Audience Member
Actress/director Amy Poehler, Imagine Documentaries, and Amazon Prime Video present the true story of two of television's most popular couples Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were one of the biggest tv stars all about unconditional love 'I Love Lucy' back in the 1950s took off and the romantic leads had chemistry on-and-off camera Interviews are given by the late actor's daughter, grandfather, and friends from behind the scenes like Carol Burnette, Bette Midler, Charo, Lucy & Katherine Hepburn Women looking silly and funny was a rare thing for Hollywood Lucille Ball built her own success in a time when women had very few opportunities in the workforce much less tv broadcasting She grew up watching vaudeville shows every weekend and she always wanted to do show business for a wide audience Her grandfather went through a straining trial of accidentally shooting a boy in the woods during a hunting trip But it wasn't until Lucille Ball started in Hollywood she finally found her footing after starring in several pictures so her comedic talents could finally be seen Desi Arnaz came to the United States penniless and intelligent Latin Americans in tv wasn't common but he and Lucy catapulted something extraordinary being one of the earliest interracial couples, son saw it as taboo and wanted nothing to do with her Like any celebrities they face their ups and downs in terms of radio, show business, personal problems Communist investigations even started to hit home in the industry not just tv but movie stars Desi because he was a Cuba native saw how difficult it was considering his home lost all their money and was labeled as a red because they put a communist in jail; to know his wife Lucille was accused was shocking to him The Cuban revolution occurred when he was only 14 with riots and destruction of public property making things seem bleak and unsafe so it turned Desi into a refugee Lucille's home life was unhappy and Desi felt overshadowed by her being more in the spotlight But regardless their popularity even outmatched the Presidential inauguration as well as the coronation of the queen The both of them operated the most successful television company in the world but over time they separated when they decided they never got what they wanted, there's always other things any famous people want more or get tired of You don't necessarily have to be a funny person to get a laugh, you can either quit or get bigger, no one can be half-assed successful Amy Poehler you can tell is clearly inspired by the late comedian actress so she handles both subjects with such clarity If there's ever a documentary that covers hagiography this is a pure example that expertly covers the public and private portions of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's fame, love, humor, and impact on television
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/05/24
Full Review
Jeff M
This is an absolutely wonderful documentary - required viewing for anyone even remotely interested in either of the titular stars, their groundbreaking sitcom or the Golden Age of Hollywood in general. After the disappointment of the fictional BEING THE RICARDOS a few months ago, this is likely going to stand the test of time as the ultimate dissection of the founders of Desilu Productions. I'm so very impressed with Poehler's direction here - perhaps it takes the creativity of one comic master to delve into the heart of another. But virtually every decision she makes here is flawless. We are treated to behind the scenes and audio and video clips that I've never seen before - it's more than just the generic clips of Lucy stomping grapes and getting tipsy after too many sips of Vitameatavegamin. Interviews range from Carol Burnett to Bette Midler and even the one and only Charo. The most telling moments obviously come from daughter Lucie - a reminiscence of Desi's final moments is especially touching. This is one of those rare documentaries that feels like more than just a basic two hours you'd see on DATELINE NBC or 20/20. I learned a lot about both Lucy and Desi - both had trouble childhoods that were very surprising. Most importantly, the filmmakers have an obvious love and devotion toward their subject matter. I know the year is young, but I'd be very surprised if this is not on my Ten Best list of 2022.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/24
Full Review
Audience Member
Actress/director Amy Poehler, Imagine Documentaries, and Amazon Prime Video present the true story of two of television's most popular couples Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were one of the biggest tv stars all about unconditional love 'I Love Lucy' back in the 1950s took off and the romantic leads had chemistry on-and-off camera Interviews are given by the late actor's daughter, grandfather, and friends from behind the scenes like Carol Burnette, Bette Midler, Charo, Lucy & Katherine Hepburn Women looking silly and funny was a rare thing for Hollywood Lucille Ball built her own success in a time when women had very few opportunities in the workforce much less tv broadcasting She grew up watching vaudeville shows every weekend and she always wanted to do show business for a wide audience Her grandfather went through a straining trial of accidentally shooting a boy in the woods during a hunting trip But it wasn't until Lucille Ball started in Hollywood she finally found her footing after starring in several pictures so her comedic talents could finally be seen Desi Arnaz came to the United States penniless and intelligent Latin Americans in tv wasn't common but he and Lucy catapulted something extraordinary being one of the earliest interracial couples, son saw it as taboo and wanted nothing to do with her Like any celebrities they face their ups and downs in terms of radio, show business, personal problems Communist