapes.

How all of that happened in such a relatively short amount of time is fascinating to see laid out with such clarity here. The film dissects the music, not only in terms of its cultural impact, but also in how it's composed, performed, and mixed. There are moments of Brian at a mixing board, eliminating the instrumentation from a song so that we can hear the distinct tenor of the vocal harmonies, and when the story arrives at the revolutionary Pet Sounds album, Marshall and Zimny follow suit, letting Brian's intricate compositions and arrangements fill the soundtrack.

The film also puts the band's rivalry with the Beatles into an intriguing light, presenting a battle of headlines, chart listings, song releases, and television appearances as a clever montage that plays like a barrage of imagery and music. It wasn't all media hype, either, as Brian and Paul McCartney explain in older interviews that the two bands kept tabs on, tried to outdo, and learned things from each other. Without one, would we have the specific evolution of music of the other?

Mostly, though, the film amounts to the personal stories behind the music, giving time to Brian, Carl, Dennis, Love, Jardine, and others. They chart the increasing tensions within the group and the harrowing uncertainty of seeing Brian become overwhelmed by the pressures of fame, writing music, and his mental health issues.

A major component is how the authoritarian personality of Wilson patriarch Murry, who was an abusive and pettily jealous father directly involved in the business of the band, might have been the seed of many individual and collective issues among the band. One studio recording session in which Brian and his father have a falling out is tough to listen to, and if that's how Murry acted in front of others and knowing he was being recorded, one can only imagine his private moments. The brothers briefly speak about some of them, including the beatings.

All of that (plus the band's momentary connection to Charles Manson) is here in The Beach Boys. It's a thoroughly compelling, informative, and insightful documentary about the band, its individual members, the music, and the times through which they thrived, faded, and returned.

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