Irish Film Institute -The Kids are Alright

The Kids are Alright

Director: Jeff Stein

USA. 1979/2003| 129 mins


‘Wilfully uninformative.’ New York Times 1979 ‘One of the best rock movies ever made.’ New York Times 2003 Jeff Stein was teenage fan when, in 1977, he convinced The Who to let him film them. His movie about the legendary British rock band, The Kids Are Alright, has since become one of the most celebrated documentaries in the history of rock. A vibrant and very loud scrapbook of live performances and TV appearances by The Who, including hilarious BBC interviews, the band’s appearance at Woodstock, and ripping live versions of Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again. The focus is entirely on the band and their antics, almost to the exclusion of the fans who throng and thrash at the lip of the stage. Instead, we get Daltrey’s swinging microphone, Townshend’s guitar windmills, Keith Moon’s mugging, and the reckless, exuberant equipment-trashing. Pretty boy Roger Daltrey and poker-faced John Entwistle were outshone by Pete Townshend’s guitar, but it’s Keith Moon’s sociopathic behavior that dominates the film, defining a rock attitude for arrested adolescents everywhere.

Book Tickets

}