How They Got Over

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How They Got Over

Released Oct 29, 2021

1h 27m

Documentary

Music

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100%

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11 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

How They Got Over tells the story of how Black gospel quartet music became a primary source of what would be known as rock and roll, and in the process helped to break down racial walls in mid-twentieth century America. Beginning in the 1920s, Black singers across the country took to the highways as the new technology of radio and records made it possible to reach a wider audience. Intense competition brought new ways to entertain, first with guitars, later with full bands, then with a performance style that would inspire Mick Jagger and a host of other rock and rollers. Their music was infectious, wrecking many a house on the chittlin' circuit, then graduating in the 40s and 50s to the Apollo and other major auditoriums across the country. The success of gospel quartets inspired record labels to form "doo-wop" groups that enticed gospel singers like Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett to cross over to greater fame. How They Got Over features classic performance footage of the Soul Stirrers, Dixie Hummingbirds, Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi, Sensational Nightingales, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Highway QCs, Davis Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many more. Some of the greatest names in quartet music are interviewed, giving vivid accounts of how they "got over" in their performances: shouting, bending over backwards, dancing, jumping off the stage -- what came to be known as "gospel drama." In capturing their story, the film celebrates the spirit of gospel performers and how they helped usher in a musical revolution that changed the world forever.

Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

The film offers great history and greater music.

Rated: 3.5/4

Oct 29, 2021

Full Review

Lisa Kennedy

New York Times

With a trove of archival performance footage, much of it from the television show TV Gospel Time, and the wisdom to let those images breathe, the film leans into the maxim about showing not telling.

Oct 28, 2021

Full Review

Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

[A] lively, no-frills documentary.

Apr 8, 2020

Full Review

Mark Jackson

Epoch Times

A great opportunity to view archival footage and listen to the originators of commercial gospel, but also a treatise on and example of what tends to happen in America at the crossroads of spirituality and commerce.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 27, 2022

Full Review

Armond White

National Review

The self-motivated perseverance -- and artistry and creativity -- preserved in these images is stunning.

May 18, 2022

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Martha K. Baker

KDHX (St. Louis)

Everything has a history even if it's been hidden or discounted. The history of the music movement known as Rock and Roll harks back to gospel quartets, back to the Hummingbirds and the Fairfield Four and the Davis Sisters.

May 11, 2022

Full Review

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Robert Clem

Director

Ira Tucker

Self

Isaac Freeman

Self

Clarence Fountain

Self

JoJo Wallace

Self

Willie Rogers

Self

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Synopsis

How They Got Over tells the story of how Black gospel quartet music became a primary source of what would be known as rock and roll, and in the process helped to break down racial walls in mid-twentieth century America. Beginning in the 1920s, Black singers across the country took to the highways as the new technology of radio and records made it possible to reach a wider audience. Intense competition brought new ways to entertain, first with guitars, later with full bands, then with a performance style that would inspire Mick Jagger and a host of other rock and rollers. Their music was infectious, wrecking many a house on the chittlin' circuit, then graduating in the 40s and 50s to the Apollo and other major auditoriums across the country. The success of gospel quartets inspired record labels to form "doo-wop" groups that enticed gospel singers like Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett to cross over to greater fame. How They Got Over features classic performance footage of the Soul Stirrers, Dixie Hummingbirds, Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi, Sensational Nightingales, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Highway QCs, Davis Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many more. Some of the greatest names in quartet music are interviewed, giving vivid accounts of how they "got over" in their performances: shouting, bending over backwards, dancing, jumping off the stage -- what came to be known as "gospel drama." In capturing their story, the film celebrates the spirit of gospel performers and how they helped usher in a musical revolution that changed the world forever.

Director: Robert Clem
Producer: Robert Clem, Mike Tannen
Distributor: First Run Features
Genre: Documentary, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 29, 2021, Limited
Runtime: 1h 27m