What The Who!
Lambert & Stamp
Grade: B+
Director: James D. Cooper
Cast: Kit Lambert, Chris Stamp, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend
Rating: R
Runtime: 117 min.
by John DeSando
Who are The Who? They’re Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Of course, you first come up with the names Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey because they actually play that wickedly-good rock. However the first two names in Lambert & Stamp are the founders of The Who, filmmakers with a dream to make a rock documentary but sidetracked into managing one of the best rock bands ever.
Director James D. Cooper in Lambert & Stamp hits the right notes: plenty of talking head from handsome, articulate Chris Stamp (brother of famous Terence, who appears with commentary), entertaining clips from the band’s early years, and a thriller of a break up story (almost required of all rock band stories, fact or fiction). Never could anyone be bored with such a complex, fascinating rags-to-riches tale.
Pete Townshend, not much to look at as a young man but distinguished now with a naughty glint, gives as much as Stamp, especially when we try to understand the dynamic that led to the breakup. Although the posh Kit Lambert, whose dad was Constant Lambert the maestro, was an intrepid entrepreneur, he pushed himself to early death with cigs and drugs. During the growth times, however, he pushed the band into unknown territory. As did the better thinker, Stamp.
Although Kit Lambert died before the making of this doc, he is so carefully edited in as to make it seem he was here all the time. Stamp is especially effective as we are taken through the creation of the mega-hit rock musical Tommy and the release of Lambert & Stamp from the organization. The Who buying Shepperton Studios, where the founders met, is a nice piece of irony. Lambert’s brainy discussion of class and youth with its manifestation in the “mod” era directed by the youth of London elevates the documentary from curiosity to demanding to be heard to understanding the wild youth of London.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
