Product Description Funk Queen Betty Davis changed the landscape for female artists in America. She "was the first..." as former husband Miles Davis said. "Madonna before Madonna, Prince before Prince". An aspiring songwriter from a small steel town, Betty arrived on the 70's scene to break boundaries for women with her daring personality, iconic fashion and outrageous funk music. She befriended Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, wrote songs for the Chambers Brothers and the Commodores, and married Miles - startlingly turning him from jazz to funk on the album she named "Bitches Brew". She then, despite being banned and boycotted, went on to become the first black woman to perform, write and manage herself. Betty was a feminist pioneer, inspiring and intimidating in a manner like no woman before. Then suddenly - she vanished. Creatively blending documentary and animation this movie traces the path of Betty's life, how she grew from humble upbringings to become a fully self-realized black female pioneer the world failed to understand or appreciate. After years of trying, the elusive Betty, forever the free-spirited Black Power Goddess, finally allowed the filmmakers to creatively tell her story based on their conversations. Review Astonishing and tantalisingNeil Kulkarni, The WireBetty Davis Was a Raw Funk Pioneer. Her Decades of Silence Are Over.Jon Pareles, The New York TimesGritty funk, progressive sexual politics and eye-popping imagery of a criminally under-valued talent from the '70s. Joe Lynch, BillboardHonoring the beauty of the artist's enigmatic aura and elusiveness...offering us finally an alternative way to contemplate black women's musicianship without trafficking in tragedy or unveiling privacy.Daphne A. Brooks, Los Angeles Review Of BooksA beautiful sizzling & sweaty filmCPH:DOXBetty was a free spirit...talented as a motherf**ker.Miles Davis --Miles - The Autobiography
K**H
QUEEN OF FUNK YA'LL GETS HER SHOBE- DOO { BETTY DAVIS }
I Felt all the sadness of life and Times of { a FUNK GODDESS } Being around 13 or 14 years of age just coming into my own sort of, when in that Magical year 1973, the Jimi Hendrix Documentary came out and blew my mind, made me go out an get a Electric Guitar started to listen to underground FM radio, went out and bought my first Hard Rock 45, Rick Derringer's Rock-N-ROLL , Hoochie Koo. Stevie Wonder's Talking book and Inner visions was on fire, War without Eric Burden was smashing it up in all the Urban city's, Wattstax was the Urban Woodstock of Love and Peace. Curtis Mayfield came Back to the World after ridding hard on that SUPERFLY wave, The Isley Brothers 3 + 3 started to remember there Times when Jimi Hendrix was in the band via Ernie Isley , and we could not tell if we was listening to Barry White or Isaac Hayes, James Brown had us All on the Good Foot when he payed the cost to be the Boss. Marvin Gaye and Al Green, Eddie, Kendricks kept on Trucking and got All the Lady's Sexxy Hot, SLY had a New and Fresh Famly Stone.....But they was not as FRESH as Miles Davis ex wife and close friend to Hendrix The QUEEN OF FUNK herself , Mademoisell Mabury Miss "BETTY DAVIS" . I Give this DVD 5 Stars for the effort and Love put into it, although i wish i had some kind of creative input to the film i could have GAVE Her PROPER PROPS , but sadly to late. Most people really don't Know what artist really have to go through behind the scenes and Betty was no exception. Along with The San Francisco Baddest Bay Area Musicians to ever live in the 20th and 21st century and the most direct innovators of FUNK , ex members of Sly and the Family stone My friend Drummer and Producer" The great Funk Machine Greg Errico" and Bass Genius Larry Graham of GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION and Neal Schon and Dougach Rauch of SANTANA The POINTER SISTERS, BUDDY MILES playing Lead Guitar . If you are a Fan of Funk and or a Fan of Betty, pick it up just for the Historic value. i do agree with some of the other reviews it could have been just a little more Funkier for the QUEEN OF FUNK. BETTY DAVIS had no real rival in that time frame 1973 to 1975 except for maybe Rufus and female lead Singer Chaka Khan. Tina Turner and Janis Joplin was Great in their own Light but Still Betty by far mo Funkier. After all that, i can only say there will NEVER Be another BETTY DAVIS. Long Live BETTY DAVIS and The FUNK. DXD.
J**G
Tough to do a doc about a woman that doesn't like to talk but pulled it off somehow
This movie was made by some real music nerds and I say that with love. Betty Davis was best known as the wife of Miles Davis but in the 1970s she released three albums full of Funk and originality. They were quickly forgotten and only got a revival in the 2000s with a re-release of her music. She disappeared afterward. To find so much information and people to talk to that added up to an entire movie about her very short career was quite an accomplishment. There are hardly any pictures of her let alone film footage to even use, which meant they had to be very creative and not show the same thing over and over again. What it turns to are music writers, family and friends to fill in the story of her life mixed in with plenty of her music and a voice over of her writing. Of course at the end they top it all off by bringing together Davis’ band and actually get her on the phone.C
K**N
Mrs.Miles Davis 2nd wife ..
Yes ..she was and is one of a kind..! Her voice,her look and all that sass ..!! If you look on "U-tbe" can't say it here..due to filter's... when you write a review.. You will find more footage about her and see her siting in her living room in Pittsburgh,Pa. Also her riding around with a British man who wrote and produced another docu-clip about her. Like she say's she's nearly 75 years old..why put herself through the shame of revealing to the public what she look's like either in 2018,2019 or 2020 ? She was a bold "Soul sister" and Madonna isn't even close to Betty Davis and her raw personality. Betty didn't copy any-one either like Madonna does.. She wrote her songs, and conceived her look long before the "Material girl" was out of high school back in the 1970's. ...please stop with the Madonna comparison's. When women of color create something individually we are always being compared to some-one else..! Such an insult,... Been a fan of hers for a few years ...before this docu- was made...! Suck's that she walked away before she "shattered the glass ceiling"... cause she was meant to be the one..!
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