By 1972 Marc Bolan was a genuine Godhead, he was Camelot! The ultimate dandy, an undeniable pop star worth his salt, the perfect blending of wild 50's rock & roll and 60's fey underground cool. Marc was tapped into the teenage zeitgeist like few other artists have ever been, producing some of the greatest songs of the 21st century. His trajectory was reaching a crescendo and It was around this time that Ringo Starr saw an article proclaiming ''T Rex are bigger than the Beatles''. With loads of money and his own film company he decided to get involved in documenting T Rextasy at it's prime. ''It's one of my favourite films, I love it so much, it's such a huge inspiration on how I make movies, I just adore how they didn't use a script, it was all instinctive and fun... pure heart'' says filmmaker Fabrizio Federico.
Born To Boogie is a surreal Fellini-type film, for starters, the Wembley concert (March 18, 1972) was going to be Marc's coronation, 2 shows in one day, a 5 camera shoot in order to capture every bit of the excitement, guitar turned up to 11 and with minimum stage production. All that was needed were those songs.
Marc was a terrific showman, he had chutzpah, peacocking and strutting his stuff while wearing a T-shirt with his own image on it, plus 10,000 screaming kids going ape-shit There was a pungent smell of girls wetting themselves cose of the sheer Dionysian excitement. There's a moment in 'Baby Strange' where the hysteria is climaxing and descending into a riot, you see the police keeping the kids back, and the acoustic set is just gorgeous, 'Spaceball Ricochet' & 'Cosmic Dancer' shine on, and when Marc throws out the tambourines and attacks his guitar with it during 'Get It On' you can feel the stadium shake.
And this is just the concert, Born to Boogie has some of the greatest characters you will see in any rock movie - a man dressed as a doormouse (Ringo) driving a red convertible, with a top hatted Bolan with a fly squatter, looking like a glam Willy Winka. A midget materialises and eats a rear-view mirror, then you get an all-star jam on 'Tutti Frutti' at Abbey Road studios with Elton John, & Ringo jamming with Marc and Mickey, later even perched in a piano while rocking out to 'Children Of The Revolution'.
There's the funny retakes of the fluffed ''Some people like to rock'' scene on the airstrip and the famous Tea Party scene (filmed at John Lennon's house) with a bemused Catweazle playing a butler, surrounded by frisky nuns and Mickey Finn looking like Dracula covered in jam, as Marc jams an acoustic medley with a string section in whiteface.
The film is terrific and shows the apex of Marc's career, everything came true at that fateful concert, no performer has had this impact since maybe Kurt Cobain and the feeling of Glam lives on and it's main lesson is to be yourself in life's erratic magical mystery tour.
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