We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song (1985)

Director
Tom Trbovich

Main cast
Jane Fonda; Quincy Jones; Charles Ray; Bob Dylan; Lionel Richie

Genres
Music, Documentary

Description
We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song is a documentary which examines how the song was written, how producer Quincy Jones and songwriters Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie persuaded some of the most popular performers in America to donate their services to the project, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the marathon recording session that produced the single.


Similar movies

Inter-cut with archive material, friends, family and associates of the musician tell the story of his life and how spirituality became such a major part of it.
There has never been a documentary like "Land of Look Behind". Relatively unknown due to poor distribution and New York Film Festival skullduggery, this breathtaking film presents a unique epic vision with quasi-dramatic elements and cinematographic wizardry. The non-reggae original soundtrack is outstanding, as is the reggae music of Bob Marley and Gregory Isaacs. The great documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog has called "Look Behind" the non-fiction film that has influenced him most over the last fifteen years. Indeed, this film's peers are the best of Herzog, Bunuel's "Land Without Bread", Flaherty's "Nanook" and Leacock-Pennebaker's "Louisiana Story". With thoughtful viewing, one will see this moving documentary actually end with a lovely little dream sequence. No American has come close to making a film this ingenious in the last thirty years.
A documentary on the late singer/songwriter, who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011.
An atmospheric quest film, Love Shines follows Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith as he embarks on a last ditch effort to achieve a 'hit'. The curtain pulls back for a rare glimpse inside the process as Sexsmith works with legendary producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue). But will this be enough? Sexsmith must emerge with a song that achieves commercial radio play, but the journey with Rock also turns introspective.
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times is a documentary about the life of Brian Wilson, the musical mastermind and songwriter for the Beach Boys. The film examines the ups and downs of Wilson's life, including the early years of the Beach Boys, his years of substance abuse, and his long road to recovery. The film was directed by music producer Don Was, who also worked on the soundtrack for Backbeat, a film about the early days of the Beatles.
A documentary by photographer Sam Jones documenting American rock band Wilco recording their fourth album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Originally intended as a showcase of the band's creative process, the film crew catches unexpected complications between the band and its record label and problems among the band members themselves.
The history of Sound City and their huge recording device; exploring how digital change has allowed 'people that have no place' in music to become stars. It follows former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighter David Grohl as he attempts to resurrect the studio back to former glories.
Artifact is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Jared Leto under the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins, a recurring character in the Dr. Seuss universe. The film is a documentary about the making of the 30 Seconds to Mars album This Is War and the band's battle against record label EMI. Included in Artifact are several interviews, including the one with neurophysicist Daniel Levitin, author of the popular science book This Is Your Brain On Music. The film won the BlackBerry People's Choice Documentary Award at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
An introspective documentary which chronicles pop music queen Britney Spears' return to the spotlight after her much-publicized professional and personal struggles. Honest, raw and revealing, the one-hour special shares some of Spears' most intimate moments in the span of 60 days, and gives fans an inside look at Britney in the recording studio and on set filming the music videos for one of music's most triumphant comebacks.
Blind blues musician Paul Pena is perhaps best known for his song "Jet Airliner". In 1993, Pena heard Tuvan throat singing over his shortwave radio and subsequently taught himself how to reproduce these extraordinary sounds. This documentary follows him to Tuva, where he takes part in a throat singing competition.
The documentary explores the enigmatic life and music of Harry Nilsson in an attempt to answer the question, "Who is Harry Nilsson?" The film includes new and archive audio and film including interviews with Robin Williams, Yoko Ono, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Ray Cooper, the Smothers Brothers, and Micky Dolenz. "Who is Harry Nilsson?" uses promotional films, music videos, and home movies; segments from the unreleased documentary made during the recording of Son of Schmilsson (Did Somebody Drop His Mouse?); and excerpts from Nilsson's rare TV appearances in his BBC specials, the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour", "Playboy After Dark", and in an episode of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir".
This acclaimed documentary film chronicles multi-platinum Grammy-nominated artist Hanson, and their four year struggle to make their third studio album "Underneath".
Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.
Time Is Illmatic is a feature length documentary film that delves deep into the making of Nas' 1994 debut album, Illmatic, and the social conditions that influenced its creation.
Gretta's celebrity boyfriend breaks up with her after a long-term relationship, leaving the singer to find success on her own. With the help of record producer, Dan and hip-hop celebrity, Trouble Gum, Gretta strives to fulfil her musical ambitions.
An aspiring singer, Denise Waverly/Edna Buxton, sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. The film follows her life from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
