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Features interviews, rare footage and classic performances. Even if you're not a big Mamas & Papas fan, if you have any interest in folk-rock or '60s rock, you'll probably enjoy this very well-done, 80-minute documentary of the band. It has extensive interviews with all three of the group's surviving members (Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips, and leader John Phillips) and plenty of footage from their 1966-68 heyday. This includes TV and promo clips, home movies, a bit of their Monterey Pop performance, and a couple early-'60s clips of The Journeymen (a folk group that included John, Michelle, and Denny) and Cass Elliott (singing with a pre-Mamas folk trio). There are also interviews with associates Scott McKenzie (who was in The Journeymen), John Stewart of The Kingston Trio, and John Phillips's first wife. Lots of insights into how Phillips (as the group's principal songwriter and producer) piloted the group's success, and some frank reports of the oft-acrimonious (but little publicized) inter-band relationships that contributed to the band's demise after their two years or so of huge success. The post-Mamas traumas are also detailed fairly: their failed reunion LP in the early '70s, Cass Elliott's death shortly afterwards, and John Phillips's lengthy (and ultimately successful) struggle with substance abuse. One small revelation that may have been unintentional: the brief clips of the group in performance show just how much better their vocal blend sounded when it was meticulously crafted in the studio than it did live. ~ Richie Unterberger
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