The film includes a lot of great footage of the Who, but it's most interested in Townshend's anguished moody poetic side.
Plus IconOwen Gleiberman
Chief Film Critic
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Courtesy of Telluride Film Festival Every rock god has his ultimate gesture of power, and for Pete Townshend it was not the way he liked to smash his guitar (though that came close). No, the quintessential Townshend power sign was his giant circular windmill strum, arm outstretched and twirling, gathering centrifugal force to slam that pick up through the guitar strings, creating the loudest chord humanly possible.
The impulse behind that gesture — the destructive fury of it — is the same one that gave rise to Led Zeppelin and punk. And you get to see Townshend do it a bunch of times in Frank Marshall and Nigel Sinclair’s “Pete Townshend: Behind Blue Eyes,” the lively and somewhat scattered documentary that just premiered at Telluride. As music docs go, it’s a serviceable rock ride, with plenty of great archival footage that’s never been seen before. (It’s been culled from long-lost 16mm reels shot at Holmhurst Manor in 1972, as well as Townshend’s home movies and outtakes from the Who’s 1970 Isle of Wight performance.)
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