A few years ago, esteemed photographer Bob Gruen started mining the 40 hours of footage he’d shot of the New York Dolls between 1973-75 while experimenting with an early model video camera. 2005’s All Dolled Up brought the group’s infamous legend to life as they blasted through their raucous songbook at New York clubs and on the West Coast, along with interviews, dressing room action and gangster-spoofing Lipstick Killers short, before heroin caved in their final days.
Gruen’s latest Dolls tribute edits down highlights from his previous film, dumps the timeline, pumps up Lisa Robinson’s poolside interview with David Johansen and speed-splices multiple gig footage together so the song remains the same while stage and clobber switch repeatedly. It’s still an enjoyable rollercoaster, with highlights including a pre-smack Johnny Thunders dominating a group interview with boisterous street wit; album tracks such as Bad Detective and Who Are The Mystery Girls? delivered with the kind of scorching power that eluded the second album; and Sylvain drawing disbelieving stares parading through Kennedy Airport in his hot pants.
The last scenes show the Dolls disembarking in LA, commencing the fateful 1973 visit where Thunders discovered heroin and things would never be the same again. Happily, most of the action on this cut takes place before that tragic twist.
