A poem is a naked person [DVD video]

Filmmaker Les Blank considered this free-form feature documentary about singer-songwriter Leon Russell, filmed between 1972 and 1974 while Blank was living at the Russell/Shelter records recording studio compound on Grand Lake of the Cherokees in NE Oklahoma, but unreleased due to creative differences and music clearance problems, to be one of his greatest accomplishments. Includes scenes of Russell and his band and others performing, both in concert and in the studio. Also features footage of everyday life in Oklahoma.

General Note:

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1974.

Special features: Harrod Blank and Leon Russell (the director's son sits down with the musician to talk about the film's long journey, from its production in the early 1970s to its release in 2015); Les Blank (excerpts from 2013 screening of the film); "A film's forty-year journey" (37 min. documentary features interviews with director Les Blank's son Harrod Blank; sound recordist and assistant editor Maureen Gosling; and Jim Franklin, the artist prominently featured in the film); "Out in the woods" (short documentary shot by Maureen Gosling during the two-year filming process at Gand Lake O' the Cherokees in northeastern Oklahoma, presented along with excerpts from letters she wrote to family); Trailers. Insert features an essay by critic Kent Jones.

Performers:

Featuring Leon Russell, Jim Franklin, George Jones, Willie Nelson.

Technical Details:

DVD; region 1; NTSC; full screen (1.33:1); monaural.

Personal Subject:

Russell, Leon.

Subject Term:

Rock musicians -- United States -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

Oklahoma -- Social life and customs.

Genre:

Documentary films.