James Brown: Man to Man (1968)

Genre

concert film

Country

United States

How it feels

This concert film captures James Brown performing at the Apollo Theater in 1968. It mixes his live show with scenes from Harlem and Watts where Brown talks about the Black American experience.

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What happens

James Brown: Man to Man is a concert film recorded live at the Apollo Theater in March 1968. It was produced by Metromedia Television and broadcast as an hour-long syndicated television special, and is one of the first color recordings of James Brown performing with his revue. The concert footage is intercut with scenes shot in Harlem and Watts accompanied by Brown's reflections on the situation of blacks in America. Writing in The New York Times, Albert Goldman described Man to Man as "fascinating in detail and overwhelming in total impact" and hailed it as a breakthrough for "offering such a long and relatively unobstructed look at a great black entertainer on his home ground." Man to Man was released on DVD by Shout! Factory in 2008 under the title James Brown Live at the Apollo '68 as part of the box set I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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