The life of reclusive and eccentric Beach Boys songwriter and musician Brian Wilson.
Set against a backdrop of early 60's London, Telstar is the story of the world's first independent record producer, Joe Meek. A maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal success with Telstar - the biggest selling record of it's time - before bad luck, depression, heartbreak and paranoia led to his downfall.
After putting together another Broadway flop, down-on-his-luck producer Max Bialystock teams up with timid accountant Leo Bloom in a get-rich-quick scheme to put on the world's worst show.
Lavish biography of Flo Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker.
Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace.
Rock Opera version of Phantom Of The Opera with elements of Faust. Record producer Swan steals both the music and the girl (Phoenix) from composer Leach. Disfigured Leach plans revenge on Swan and his rock palace, The Paradise, and becomes The Phantom. Leach signs contract with Swan to complete rock opera based on the life of Faust for Phoenix. Double crossed by Swan who hires heavy metal singer Beef, Leach exacts his vengeance.
Starstruck Indiana small-town girl Lily is pestering theatrical producer John Thornway for a role but he is reluctant.
Harriet Green, a beloved and radiant music hall star of the Edwardian era, has a guilty secret: She has a baby daughter, born out of wedlock. Harriet leaves her public and flees to South Africa to raise her daughter quietly. The years pass, and now her daughter, Harriet Hawkes, returns to London as a young show-biz hopeful. Tommy, a wily publicity man, knowing that young Harriet is a dead ringer for her famous mother, convinces a theater producer to star her in a new revue as none other than the original Harriet Green, miraculously untouched by old age. The ruse works too well: Now the public believes Harriet is a well-preserved 60-year-old and Tommy is her son. The deception is more than merely inconvenient, because now Harriet and Tommy have secretly fallen in love.
A struggling songwriter named Dave Seville finds success when he comes across a trio of singing chipmunks: mischievous leader Alvin, brainy Simon, and chubby, impressionable Theodore.
Married songwriters almost split up while putting on a big show.
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury for while, so he has to earn his money as a lyricst. Per chance he meets composer Harry Ruby and their first song is a hit. Ruby gets Kalmar to marry is former partner Jessie Brown, and Kalmar and Jessie prevent Ruby from getting married to the wrong girls. But due to the fact, that Ruby has caused a backer's withdrawal for a Kalmar play, they end their relation.
Miranda Presley moves from New York to Nashville to become a song writer. At an unsuccessful audition she meets James Wright a promising newcomer. After only a few days they marry but start to quickly regret it. This is River Phoenix's last movie and you can see the end coming...
A vacuum repairman moonlights as a street musician and hopes for his big break. One day a Czech immigrant, who earns a living selling flowers, approaches him with the news that she is also an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair decide to collaborate, and the songs that they compose reflect the story of their blossoming love.
No relation to the 1939 Claudette Colbert-James Stewart comedy of the same name, It's a Wonderful World is essentially a vehicle for British-based bandleader Ted Heath. The thinnish plot is set in motion by would-be songwriters Terence Morgan and George Cole, who manage to sell a tune by claiming that it was composed by a reclusive musical genius. When the tune hits the top of the charts, Morgan and Cole find themselves in the embarrassing position of having to produce the "real" composer.
Successful songwriter falls for society girl who is just playing around. He doesn't realize that his girl-Friday is the one he really loves until it is almost too late. Although he is dazzled by high society, he overhears the society girl's admission of just fooling in time to avoid marriage.
A young songwriter leaves his Kentucky home to try to make it in New Orleans. Eventually he winds up in New York, where he sells his songs to a music publisher, but refuses to sell his most treasured composition: "Dixie." The film is based on the life of Daniel Decatur Emmett, who wrote the classic song "Dixie."
The film follows aspiring singer-songwriter Jed King (Alan Powell) as he struggles to catch a break and escape the long shadow of his father, a country music legend. After reluctantly accepting a gig at a local vineyard harvest festival, Jed is love-struck by the vineyard owner’s daughter, Rose (Ali Faulkner), and a romance quickly blooms. Soon after their wedding, Jed writes Rose “The Song,” which becomes a breakout hit. Thrust into a life of stardom and a world of temptation in the form of fellow performer Shelby Bale (Caitlin Nicol-Thomas), Jed’s life and marriage begin to fall apart.
Joe Lane, radio entertainer and songwriter, learns that the manager of the studio, Arthur Phillips, has made improper advances to his wife, Katherine. Infuriated, Lane engages him in a fight, and the encounter results in Phillips' accidental death. Joe goes to prison for a few years, and when he is released he visits his son, Little Pal, at school and is begged by him to run away together.
A transexual punk rock girl from East Berlin tours the US with her rock band as she tells her life story and follows the ex-boyfriend/bandmate who stole her songs.
Musical based on The Beatles songbook and set in the 60s England, America, and Vietnam. The love story of Lucy and Jude is intertwined with the anti-war movement and social protests of the 60s.
In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker (Meat Loaf) and a creepy butler (Richard O'Brien). Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named "Rocky."
A comedy/musical utilizing both new songs and parodies from the original (Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance), as well as references to popular films of the time, including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. In your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy fights girl with swords plot, the story revolves around Mabel ...
