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Rating:  - A wonderful DVD bringing together many people who at least tangentially, knew Robert Johnson.
This DVD offers a wealth of information about the life of Robert Johnson. We meet a girlfriend of Robert Johnson, who claims she knows where his actual burial ground is, and another girlfriend who had a song written about her by Robert (and who hears it for the first time on the DVD). A man is interviewed who claims to be Robert Johnson's son, along with a birth certificate showing that in fact this may be the case. Johnny Shines talks about how they would play the game of "cutting heads" in Helena, with Robert stealing away the audience every time. We get the insight that the person who poisoned Robert Johnson's drink admitted as such to one interviewer, after first presenting an alibi for a question which was never asked. We are also presented with three possible grave sites of Robert Johnson, though none of them can proven to be incontrovertible as such. In short, there is a lot of good information on this DVD about the enigmatic bluesman known as Robert Johnson (and pseudonyms in various other places). This DVD is clearly a window into the past which will slowly disappear as the years go on......Hammond does us all a great service by documenting Robert Johnson's life and that of his contemporaries.
The one complaint I would have is that at times Hammond (an excellent blues singer in his own right) himself is singing RJ's songs, and at the bottom of the screen it will have the name of Robert Johnson along with the songs title. This may leave those with little knowledge of the blues to conclude it is actually Robert Johnson who is singing, when in fact it is not. Also, there are montages throughout the film when they will be talking about Robert Johnson while at the same time showing pictures of blacks in bars and juke joints, without saying that in fact Robert Johnson is not in the photograph, as there are only two known photographs of him, and each one of these show him alone in the picture. To the novice blues fan, they may not know this and think they are actually seeing Robert Johnson, and I think this fact should have been made clear in the film.
Even with the above provisos, this was an excellent documentary on Robert Johnson's life....Hammond clearly has a deep love for the blues and the early musicians of the delta.
**** 1/2 stars.
Rating: - An eccentric and informative film
What I loved most about this film was how it gave a window into the culture that produced Robert Johnson. When a woman who'd been a girlfriend of Robert Johnson's was asked whether she thought that Robert Johnson had really sold his soul to the devil, she replied "that's what people say." But then she said, (and I paraphrase her), "Why are you asking me? You're a musician, you know how these things work." When John Hammond then said, "I didn't sell my soul." Her reply was an unbelieving "Um-hmm!" Also, when the story was told of how the man who'd poisoned Robert Johnson finally admitted to the deed, his response was "I never thought there'd be all this trouble by killing that man." As though killing most men didn't cause much trouble at all! Anyway, the production is nice, having been shown on the BBC. It's not flashy Hollywood special effects, but for those interested in classic blues its a great trip through the Mississippi Delta.
Rating:  - Spectacular DVD
This is definitely for any music enthusiast. Experience the old stomping grounds of pure Delta Blues. Robert Johnson was an extraordinary musician that died under unexplained circumstances. No one really knows for sure how he died, and there is still a lingering mystery of where he is buried. This DVD literally takes you back to the time when Robert Johnson started a new revolution in Blues music. The birth of the Delta Blues is embedded in the narration of this DVD.
Rating: - Indispensable film for Johnson fans
I'm a long-time owner of the "other" Robert Johnson DVD, Can't You Hear The Wind Howl." Obviously, I was wondering if there was going to be much duplication of material between that and the "Search For" DVD when I finally decided to buy the latter. I wasn't disappointed. While "Can't You Hear..." is in itself a fine piece of work, this DVD touches on some details of Robert Johnson's life not covered in "Can't You Hear...". John Hammond's interviews with Mack McCormick and the apparent son of Robert Johnson are particularly fascinating highlights of this film. As a result, I recommend all R.J. fans owning both DVD's--they complement each other well. As for John Hammond's intermittent performances of Johnson's songs, I thoroughly enjoyed them. The only corny part of the movie is when Hammond and Johnny Shines pretend to "cut heads" on the street--not too authentic, obviously, but I guess they were just trying to illustrate the concept. Well worth the price--buy this!!
Rating:  - Not as good as others...
This documentary was rather disappointing to me. Mr. Hammond is a fine musician but too much of the film is wasted showing him performing Johnson's music. It was interesting watching Hammond and Mr. Johnny Shines 'cuttin' heads' on the street corners of a delta town. However, Hammond isn't a good interviewer and it seems like he just uses this as a platform to showcase his own considerable talent. I would advise anyone to stay away from this one and get 'Can't you hear the wind howl' instead. This is basically a rehash of all the same material. If your a diehard like me, go ahead and watch it but you might be disappointed.
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