Ramblin' Jack Elliott has been many things in the course of a life now nearing the end of its seventh decade: trucker, sailor, cowboy, storyteller, ladies man, eccentric, iconoclast, and a folksinger-guitarist who's considered the link between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. What he hasn't been is much of a father, and that becomes the poignant focus of this documentary directed, written, coproduced, and narrated by his daughter, Aiyana. The film includes plenty of material (home movies, performance footage both old and new, interviews with friends, family, and Elliott himself, etc.) about Elliott's life, and a remarkable life it's been.
Born Elliot Charles Adnopoz in 1931, son of a Jewish doctor from Brooklyn, he left home to become a cowboy, eventually becoming Guthrie's protégé and a minor legend in his own right who was well-known in England in the '50s and on the scene during the early '60s folk boom in New York. His own irresponsibility and lack of ambition and focus kept him from being a bigger name, and those are the same flaws that have afflicted his relationship with his daughter. "I can't remember having an actual conversation with my dad," Aiyana says, and by the end of the film that still seems to be the case. In what may be the most telling moment here, she asks her mother (one of Elliott's four wives) if Ramblin' Jack "had any talents as a father." What follows is a long, bemused pause... and no response at all. A fascinating document, but not one that you'd call uplifting. --Sam Graham
(15 votes)
2.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott ambled through the folk movement as a true free spirit and the ultimate follower of his dreams. He had dreams of trains, boats, the road, rodeos, and he wrote songs about all of these things. He was also the unheralded but unmistakable link between folk legends Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. On the other hand, Ramblin' Jack abandoned his family and was an absentee father to his daughter.
This directorial debut from Ramblin' Jack's daughter, Aiyana Elliott, is a very personal documentary about her father that focuses evenly on the admirable aspects of his early life and the misfortunes of his later life. This dichotomy works to the viewer's benefit as Ramblin Jack's daughter paints a rich, full portrait of a complex, flawed, beautiful, and undeniably real character. Aiyana tags along on her father's concert tours, using the film to demonstrate that her remarkable father is vital to the history of American music. Along the way, she asks him questions, each leading back to her having felt neglected by him as his daughter. THE BALLAD OF RAMBLIN' JACK itself rambles as majestically as its title character. Both the man and the movie are organic, vibrant, complicated, and hypnotically engrossing.
(15 votes)
3.
After Woody Guthrie and before Bob Dylan came Ramblin' Jack Elliott.
From his unlikely roots as the son of a Jewish doctor in Brooklyn, to his ongoing wanderings as the last of the singing cowboys, Ramblin' Jack has packed so many adventures into his life that he seems more myth than man. After running away to join the rodeo at the age of fifteen, he traveled and sang with Woody Guthrie and became friend and mentor to Bob Dylan. His music helped ignite a folk revolution in the '60s and has influenced some of the most popular musicians and performers of our day.
Jack's daughter Aiyana had originally wanted to document the great rambler in action and bring his story to light. However, when she hit the road with him, the focus of the story turned from the roving cowboy's life on the road to the daughter's search for a dad who was rarely at home.
Shot over the course of two years, the film skillfully weaves stellar performances, contemporary verite, candid interviews and a wealth of archival material including never-before-seen home movies from the Guthrie family's private collection resulting in a film that takes us beyond the legend and into the psyche of the man.
(15 votes)
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