Its All Gone Pete Tong is a comedy following the tragic life of legendary Frankie Wilde. The story takes us through Frankie's life from one of the best DJ's alive, through subsequent battle with a hearing disorder, culminating in his mysterious disappearance from the scene.
The inimitable Danny Kaye stars as famed storyteller Hans Christian Andersen in this charming fictionalized biopic that blends music, romance, comedy and fantasy to trace the life of Denmark's literary hero. A small-town shoemaker with a knack for spinning yarns, Hans encounters happiness and heartbreak on his road to becoming a full-fledged writer.
Danny Fisher, young delinquent, flunks out of high school. He quits his job as a busboy in a nightclub, and one night he gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and the local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at his night club The Blue Shade. Danny refuses, but Fields won't take no for an answer.
An updated version of the 1980 musical, which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts.
A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorizes the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. 25th years of Phantom of the Opera marked with a grand performance at the Royal Albert Hall
Rock-and-roller Arnie Haynes returns to his hometown as a hero to the teenagers. However, the mayor and other concerned adults have banned him from performing in his hometown because they consider him and his music a negative influence on the youth. But with the help of disc jockey/publicist Alan Freed and fellow artists (including Bill Haley and the Comets and Little Richard), they hope to convince everyone that rock and roll is not as dangerous as the adults think.
Two feuding rock stars get handcuffed together for 24 hours at a music festival where they are both due to perform.
Cats is a pop-cultural phenomenon that has been performed on stage for more than 50 million patrons in 26 countries for almost 18 years, resulting in more than two billion dollars in ticket sales. Now that Cats has finally made it to the small screen, attention must be paid not just by fans of this critic-proof show, but also by those entertainment mavens who have somehow avoided it until now.
Young Mary Rainey takes the reins of her deceased father's failing circus. With the help of the Inimitable Smiley Johnson, she hopes to bring fortune back to her ragtag band of ragged shoeleather performers.
Groucho Marx plays a talent agent that sells his girlfriend to a nightclub -- as two separate acts. The deception and constant costume changes are too much for his girl.
A musical set in the Prohibition-era American South, where a speakeasy performer and club manager Rooster must contend with gangsters who have their eyes on the club while his piano player and partner Percival must choose between his love, Angel or his obligations to his father.
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
In 1867, Shin Jae-hyo leads the Dongrijungsa which teaches pansori (traditional Korean musical storytelling). A young girl, Chae-sun, who wants to perform pansori, appears in front of him. Chae-sun has dreamed of performing pansori since she first heard Shin Jae-hyo perform when she was little, but Shin Jae-hyo turns her down because women are not allowed to perform pansori. Chae-sun then disguises herself as a man and enters the Dongrijungsa to learn pansori, but Shin Jae-hyo doesn't accept her as his student. One day, he hears Daewongun, the most powerful man in Joseon and the father of the King, is going to hold a national competition of pansori performers known as “Naksungyeon.” Shin Jae-hyo decides to teach Chae-sun who has a true voice to perform “Chunhyangga.” If anyone finds out that Chae-sun is a woman, Shin Jae-hyo and Chae-sun will both face death.
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a film released in 1996 of an 11 December 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a supergroup called The Dirty Mac, along with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards. It was originally meant to be aired on the BBC, but the Rolling Stones withheld it because they were unhappy with their performance.
Two brothers, Bill and Wally Winter, become infatuated with a gold digger, Nina Bellamy. She persuades them to ask their wealthy father, Sir James, for ₤10,000 so Bill can produce a stage show and Wally a movie, both starring Nina. Sir James discovers the truth about Nina and gives his son the money, provided they leave town in secret for one month to write their shows and that they only use new talent.
Joe Lightcloud persuades his Congressman to give him 20 heifers and a prize bull so he and his father, Charlie, can prove that the Navajos can successfully raise cattle on the reservation. If their experiment is successful, then the government will help all the Navajo people. But Joe's friend, Bronc Hoverty, accidentally barbecues the prize bull, while Joe sells the heifers to buy plumbing and other home improvements for his stepmother.
When Neurotic, struggling songwriter, Catherine Brown's life in New York City falls apart, she is forced to confront her past when she spends the summer at her childhood home in Woodstock.
Jack Oakie and Jack Haley are songwriters are enroute from New York to Hollywood to make their fame and fortune; Ginger Rogers, a lunchwagon proprieter, joins them.
Romance in the '90s is where you find it. But what do you do to make it happen in today's hilariously mixed-up Singles world?
After their production "Princess Ida" meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work together again, which opens the way to "The Mikado," one of the duo's greatest successes.
A satirical songwriter comes to Los Angeles and puts his life's work in jeopardy.
Swanee River is a 1940 American biopic about Stephen Foster, a songwriter from Pittsburgh who falls in love with the South, marries a Southern girl, then is accused of sympathizing when the Civil War breaks out. Typical of 20th Century Fox biopics of the time, the film is more fictional than factual biography.

© Valossa 2015–2024