investigations even started to hit home in the industry not just tv but movie stars Desi because he was a Cuba native saw how difficult it was considering his home lost all their money and was labeled as a red because they put a communist in jail; to know his wife Lucille was accused was shocking to him The Cuban revolution occurred when he was only 14 with riots and destruction of public property making things seem bleak and unsafe so it turned Desi into a refugee Lucille's home life was unhappy and Desi felt overshadowed by her being more in the spotlight But regardless their popularity even outmatched the Presidential inauguration as well as the coronation of the queen The both of them operated the most successful television company in the world but over time they separated when they decided they never got what they wanted, there's always other things any famous people want more or get tired of You don't necessarily have to be a funny person to get a laugh, you can either quit or get bigger, no one can be half-assed successful Amy Poehler you can tell is clearly inspired by the late comedian actress so she handles both subjects with such clarity If there's ever a documentary that covers hagiography this is a pure example that expertly covers the public and private portions of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's fame, love, humor, and impact on television
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/13/23
Full Review
Jared S
Scramble of shots from I Love Lucy that made it hard to really appreciate the greatness that was the show. Just play a whole clip!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
12/05/22
Full Review
Audience Member
Engaging & endearing, this well-paced doc is the tale of two of television’s most influential pioneers while being a genuine love story at its core. As familiar as the subjects are, there’s still plenty here to learn & enjoy. #nitrosMovieChallenge
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
06/04/22
Full Review
Audience Member
Early in the Amazon Prime documentary Lucy and Desi, there is a photograph of the famous couple in a dress rehearsal for "I Love Lucy." It is a black and white photo of Lucy looking guilty and Desi looking suspicious. As I looked at this photo, I realized that these two people have always felt less like actors and more like relatives who came by your house every week. My mother once noted that if you saw them on the street, you might have forgotten yourself and assumed that you knew them.
Lucy and Desi represent, in essence, the magic of television. If the movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Age seemed like beings from Heaven, then television stars seemed like your crazy relatives and this couple, part of their magic is that you sensed that they really were in love. Most domestic sitcoms of the 1950s featured paired-up an actress to play the housewife and an actor to play the husband but you never got that distance from these two – they loved each other. You could feel it.
Amy Pohler's loving documentary Lucy and Desi is an intimate look inside their lives, their careers and their personal connective tissue. Despite what you've heard in hindsight about Desi's hard drinking and frequent carousing (which was all true), the thing that pulled them together was their devotion to each other. The story is told through interviews with not only Lucy Arnaz and Desi Jr., also Norman Lear, Carol Burnett and Bette Midler who are not just painting up flowery words about their brilliance but have clearly spent their careers in awe of this couple, how they worked together, how Lucy insisted on Desi as her co-star so they could be closer together and what that workload ultimately did to their marriage.
What is special about this documentary is that we also hear the story through audio recordings of Lucy and Desi themselves. Their accounts paint a picture that take us deeper than any second-hand account. Pohler isn't interested in just another by-the-number documentary that only focuses on the red-letter moments, but what kept them together and what drove them apart. In that way, she shifts focus away from just the machinations of the show and tries to see them as artists whose genius for comedy and production were ahead of their time, and also foolhardy given that the medium was still in its infancy.
It says something of Lucy's love for Desi that she would be willing to fight for him against a racist network administration that was dead-set against giving him anything. They didn't want Desi for the part of Ricky Ricardo because they never thought that the television audience would accept and all-American girl married to a Cuban man. But it was part of the plan – she had created the show so that they could work together because he was working night clubs and was gone all the time. Not only was the show a success, but out of that success came their own studio, Desilu, which would produce a few shows that you might have heard of: "Mission: Impossible", "The Untouchables", "Mannix" and a little science fiction curiosity called "Star Trek."
And yet, as their fame and success grew, so too did the strains on their marriage. One of the great things about this documentary is that Pohler plays up the love affair between Lucy and Desi so well that their eventual downfall in the wake of that success hits even harder. The third act of the film really informed me of just how ineffectual "The Lucy and Desi Comedy Hour" and "The Lucy Show" really were. The heartbreak of the end of their relationship is painfully evident. In the former, there was tension that you could see and feel. In the later, he wasn't there at all. This is an emotional journey, one that shows who these people were and what they meant to each other.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
Full Review
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