Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974) User Reviews

Alice rocks!

[memery-1 · 8/10 · 19 January 2006]

This film shows the Alice Cooper band at its peak -- and unfortunately, during its final tour. The comedy segments where a film director and viking are pursuing the band are very weak, but the concert rocks! All of AC's classics (18, Billion Dollar Babies, I Love the Dead) are represented and rendered expertly. Alice was a major influence on rock and metal, but his crowd interactions are pure punk shtick -- taunting and insulting front row fans. The theatrics are minimal compared to other performances, but the music overshadows the stunts with a guillotine and saliva drenched mannequins. If you're an Alice fan, check this out on DVD -- and play the Concert Only option. Or, if you'r an AC neophyte, prepare to be surprised by a great performance by an underrated rocker.

Great Live Footage With Abysmal 'Comedy' Inserts.

[wadechurton · 8/10 · 7 October 2007]

Firstly, a note that the 2005 Australia/New Zealand version of the DVD is the original 'Cooper Gang' one and not the 'old movies' re-edit. That said, the 'Cooper Gang' story itself is astonishingly bad. No wonder audiences rejected this boring, overplayed, seemingly improvised and consistently dreadful 'comedy'. Probably great fun to make, but more than a chore to watch. If you want to actually enjoy these segments however, select Alice's commentary and prepare to laugh heartily (this DVD would have been graded seven out of ten were this feature absent). Of course, the meat of the matter is the 1973 concert footage, and it is uniformly excellent. He may have gone all Muppet Show and become a Hammy Horror solo star, but here's what got up Straight America's collective nose about Alice Cooper in the first place. Alice, his music and the taboo-pushing stage show were nasty, funny, sick and sometimes genuinely creepy (the mannequins! The spittle!), but seldom boring. Again, Alice provides a seriously witty commentary to the proceedings, and one can select the 'play concert only' option to excise entirely the 'Cooper Gang' saga.

the original Alice Cooper group in their prime

[gish1897 · 10/10 · 14 January 2001]

This film does a bang-up job at capturing the live feel of the original Alice Cooper group's 1973 "Billion Dollar Babies" tour. In this viewer's opinion, this was Alice Cooper at his prime. Too bad this has never been produced and distributed on video or dvd....it's a great time capsule of the earliest origins of shock rock.

Nearly hits the mark

[Richard-161 · 9/10 · 30 January 2001]

'Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper' is based around a concert filmed during the Alice Cooper Group's infamous 'Billion Dollar Babies' US spring tour in 1973, with segments of old B/W movie footage edited in between songs.

The concert footage, though a little dark due to bad lighting, is awesome viewing, documenting the group's most theatrical stage show filmed during their commercial peak (subsequently the group, after recording one more album, more or less broke up and Alice Cooper himself continued as a solo artist taking the onstage theatrics to new heights). However the movie as a whole does suffer from the B/W segments, which are a little long and boring at times, their inclusion not necessary as the concert footage itself would have successfully carried the movie.

Interesting to note that the original version of this movie shown at its New York premiere featured comedy sketches of the group instead of the B/W segments. Apparently that version was badly received by the audience and the movie was then re-edited.

Overall, a near-classic presentation of the classic Alice Cooper Group at the height of their career, a movie worthy of seeking out.

must've been the 70's

[judex-1 · 1 October 2003]

Excellent documentary on the original Alice Cooper BAND. Works in some amusing sidepieces, and features most of the big hits, excellently played and presented. But this was the '70's, so, in the tradition of "Myra Breckinridge" and the like, much of it has been re-edited to provide commentary by contrasting the band with old film clips. Other than the Shirley Temple footage, most of this is pretty weak, and quite distracting from the concert footage. I have heard that a version is out there that does not have all this ancillary footage, but I have never seen one. I've never seen a proper release of this, but it is found at many record shows, and all over the grey market.

--Judex.1--

"The film that out-grosses them all!"

[dalldorfw · 10/10 · 10 August 2012]

After being forced to sing show-tunes, Alice Cooper and his band wreck an entire Hollywood movie set and drive off to their concert. Along the way they are pursued by the always angry German director and, for some reason, a viking. At some point they even enlist the help of a Lone Ranger-variant who's mask keeps falling off. The campy, Keystone-style chases are great fun for those with a goof-ball sense of humor but the real highlight is the live concert footage (filmed during the infamous 'Billion Dollar Babies' tour), in which Alice sings some of this best loved songs and delights his audience by doing some delightful things. Irreverent, gross, funny, tasteless and always entertaining. Lost since it's theatrical release, this didn't land on video until '05.

Good To See You Again, Too

[loveoftheneverman · 10/10 · 10 August 2006]

I don't intend on "spoiling it," but in case I do so inadvertently, there is the forewarning: I don't want to be banned.

Alice Cooper was the ultimate post-1960's reaction to mid-1950's phenomenon. The urban legend of the name "Alice Cooper" deriving its origins from a "17th Century Witch," coupled with outrageous stage-antics ala Grand Guignol, only served to heighten the furor of that more tranquil, but yet still "boiling time." One must remember that, when "Love It To Death" (one of their best albums, it certainly beat "Killer" and "School's Out.") came out, the sixties hug-fest was over. "The Ballad of Dwight Frye" and "Caught In A Dream," captured perfectly the absolute futility of all established "norms." Truth be told, Shep Gordon and Bob Ezrin were as much responsible for "The Alice Cooper Group," perhaps even more-so, at the beginning, tban Alice himself.

That being said, I feel the charges levelled at Alice by former band member Michael Bruce to be largely unfounded. Of course, he was there and I wasn't--however, the power, strength and above all *depth* of the original ACG was Alice himself--this is *so* evident during "Welcome To My Nightmare" (Alice Cooper's greatest work!) that it bears repeating.

That being said, there *were* some great contributions by the other bandmembers--however, none of them could sustain the image and sick-glamor of Alice himself...

Alice Cooper Goes To Hollywood

[cutterccbaxter · 6 April 2024]

I just read Dennis Dunaway's book and he wasn't thrilled with this movie. The band wasn't asked for any creative input and they are pretty much reduced to lurking in the shadows during their performance. Obviously Alice is the star but more shots of the rest of the band members would have made that part of the film more visually dynamic.

He didn't care for The Monkees-like approach to the tone of the film with the (painfully long) comedic interludes between the concert footage. Speaking of The Monkees, too bad the Alice movie isn't as inspired as their feature film, Head. Imagine the Alice Cooper Group going on a series of surreal romps with their brand of the macabre added to the mix.

I first watched Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper when it was released on DVD by Shout Factory. It didn't leave much of an impression on me then, nor did it on a second viewing. The band had a lot of talent and wrote some great songs, so the movie feels like a missed opportunity.