Sid Bernstein Presents...directed by Jason Ressler & Evan Strome, USA, 2005, 102 min., Beta SP, English    

By Donald H. Harrison 

This is a movie quite like its subject: big, sloppy, overly-sentimental and self-indulgent, and, yet, for all that you end up liking Bernstein and wishing there were more people in the world like him.  

There is much in this documentary for which directors Ressler and Strome deserve compliments.  They achieved an incredible intimacy with their subject—perhaps, even, too much intimacy—and it is clear that they thoroughly researched the life of "the man who brought the Beatles to America."    But the film is way too long; it is repetitive, and should be sent back to editing for a complete redo.  It needs a more clearly defined story line, and fewer interviews and celebrity photos.  I'd guess they could bring it in in less than an hour without leaving out anything necessary to telling Bernstein's story.

Ressler and Strome paint a portrait of the man who is the classic "artistic success and financial failure." He  may have been the biggest name in  promoting rock concerts, but he often lost money. This is chalked up alternatively to Bernstein's lack of business sense and to his innate niceness.  Though he could have ruthlessly cut out all kinds of people from the concert food chain, Bernstein was loathe to employ such tactics.  Those who milked his profits today were the same people who gave him and the artists he represented a hand up.  How could he turn his back on them?

The other question, of course, is while he was being so nice to people in the music industry—and there wasn't a singer, band member, or roadie who probably didn't know his name—how nice was he really being to his family? There were times when he couldn't make the rent on his apartment, and had to be evicted.  There were other times when he had to burrow into the personal belongings of his five children and take their money in exchange for IOUs.  His kids and wife harbor no illusions about Bernstein, whom they love notwithstanding his many faults.  

I've got to admit that some of Bernstein's faults are mine as well, only he take them to far greater extremes. He stuffs anything and everything into his mouth; his house is a perennial disaster area filled with old newspapers, forgotten coupons and other debris, and sometimes he can become so self-absorbed that he forgets there are other people with needs besides himself.  

On the other hand, he is kind to everyone he meets; rarely, if ever, has a bad word to say about anyone; believed in and gave generously to such causes as the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Vietnam War movement; and forever was going to bat for the local bands who, if just given a chance, could make it big.  Sure enough, because of him, many did.

Sid Bernstein Presents will be shown  at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at 4:30 p.m., Monday Feb. 13, at the AMC La Jolla Theatres  as part of the Joyce Forum, which focuses on emerging filmmakers.  Bernstein has been invited to attend the showing.