Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
First Run Features | Release Date: January 5, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJan 20, 2011
At once an unsentimental portrait of the ambitious singer who thought himself bound for glory, and an affecting elegy for a time when song was a form of revolution. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 7, 2011
Many of the interviews in the film – conducted with everyone from family members to Christopher Hitchens and Tom Hayden – look to be 10, even 20, years old. Together they concoct a complex portrait of an ultimately unknowable man. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 4, 2011
Beautiful and melodic as well as pointedly political. Read full review
80
VarietyJohn AndersonJan 4, 2011
Briskly constructed and rich in Ochs' music and period notables, Kenneth Bowser's film will be a must for the artist's fans, but its fresh take on an overexamined decade should also appeal to Kennedy-era completists. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 4, 2011
Kenneth Bowser's terrific documentary is a poignant portrait of an uncompromising artist. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJan 5, 2011
The story told by Mr. Bowser's film is complicated and tragic. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonJan 4, 2011
Though hewing to a too-conventional structure, Bowser's film is densely researched enough to yield insights not just into its overlooked subject, but also into his overly analyzed era. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJan 7, 2011
Though Bowser uses old footage when possible, the absence of his subject -- who died tragically in 1976 -- is keenly felt. Read full review
60
Time OutStaff (Not credited)Jan 4, 2011
It's a well-constructed and long-overdue tribute, yet Fortune refrains from delving into larger questions that surround Ochs's work. Did the singer's unwavering dedication to agitpop leave him stranded in the '60s? And does Ochs's diminished legacy among today's essentially apolitical neofolkies amount to a second tragedy? Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleLeba HertzMar 17, 2011
Not only is a good look at a man who carved a small but important niche into the folk world but a good record of the turbulent 1960s and what motivated its protesters. Read full review
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