Sorry, this movie sucks

Please don't spend money on this.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

History of the Eagles is about how Glenn and Don arrive to southern California from humble beginnings, build a monster called the Eagles and are subsequently swallowed up by it. It is done entirely from a first person perspective of a wide range of interviewees who were critical to the Eagles success and then edited together into a single narrative. The editing was seamless and the sound mix did an outstanding job of creating emotional cues and adding context (i.e. Wasted Time during the breakup, Heartache Tonight during the Felder- Frye showdown). It was interesting to get the perspective from the Eagles as they were on top of the mountain (through archival footage and interviews) and then see how that perspective changed or didn't change forty odd years later. The honesty of the documentary was refreshing. There didn't seem to be any kind of censorship of interviewees when they described a feud they had with the Eagles but most discussed the events cordially… well except David Geffen. Even though this was a film commissioned by Glenn and Don it did not paint them entirely in a rose colored light. Glenn especially came off as a ruthless dictator that ruled through fear and intimidation. His was a name I kept hearing throughout the documentary as someone who would get into feuds with other band members, producers, execs, etc. Don Henley at times still seemed bitter, entitled, and full of resentment, often using "Mister" in a derisive way. Part of the narrative, it seemed, was to air some dirty laundry and settle old scores. While some was directed at older members the lion share was directed at Don Felder. There was an obvious attempt to downplay his contributions to the band, in particular Hotel California. From what I understand Don Felder wrote the entire song except the ending guitar solos at the end prior to giving it to the Don and Glenn. Don, JD and Glenn then wrote the lyrics and arranged the vocals. On the original album Don Felder's name is first next to the song indicating that they acknowledged, at the time, he wrote most of the song. In subsequent albums their names were added first. I found it interesting that when they described their own songwriting with each other or outside songwriters they were collaborating with little mention of who wrote the majority of what. Overall this was a really well made documentary and I recommend it even if you aren't an Eagles fan as I wasn't. It really gives you a new perspective, not just on the eagles, but on the music industry as a whole. We often think they are shrewd and calculating when in fact everyone runs around faking it until they make it. For instance I had always been told the Eagles were a commercial band created by a label. I learned from the documentary that in part that was true since Linda Ronstandt and her manager basically created the Eagles as a backup band. However, I think most of us had envisioned label execs sitting around a board room with head shots and files on local musicians.

I found this on Netflix streaming movies. I am roughly the same age as most of the member of the Eagles group, I have some recollection of hearing their songs back in the 1970s but nothing more. I knew absolutely nothing about them. I had no idea who Glen Frey and Don Henley were in the 1970s.Jump to the 2000s, maybe 10 or 12 years ago, a friend gave me the DVD of the Eagles returning to performing as a group in 1994, "Hell Freezes Over", because they once had said hell would have to freeze over before they reunited.The DVD itself is great, it gives a bit of the preparation they went through to get a few new songs and get concert ready. They coined the inside phrase "are you puking?" because that is the feeling they were to get as they were nervous about performing again in front of a big audience. So I only knew them as 40-something men, clean-cut and business- like. But this documentary "History of the Eagles" shows them starting out as kids, in their early 20s, scruffy with long hair and a few beards. And then there was Joe Walsh, by his later admission always on drugs and/or alcohol during his waking hours, a talented musician who loved to trash hotel rooms just for the fun. I believe he said his record was $28,000 damage to one room. As Henley says, many hotels banned them from ever returning. But they obviously had talent and they pooled their talent to become one of the most successful groups of the 1970s. Their "Hotel California" will likely live forever. The film also traces their issues with managers, producers, and recording companies. And how strong personalities caused them to quit in 1980.Now late in life the biggest revelation is Joe Walsh, he was forced by Henley and Frey to enter rehab before they would try to reunite. Walsh now says they saved his life and in fact he is a much nicer person in old age.Now I am an even bigger fan of the Eagles. This film documents what they went through, but I suppose it isn't greatly different from what many similar bands went through during that period. Or perhaps any period!

