The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1970) User Reviews

Les Blank loves his subjects and wants you to love them too.

[runamokprods · 9/10 · 9 March 2015]

This early 31 minute film by Les Blank captures what's terrific about Blank's style. The love and admiration he feels for his subjects, his willingness not to sugar coat the dark sides (like Hopkins' drinking), and the embrace of music and food as exemplars of the joys of existence.

It's hard not to smile watching Blank's work. The home-spun approach to his film-making – hand drawn titles, an avoidance of anything slick or fancy in his style, no narrator to create distance, makes it feel like you're watching a friend's home movies about a subject they're really excited about.

But the art lies in the fact that these 'home movies' uncannily capture people, places and whole cultures with an immediacy and vibrancy that too few documentaries have. I also like that Blank makes his films just as long as he feels they needs to be, without worry. If that means one film is 20 minutes and another 180, that won't bother him. Blank is following his gut, with no look to how it's 'supposed' to be done.

By the end of this film, I wanted to run and buy a stack of Lightnin' Hopkins recordings. That's a pretty good endorsement.

"If you ever have the blues, remember what I say, you can always say it with the heart, and that's the blues" - Lightnin' Hopkins

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 August 2015]

Before I go any place else, accolades to Turner Classic Movies for airing unknown documentaries like this for an audience who wouldn't even know they existed.

Between the heavy Southern black dialect and my own hard of hearing, I probably missed a good portion of what some of the commentators were talking about here, but that's not what I was tuning in for anyway. It's the blues, baby, and the setting is Porter Houston's Barbecue in Texas, 1967. Center stage is guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins, expounding on his brand of music and doing an even better job of showing how it's done. The picture also includes a handful of other local musicians, none of which are named or introduced, so that had me at a disadvantage. One of them was a tortured harmonica dude that wound up writhing on the ground, I just didn't know what to make of that, maybe a severe case of the blues.

A couple of real interesting elements though. The black pig and the judge story, as told by Hopkins, was a real treat. The guy with the washboard vest playing with Lightnin' made me wonder why the concept hadn't gone any further. Maybe it has and I'm just not aware of it.

For blues fans, this is a trip in the way-back machine that's worth the ride. Problem is, you'll probably have to wait for your own Lightnin' strike to catch it on Turner Classics or some other musical venue.

"The blues is somethin' you'll always have with ya"

[robobalboa · 8/10 · 17 October 2018]

A day in the life of one of America's premier poets and artists of the 20th century. A small glimpse that widens the eye, touches the soul, and speaks universally while whispering about a moment.

Well worth seeking out

[InjunNose · 10/10 · 28 December 2011]

Enormously entertaining half-hour documentary that not only showcases late Texas bluesman Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins's famous talent for improvisation (the only recognizable compositions here are snatches of 'Meet Me in the Bottom', a version of Buddy Moss's 'Oh Lordy Mama', and Sonny Boy Williamson's 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl') but--maybe just as importantly--gives the viewer a glimpse of black life in the rural American South. The musical performances, stories, and incidental footage of Centerville, Texas are fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Hopkins playing with songster Mance Lipscomb; a few years later, in Bruce Cook's indispensable tome "Listen to the Blues", Lipscomb declared simply that "I can't play with Lightnin' no more" because Hopkins was such a difficult personality. Obviously a must for country blues aficionados (to see how the form survived, authentic and virtually unchanged, well into the 1960s), "The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins" will be of interest to more general audiences as well.

A Fantastic Documentary of a Legendary Blues Artist!

[clark-7 · 10/10 · 2 September 2003]

This is a great documentary which captures the life of legendary Blues singer/guitarist Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins. It starts out depicting Hopkins as a young boy when he first decides to become a musician and then goes on to show Lightnin' as an adult performing the blues. Hopkins is followed back to his home town of Centerville, Texas where he performs at a large outdoor Barbeque. It gives you a very personal and true feeling of who Lightnin' Hopkins really was and what his music stood for.

This film is truly a valuable piece of blues history and was captured brilliantly by the director/producer. A true classic!

Les Blank and the South

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 16 January 2015]

A portrait of the great Texas bluesman, Lightnin' Hopkins. The film includes interviews and a performance by Hopkins.

Those not well-acquainted with the blues may be forgiven for not knowing Hopkins. But this short film will introduce you to the man: Rolling Stone magazine included Hopkins at number 71 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. That is respectable, if you consider just how many great guitarists are out there.

But what makes this film good is not even Hopkins, but his world. Without any sort of narrative or political angle, Blank turns his camera on the poor, mostly-Black neighborhood near Houston. This is an interesting commentary on race and class, not so much for its struggle... but just how happy most of these people seem. They have nothing, but the music makes them joyous.

Les Blank shows Lightnin' Hopkins at his most comfortable

[KinoBuff2021 · 8/10 · 3 April 2022]

Good film. Les Blank always present his subject as much as they should be. Lightnin' Hopkins was presented while doing what he does best, playing the blues and telling stories.

This documentary presents a good perspective into the life of a bluesman as well as rural black America.

a time, a place, a sound

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 21 January 2021]

American documentary filmmaker Les Blank with Skip Gerson follows Blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins in rural Texas. I can listen to this music all day. I don't know if I really get to the heart of the man but one does get a sense of this place. It has a rodeo. It has some fishing, a little fish. It has plenty of local colors. Maybe they could have done a cook out with his family and friends. That's usually good times and good filming. Let the liquor flow and let's party it up. It's not necessarily the blues but let's blow it up for the finish.

"If you ever go to N.C. and see a black pig running across . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 16 January 2022]

. . . the road, just run over it!" is the one punch line of THE BLUES ACCORDIN' TO LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS. Moments earlier the title character is shown murdering a rare yellow, green and blue "snake-snake." This War on Nature by the "Blues Man" depicted here leaves far more methane emitted into the Planet's atmosphere from the mounds of innocent critters slaughtered by these Blues Brothers than all of America's coal, gas and oil consumption combined. Obviously, one stinking rotting pig carcass more than outweighs each and every invisible fume released by 10,000 tanker trucks worth of Premium Gasoline. Everyone pictured during THE BLUES could pass for denizens of some nefarious foreign land around Mexico, Central and South America or Africa. The average American will perceive this flick's shooting location as a "No Go Zone." I accidently strayed into one such N. G. Z. As an ill-fated pedestrian in North Charleston, SC, a while back and got stoned immediately for being the wrong hue. Luckily, I was able to outrun the mob of miscreants chucking rocks and hard apples at my head.

The music alone isn't enough

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 30 November 2018]

"The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins" is an American documentary from 1970, so this one is already almost 50 years old now and it is an early, but not very early career effort by director Les Blank. Here he takes us in one of his many short films, certainly one of his more known, to Texas into the world of blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins. Or lets say he shows us his music would be a more accurate description because sadly apart from the pretty solid and convincing audio side, there is very little to this documentary in terms of informative value. We don't find out a great deal about his career, about his family, about his life in general. We just get to listen to the tunes while seeing landscape sceneries and photography. This is Blank's usual approach to filmmaking and I know some adore it, but I myself am struggling a bit here. So it clearly isn't for everyone and I myself am glad it was a relatively short film. Still, if you love the blues (more than I do), then feel free to check this one out. Or just listen to a record instead and honestly you won't be missing much in terms of the visual side here. All in all, a thumbs-down as the overall effort did not get me remotely curious to check out Hopkins and take a deeper look into his certainly prolific musical heritage.