Family Band: The Cowsills Story (2011)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It had to be tough pulling all 7 of the surviving (at the start) Cowsills together and having it weave a coherent narrative, but in part, this documentary does that. For those of us who remember their meteoric rise, perfect harmonies and sudden dramatic disappearance, this documentary answered a lot of questions. Contrary to Cousin Brucie's theory that the music industry changed - they still had a huge number of fans who were left wondering what had happened to them. As musically talented as they were and still are, they could have easily gone with any changes the musical landscape had to throw at them and not only survived but thrived.I wish it had gone a little deeper in parts - their mother's part in all this was glossed over and she got off way too lightly, but maybe it was a time issue. I mean, she kicks her only daughter out of the house for surviving an attempted rape by her father? Stood around smoking while the father beat all of his sons bloody? Who does that? The woman had the best escape route in history (the marketable talent of her kids, which was impressive), and she didn't take it to protect them from the brutality? We never understand why.So, for what it did cover, I found this to be a well produced and very interesting documentary. Answered a lot of questions. Just not all.

"Family Band: The Cowsills Story" is a low budget and rather slap-dash documentary charting the rise and fall of the 1960's Rhode Island family pop group. Clearly compiled from years of haphazardly conducted interviews with various band members, relatives, and entertainment industry business associates and acquaintances, the documentary is rather uneven. It has numerous interviews where the interviewee(s) neither say anything of substance nor provide any particular insight into the topic being discussed. Plus, the documentary assumes that the only people who will watch are former Cowsill fans who would already be familiar as to who is who and thus it doesn't identify who these gray-haired people are in relation to the wholesome-looking, apple-cheeked, toothy kids they were over 40 years ago.The documentary just feels unfocused. It can't make-up its mind to be a history of a band or cautionary tale of abuse or a therapeutic story of healing among a broken family. Apparently, the filmmakers struggled financially for years to complete this film and it shows.Still as disjointed and unfocused as the documentary is, the story of The Cowsills is fascinating. It's the oft-told pop music tale of rags to riches then back to rags except it destroyed a family and not just a band. The documentary charts the rise of four young Rhode Island brothers who in the mid-1960's dreamed of being the next Beatles. They and a million other teenage boys who shared the exact same dream. However, the Cowsill brothers had some serious talent especially the eldest, Billy, and they had their unbelievably driven father, Bud, an ex-Navy lifer who truly believed in his children's talent and was determined to bust down doors to see them succeed.Along the way Bud's vision of success clashed with that of his sons', and, as typical with all things Cowsill, Bud's vision won-out. With "The Sound of Music" then currently smashing box-office records, Bud either came-up with or listened to the idea of turning his sons' rock band into an American pop version of the Von Trapps complete with a singing mother. So, mom, Barbara, was forced rather unwillingly into the band. Naturally, her sons were horrified by this decision, but then the band scored their first hit, "The Rain, the Park and Other Things," with mom singing on the harmonies and they were stuck with her. The brothers' dream of rock stardom then completely evaporated when their father decided that their cute-as-a-button baby-sister, Susan, should join the band for no other reason than she was cute-as-a-button.With the final inclusion of a fifth brother, The Cowsills managed to score four Top 40 hits including three in the Top 10. They appeared in numerous TV shows, performed hundreds of concerts, and even had an endorsement deal with the American Dairy Association. With their well-scrubbed good looks and non-controversial music, they were marketed as family-friendly and wholesome during the tumultuous late 1960's.And then it all fell apart. The documentary does discuss some of the immediate after effects of The Cowsills' amazingly quick fall from the pop scene and the loss of everything they had earned due to their father's gross mismanagement, but it doesn't provide too much detail as if it's still too painful to recall. The long term effects are given a lot more attention especially relating to the premature demise of two of the founding brothers, Billy and Barry.The Cowsill story is both so fascinating and tragic that even a substandard documentary can make it interesting. Their father, Bud, rivals and maybe even surpasses other infamous stage-dads, Murray Wilson and Joe Jackson, for abuse and mismanagement. On the other hand, their mother doesn't really resonate and the image one gets is of a mouse of a woman afraid to stand-up to an abusive husband and thus failing her children. Their entire wholesome image was a façade created to sell milk and records. And when Bud had burned their last bridge within the entertainment industry and with their trust funds empty, where does that leave six kids who had spent their formative years as entertainers? The younger ones were expected to just go back to school and carry on as if nothing had happened. A sort of nightmare reverse version of "Hannah Montana." It would make a good Hollywood tragedy.

Wonderful documentary by Louise Palanker that chronicles the oft posed but rarely answered question: What happened to The Cowsills? The music cleverly used throughout the film tells us a lot without trying to but what is especially refreshing is that the film allows the story to unfold naturally (and this is so important to this kind of story) in the family's own words. I never get the feeling that the filmmaker intrudes upon the story in any way. The music is a large asset to the film because it was truly refreshing and creative. Interesting insert by Shirley Jones who played the mother in the televised version aka The Partridge Family. I often wondered why TV executives did not just let The Cowsills play themselves on a televised version. This would have been a successful reality TV show had the Cowsills happened today. Brought to mind another greatly talented family group, The Jackson Five with a similar issue of paternal bullying and worse. At times shockingly revealing, the film shows what being a family is truly about, dysfunction, tragedy and all. Don't miss it.

The Cowsills were a band made up of brothers, one sister and their mom, ho had a few major hit records in the ate 60s. They were the inspiration for the show The Partidge Family. While this documentary chronicles the fairly short time they were fairly big stars, it more goes into the psychology of the family itself, especially about their abusive father Bud. There are interviews with all of them, and the insight they give to themselves and what they meant to both the world and each other is kind of fascinating. Although they look back in some regret you also see the love that still exists between them. This film is recommended for anyone who is interested in music documentaries that delve beyond the music to what all of their time in the sun and beyond meant. You see immense talent, but you also see the struggle. By the way, the music is good. If you remember them or are curious, this is just about a must see.