Review by Cameron Maitland.

It’s easy to tell that Denny Tedesco’s documentary The Wrecking Crew is going to be a hit. It simultaneously exists as a love letter to his father while playing to our unending interest in pop-culture minutiae, like so many other recent hit documentaries.

The film chronicles the story of Denny’s father, Tommy Tedesco, and the group of studio session musicians he once worked with for years. From the 1950s to the 70s, The Wrecking Crew played the instrumental parts and came up with the memorable beats, hooks and licks in the majority of influential pop and rock music - all while often being uncredited. Tedesco lets his father and the Crew musicians tell their story, then drives the point home by having the likes of Brian Wilson, Cher and Herb Alpert sign their praises.

The film offers a peak into the hidden world of music recording and the skills that were once necessary to cut an album. With an amazing soundtrack filled with the hits The Wrecking Crew performed on or wrote throughout their career, the musical eras the musicians talk about are vividly captured. It’s interesting to hear the development of various musical ideas and styles from the point of view of the working stiffs who tended to care less about the popularity or artistic worth of a song than the paycheques that came attached.

While completely competent as a documentary, the film barely reaches beyond the ‘hey did you know?’ scope to achieve something greater. Whenever a musician mentions the dark side of the industry or their anger and sense of loss due to not being credited, the camera tends to quickly turn away back to the music or to a distracting celebrity. Still, it’s hard fault a film that almost has you singing along the whole way through.

The Wrecking Crew
Denny Tedesco | USA | 2008 | 95min

Thur. Sept. 25 | 3:00pm | Empire Granville, Theatre 5
Fri. Sept. 26 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville, Theatre 2
Thur. Oct. 10 | 12:15pm | Empire Granville, Theatre 1