Stoned [DVD]

I have been a fan of Brian Jones' for many years and have always wanted to see a movie made about his life - and his was one of the great disregarded stories of any Sixties pop star. How many of the general public knows it was Brian Jones who founded and named the Rolling Stones? How many of the general public knows Brian Jones was the multitalented instrumentalist in the Stones and who played a key role in their creative sound during the Sixties by playing instruments like the Indian sitar (Paint It Black, Street Fighting Man), recorder (Ruby Tuesday), dulcimer (Lady Jane, I Am Waiting), mellotron (2000 Light Years From Home, We Love You), marimbas (Under My Thumb, Out Of Time), harmonica (Not Fade Away, I Want To Be Loved), and who was one of the first to play slide guitar (I Wanna Be Your Man, Little Red Rooster, I Can't Be Satisfied) in Great Britain - and one of the best slide guitarists as well. His slide guitar playing would have made any American Bluesman envious.

However, the movie does show flashbacks of his life, but unfortunately overlooks many important things like how hard he worked to get the Rolling Stones off the ground in their infancy years 1962-63, by writing countless letters to record companies trying to get their interest in signing the Stones, or writing letters to music papers encouraging journalists to come and see the Stones perform in Blues clubs around London, and to get bookings on British radio shows. It also does not mention that Brian Jones was one of the great fashion icons of the Swinging Sixties. Instead, this movie focuses on his self-indulgent lifestyle of sex and drugs (and there's plenty of it) and very little of what made him famous - the music.

The movies main plot focuses on the last few months of Brian Jones' life which climaxes with his 'murder' (although to this day his death certificate still reads 'misadventure'). The movie Stoned was based on the following three books: Who Killed Christopher Robin: The Truth Behind the Murder of a Rolling Stone by Terry Rawlings, Paint It Black by Geoffrey Guiliano and The Wild and Wicked World of Brian Jones by Anna Wohlin, but yet this movie is nothing like any of those books. It was as if the filmmaker just made up his own story. The movie also leads you to believe that Brian Jones (played by Leo Gregory) and builder Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine) were good pals. It shows them playing cricket together; sitting by the pool together and Brian giving Thorogood his whole life sob story; and playing and recording music with him in an empty swimming pool. Almost every person who was there at the time said that Brian Jones didn't trust Thorogood and even complained that he was being charged astronomical amounts of money for work that the builder never completed. The film is rubbish.

Don't say you haven't been warned. You would be better off renting it at Blockbuster Video. Buy at your own risk.

Rob Weingartner

There is no denying something dark went down on Cotchford Farm that July night. And yes, it was murder. Some members of Sussex Police to The Stones themselves always believed a homicide did indeed occur there.

My issue with this film is enirely based on the relationship between Brian Jones and Frank Thorogood. Brian at the time was paranoid and probably suffering from a persecution complex. He had previously been busted by corrupt Chelsea drug squad officers (some of whom did do time for corruption in the early 70s)bullied into handing over cash, he was also aware that his band were probably about to kick him out. He moved to Cotchford Farm (AA Milne being a childhood favourite of his) to escape the drugs, the tension of London (He was still brokenhearted over Anita Pallenbergs defection to Keith) and to probably indulge in a little childhood regression. Enter Frank Thorogood, ex Paratrooper, womaniser, small time crim. Frank had already been given the boot from Keith for pilfering his wares and ripping him off. Those who were around Brian and Frank at this time tell of a different relationship than the one shown in the film.

Frank hated Brian, he was absolutely jealous of him. Frank was an old school tough working class Londoner, he despised the young long haired dandy. He bullied Brian, stole from him, mentally tortured him, always pushing Brian's insecurity buttons. Toward the end he sometimes wouldn't even let Brian leave the farm(Hiding his moped in the woods)Brian was fearful of Frank. And Brian, like a little boy attempting to appease the school bully, would offer him all sorts of incentives to help diffuse tense situations: Drinks, food, swims, etc. Lets be honest, Brian was no angel, but the spoiled foppish satanic dandy of the past was pretty much erased by then. In his place stood a frightened paranoid little boy, surrounded by happy childhood memrobillia and dark hangers-on.

To be honest, we will probably never know the true events leading up to the murder. (There are witnessess that night to a party that apparently never happened, also, since 69, there has been quite alot of discussion concerning gangland involvment in Rolling Stones Inc, and why has Tom Keylock, seen at the farm during the day of July 2nd and at 11:15pm, denied been there that day?)

What we do know is Frank Thorogood was a key player, all fingers point towards him, but since he is long dead he can't argue his case and point a guilty finger to any of the other players involved. Maybe Frank is the scapegoat we see being sacrificed in the movie. That aside the relationship between Brian and Frank portrayed in the movie is a false one.The filmmakers are portraying a cliched view of a decadent Brian Jones and not adhering to the complex, paranoid & fearful character he had finally become. All that research (10 years by all accounts) let down by a cheap cinematic device. That is a real shame.

Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, and the downward spiral all three can inspire.

Brian Jones was the ultimate rock tragedy, dying young, rich and ruined by his own success and the loss of his lover. But the late Rolling Stones founder deserved a better biopic than "Stoned," which focuses on every part of Jones' life that is NOT interesting or insightful.

The movie opens with two flashbacks -- Jones being confronted about a girl he got pregnant, and an early Stones show. Then it flips ahead several years to when builder Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine) is being hired by soon-to-be-ex Rolling Stone Brian Jones (Gregory), to do work on his new mansion and the grounds surrounding it. Soon he's fascinated by the mercurial Jones.

Jones himself is lost in memories of his glory days of drugs, sex, jetsetting and exotic music -- and especially his former lover Anita Pallenberg (Monet Mazur), who dumped him for his bandmate Keith (Ben Whishaw). He draws Thorogood into a dangerous game of hedonistic fun, until the degraded builder strikes back at him -- with tragic results.

In theory, Jones was the ideal subject for a biopic -- he lived a short, colourful life full of drugs, art and sex. Perfect subjects for a wild movie. Too bad this movie is actually about Frank Thorogood.

Unfortunately director Stephen Woolley doesn't seem to realize that nobody really cares about Thorogood, or why he murdered Jones. What people want is Jones -- tortured artist, forlorn child-man, girlfriend-beating sadist. Woolley provides brief glimpses ("You're fun to wind up") into Jones' psyche, but there's a lot more of Thorogood getting stoned, whining, and jumping on sleeping women.

How did Jones start the Stones? How did fame and drugs change him? How did he deteriorate until his bandmates had to kick him out? Nope, don't expect answers. Instead we get about a hundred lingering shots of the swimming pool on Brian's estate -- thank you for that subtle foreshadowing, Mr. Woolley. We had almost forgotten that Jones drowned in the pool.

In the end, "Stoned" is remarkable more for what it leaves out than for what it contains. Anita, those illegitimate kids, and Jones' musical skills are all sort of pushed to the side so we can see the big bad rock star mess with a country lad. And Woolley NEVER focuses on his relationship with the Stones. It's a shame, because the flashbacks to the Moroccan vacation are the most intense and colourful of the whole movie.

Leo Gregory does a fairly good job with Jones' personality (too bad they look totally unalike). But star is Mazur as the dangerous, charismatic Anita; it's a shame the affair is basically dismissed as a longtime S&M romp. Whishaw and Luke de Woolfson deserve a special shout-out for their portrayals of Richards and Mick Jagger. Neither one has a lot of onscreen time, but they are utterly convincing.

"Stoned" is full of moments that show what the movie could have been, and never was. Instead of a study of a brilliant, manipulative musician, we have a study of how he messed with his gardener. A limp, schizophrenic mess.