David Bowie: Finding Fame

To me, Bowie has pretty much always been on the top of my Rock Music list. Like many others I discovered him in his Ziggy days...'72 I believe. I liked Starman but when I first heard Five Years I was blown away and there was no going back. This Doc focuses on his early years. It was great seeing snippets of those early clips with songs I was unaware of. Some commented that they were disappointed it didn't go into Ziggy and what came after more. That wasn't the point of this Doc. Besides, everyone knows the early years are what's most interesting. Alot of Bowie's early songs are actually very good..only to be let down by the arrangements at times. Watching this Doc I got a sense of the personality that he was. The interviews with old band mates and friends were informative and didn't meander on. Slight disappointment was that there was very little visual interviews with Bowie. All in all, very recommended to Bowie and Rock Music fans.

This is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. As a ardent David Bowie fan it portrays his very human heart. He explored the theatre & took risks being true to his talent & not pandering to the mainstream. His work was developing as he matured. I would have loved to have him as a friend.

This doco about a rock superstar is quite slavish in unearthing interesting footage, people and music from David Bowie's early years in the business. It's fascinating to learn that Bowie spent years releasing quite pedestrian songs and playing at minor clubs and with obscure bands, before he was famous. Some of the songs are not very good at all Most other people probably would have given up and got a straight job. But as one friend says, Bowie always had a lot of self confidence. He doesn't come across as arrogant, though, just quietly determined. His love of experimenting with things like make/up and genres later perhaps made him more resilient in finding more fans, adapting to trends and setting him apart from other music acts. He was a sensitive boy from an average London suburb who rose to the top. He inspired a lot of people and according to this film, was a nice bloke, too.

This documentary is an easy look back into the life and artistic climb of David Bowie to the level of international fame. It is informative without giving you too much information. Plus it is interesting in how it shows David Bowie and his focused artistic drive on is music dreams and how he made it all come true. His personal life is left in the shadows and not dwelled upon.

Quite interesting and heartwarming! I didn't know so much of a lot stuff they talk about which is great and inspirational. I don't know why something like this would get hate, it is very intriguing. Glad this is available on showtime, it's not as bad as some say.

Not at all what I was hoping for. I expected more about the Ziggy album but it was basically just mentioned once and then some screen text. Maybe 3 minutes of Ziggy content! Completely skipped over it. I enjoyed the interviews and photos of Bowie's childhood, but all of the flashing irrelevant footage and words flashing over images were awful. One gets the impression that who ever created this did not have permission to use most of his music and very little access to any real Bowie film footage. I feel like this could have been condensed to an hour of straightforward information vs the needless flashy crap show it is.

"David Bowie Finding Fame" (2019 release from the UK; 95 min.) is a documentary about Bowie's early years. As the movie opens, we are given a quick glimpse at his 1973 Ziggy Stardust persona, at which time Bowie finally found the mega-success he pursued in vain for so many years. We then go back to "1965" when Bowie, then aged 18, admits he is "writing not very good songs". He ends up joining a band called The Third Level, one of many bands he joins in those years. Along the way we also get some insights on his upbringing in the Bromley neighborhood on the outskirts of London, with his cold and distant parents who don't care much for hugging or affection... At this point we are 15 min. into the documentary. Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by Francis Whately, who in 2017 released an excellent documentary called "David Bowie: The Last 5 Years", providing great insight in Bowie's last years, most of which out of the public eye (and with shock releases of 2 great albums). This documentary can be seen as the flip side of that, giving us insights as to Bowie's first (slightly more than 5) years. As a pretty big Bowie fan myself, I knew he toiled in obscurity for years before breaking big, but I must admit I really didn't know much of the details. This documentary fills in all the blanks in one fell swoop. The film makers seem to go out of their way to track down band mates of Bowie's earliest bands (The Third Level, The Buzz, The Riot Squad, Feathers, etc.) and the verdict is pretty much unanimous: Bowie is determined and ambitious and loves himself more than anything or anyone else. "He wasn't lost, he just wasn't found yet", is how one of those band mates puts it. (Did you know that Bowie's very first album, "David Bowie", was released on June 1, 1967? Yes, the very day that the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" was released! "Bowie didn't stand a chance", comments a former band mate.) The documentary is chock-full with rare and never before seen archive footage. "David Bowie Finding Fame" premiered earlier this year on the BBC to great acclaim, and finally received its US premiere on Showtime, where I saw it. I found it thoroughly enjoyable and revealing in ways I did not expect. Whether you are a casual (?) or die-hard Bowie fan, or simply interested in rock music history, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Wow this is a horrible documentary. It's a shock that this was aired on Showtime in that it's really like one of those schlock docs that have no insight and interviews with very far removed associates pretending they knew Bowie. Huge disappointment.