Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune (2011)

100% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(1,638 ratings)

Documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser profiles American folk singer Phil Ochs, who rose to fame in the 1960s and whose hopeful, incisive ballads were written to inspire positive change in an era of profound social turbulence. Equally critical of the left and the right -- not to mention the… More Documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser profiles American folk singer Phil Ochs, who rose to fame in the 1960s and whose hopeful, incisive ballads were written to inspire positive change in an era of profound social turbulence. Equally critical of the left and the right -- not to mention the politically apathetic -- Ochs penned countless songs and released seven albums, ultimately growing a sizable following thanks to his positive message and talent for songwriting. In 1976, following the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and in the wake of the tragedy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ochs was so overcome with hopelessness that he turned to alcohol and ultimately committed suicide. He was just 35 years old. Though the FBI would later admit to singling Ochs out as a traitor for questioning American policy during wartime, this film aims to offer a comprehensive overview of a deeply complex artist through archival footage and interviews with such outspoken fans as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Sean Penn. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Kenneth Bowser
Written By: Kenneth Bowser
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Documentary

In Theaters: Jan 5, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Jul 19, 2011
Studio: First Run Features

Critic Reviews

Leba Hertz, San Francisco Chronicle
"Phil Ochs" not only is a good look at a man who carved a small but important niche into the folk world but a good record of the turbulent 1960s and what motivated its protesters.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
The short and tragic life of Phil Ochs is as involving as the music he wrote and played, and that is saying a great deal.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
A compassionate but not uncritical portrait of an artist whose creativity and vulnerability were inseparable from the political distemper of his era.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
At once an unsentimental portrait of the ambitious singer who thought himself bound for glory, and an affecting elegy for a time when song was a form of revolution.
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
A complex portrait of an ultimately unknowable man.
John Anderson, Variety
A warts-and-all portrait of a singer and his celebrity, Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune is an overdue look at the '60s folk movement's anti-Dylan.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
...captures both Ochs' glory days and his sad and rapid decline, communicating the brilliance of his songs (he wrote hundreds, and recorded 7 albums in his short career) as well as the less savory aspects of his life.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Top-notch documentary on edgy protest singer-songwriter of the 1960s and 1970s Phil Ochs.
Jennifer Merin, About.com
This brilliantly composed docu about Phil Ochs not only captures the power of the singer/songwriter's personality, it reveals the period's social and poltical strife by following events in his career and reflected in his lyrics.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Kenneth Bowser's loving but honest documentary gives him his proper due as an important artist, without sugarcoating his troubled, and eventually self-destructive, nature.
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
It's a bit too worshipful, but certainly fills in the gaps in our knowledge of the life and times of the late 1960s singer-songwriter.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
An engaging, sobering documentary that celebrates his life and music while suggesting that in the Dylan-Ochs rivalry, Ochs never had a chance.
Emily S. Mendel, culturevulture.net
... a "must see" for those who lived through the turbulent 1960s, and those who today question our country's continuing engagement in foreign wars.
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper
Proves his work is still relevant, even if you don't know the words.
James Verniere, Boston Herald
If nothing else, this film serves as a neat introduction to the music that helped create the anti-Vietnam War movement and define a generation.
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix
Ken Bowser's film biography of a seminal American protest singer of the '60s and '70s is conventionally told but also informative and moving.
Jane Stevenson, Jam! Movies
First-time filmmakers Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver trained their cameras on Lemmy for three years and the results paid off.
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
More than just a biopic of the famed troubadour, Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune is also a brief, brisk, brilliant history of social turmoil in America in the '60s.
Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY
Despite all the sadness and disappointment in his story, Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune is an invigorating survey of its subject's life and times.
Neil Rosen, NY1-TV
This film, which shows Ochs' life -- flaws and all -- offers up a history lesson to those who are not that familiar with his musical work and societal contributions, and for Phil Ochs it provides some overdue recognition.

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Featured Audience Ratings

KJ P

This soon-to-be beloved documentary may have the inspiration it needs, but without a larger budget to put this documentary together it is extremely dull. The story is intriguing and Phil Ochs is an amazing human beings, but there is a big chunck of something missing that most great… More
This soon-to-be beloved documentary may have the inspiration it needs, but without a larger budget to put this documentary together it is extremely dull. The story is intriguing and Phil Ochs is an amazing human beings, but there is a big chunck of something missing that most great documentaries have, a certain direction with the interviews. I held my hands up with my hands in boredom as I was watching this film, but by the end of the picture, I was facinated by how such an average person became so rich and famous. This was a very solid documentary and I recommend it!