Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something (2020) User Reviews

90 minutes of joyful memory

[davidpcr1 · 9/10 · 2 November 2020]

I will leave it to someone else to critique the film making & technical art. I watched this film to see Harry come to life again for 90 precious minutes and was not disappointed. Why no 10? I wanted more; more songs, more stories about Harry and his songwriting.

This film is obviously a Chaplin family blessed enterprise, no unauthorized biopic here. Harry is briefly shown in his childhood & youth and soon the stories start & you'll be smiling and remembering if you are old enough (I am, barely.). Harry was just so alive, so driven to push others to action, so charismatic that his marks on this world have only deepened over time.

The film does a remarkable job with original video of Harry and his band and his family. His surviving brothers and Big John Wallace are additional key contributors.

In today's world, terms such as inequality & social justice are overused & often are utilized to indict others. Harry promoted social justice and equality the old-fashioned, hard-core way, with his voice & his heart & his soul. The dignity with which he treated humankind is too often missing from modern discourse, Harry made it real, Harry made it happen.

Check this film out, even if you only know Cats in the Cradle and Taxi.

Bringing Harry Back to Life

[shelbythuylinh · 9/10 · 17 November 2021]

He may had died in a tragic horrific car wreck in 1981 at only 38-years old. He however has a legacy that lived. And will continue to live through world hunger and fighting the cause.

It is he was a very smart man and wrote songs about the common man the story songs that made him famous but critics and radios that gave him not so nice reviews and having songs playing no longer than five minutes due to short attention spans

Still the family and loved ones gave their blessing over in childhood, youth, having been a brief filmmaker, and being nominated for Oscars, Grammy, Tony, etc.

It brings him back to life albeit briefly. We see his widow and inspiration for his songs there almost all Sandy and children and siblings including Tom who was in "Make a Wish!"

Harry is gone but not forgotten at all.

Worth a look

[martin-willett · 7/10 · 7 June 2022]

Worth seeing, especially for fans of Chapin and folk music in general. BTW anyone with rudimentary internet skills can quickly determine that Bill Ayres and Bill Ayers are 2 different people, and that the co-founder of World Hunger Year / WHYHunger has nothing to do with the Ayers of Weather Underground.

Inspirational

[Bullwinkle · 10/10 · 3 November 2020]

I grew up loving Harry Chapin's music, and everything I heard about him. But you know, there was no Internet then, and some of the stories sounded made up...too good to be true. What this movie did was force me to realize I didn't know the half of it, and that I wasn't doing enough with my life to help those in need.

It's a wonderful documentary about a wonderful man.

Fantastic story about a Fantastic man

[maremack-83198 · 10/10 · 16 March 2022]

I've been a Harry Chapin fan since 1972. I thought I pretty much knew all about him but this documentary tells the true story of one of the most unselfish, singer/songwriter and humanitarians that lived. Harry did so much for World Hunger and even 40 years later his legacy lives on. He belongs in the singer/songwriter hall of fame.

I have watched this documentary at least 5 times and it always amazes me what he did in his short 38 years. Harry, we miss you!

Good Story, Poor Sound Engineering

[jimtankjr · 8/10 · 16 April 2023]

Compelling documentary on the late singer song writer and humanitarian Harry Chapin, with interesting commentary from Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Pat Benatar and others.

However the project suffers from a lack of focus on presenting the music itself. Harry's music is only played at barely audible background levels that the narrators speak over, and the music volume does not increase, even when commentary pauses to focus on the music.

I learned what a great human being Harry Chapin was, and I will enjoy his music even more in the future.

However, when I watch a music focused documentary, I like to also hear the music itself. I would enjoy this production much more, if the music was played at the same volume as the commentators for at least some part of the presentation.

VIEWS ON FILM review of Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something

[burlesonjesse5 · 8/10 · 2 January 2023]

Sometimes it's a little unfocused, most of the time it's not. Sometimes there's present-day footage, most of the time it's archive footage. Sometimes there's a little over-padding in 93 minutes, most of the time you probably won't care either way. Yeah I'm talking about Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something, a documentary that acts just the way Chapin did in real life, exhaustively trying to do a lot in such a short period of time.

Now I was 6-years-old when Harry Chapin passed (July 16, 1981 in a car accident). Obviously I didn't know much about him but over time I realized he was the guy that sang "Cat's in the Cradle". Through "Do Something" and other excerpts from stuff like good old VH1, I learned more and more about the wistful, Chapin mystique. He wasn't just a musician mind you, he was also a filmmaker, an activist, the insight behind USA for Africa, and a philanthropist. Watching Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something, you realize Harry knew he wasn't going to live a long life (a premonition perhaps?). In his thirty-eight years on earth, he still had the gumption to put out 11 albums and perform in thousands of concerts. Not too shabby.

"Do Something" is a lot of docu for an hour and a half. It's not necessarily its downfall but its strength. The film doesn't really have a beginning, middle, or end. I mean you can turn it on, watch it from any point, and kind of feel like you're getting something, something that the late Chapin would be smiling down on.

Added to that, "Do Something" is not flashy nor is it over-directed by rookie Rick Korn. You've got clips from the 70s and prior to and then you've got the present-time stuff. That's about it, no animation (ugh), no reenactments, no reckonings, no BS. How refreshing. What's more refreshing is how the people being interviewed were actually part of Chapin's life and not you know, other folk (critics, pundits, writers, blah blah blah). Billy Joel and Pat Benatar chime in but most importantly, it's Chapin's family that gets to give voice to. "Harry, keep the change!"