Maybe the best "American"band in history.They started in the late 60's broke up in the 80's reunited in the 90's and are still around today.Only the Rolling Stones are around longer and they are not American. Showtime has put together a great 2 part documentary totaling 3 hours of the story of this bands history and turmoil and the music.There are now 4 members and 3 ex members.Not bad for this super group that still counts its 2 songwriters as there through it all.Glenn Frey, Don Henley.Their personnel life and relationships are not delved into,but the story doesn't shy away from drugs and booze. They may not have be as edge as other bands but their music was unique in the harmony and melodies unlike the harder edgy songs of the times.As someone said in the film,what the country also needed was someone saying"Take it Easy"which had a great lyrics and romantic overtones that everyone needed and that song provided.The solo artist and close friend of Frey contributed to the song with the lyric, "Well, I'm a standing on a corner In Winslow, Arizona "and Frey added "And such a fine sight to see It's a girl, my lord In a flatbed Ford Slowin' down to take a look at me "and thats also when I became a fan back in the day.Nostalgic ? Yes. Important,hell yes. If you like the music from the are 60's and 70's you'll flash back to as someone else said in the film,the 70's as you remember them even if thats not the way they really were.

I loved The Eagles back in the 70's, especially after I finished my military service. Now, watching this special, "The History of the Eagles," and downloading lyrics, I can see that, even without the music, the words are pure poetry. Having taught poetry for nearly 5 decades, that is my ultimate test of whether the lyrics are real, authentic, if you can divest them of the music and they're still poetry. Only the best artists can maintain that precious risk; take away the musical safety net, which might even support a simple three chord progression, and if what you have is still addressing key tenets of the Human Condition, then you aren't merely experiencing entertainers, money makers, or businessmen, you and dovetailing delightfully with poets.Joe Walsh utters one of the most honest speeches I've ever heard a public figure deliver, and he struggles manfully, painfully, as if ripping heartfelt wisdom from deep within his being, about how in the final analysis, our lives are like fine-spun, intricately-woven novels; however, along the way, what we sense and experience is like running into a sudden comet or meteor, delectable or horrifying.Don Henley, who always seems to know just what to say in the moment or afterwards, described his immediate ambiguous feelings directly following the cessation in 1980 of the band's efforts: "Horrible relief." I have to wonder how much of a gifted artist's time, effort, soul, life and genius they must invest. Henley comments that he often wondered why he was successful when equally-talented artists did not reach the apex of Henley's success. Glen Frey sends out a desperate, impassioned plea to his wife and children to support him and hope that their "second act" did not change him too drastically.I admired the coloratura guitar riffs of Don Felder, and I was deeply saddened, when I learned that he had been replaced in one furious collision of egos and cat fights, some borderline, behind the scenes; others, embarrassedly right on stage in front of cheering but partly bewildered audiences. Frey conjures up the perfect analogy between a good band and a baseball team. You are all aligned in teamwork, energy, synergy; however, you don't have the ball in your own hand all of the time. Felder craved more opportunities to sing. Frey himself admitted that the longer The Eagles were together, the less and less he sang lead. Why? Because they had Don Henley. Henley himself mused that Felder's insistence he sing lead on one song was tantamount to Henley's demanding to play lead guitar on "Hotel California." I've watched this special now three times. It is so completely honest that no one individual emerges unscathed, yet most of them proceeded, like "Hotel California" not only from innocence to experience; but, moreover from some degree of benightedness toward a larger sense of awareness, maturity, good judgment and enlightenment as human beings, as artists, entertainers, writers, and people who realized how their creations behind the scenes and before jubilant audiences, mattered far more than they ever dreamed or feared or ever imagined could be realized.The deep lessons I derived focused upon Henley's efforts to save Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" from commercial vandalism and decimation; Joe Walsh's gratitude at being driven to rehab so that he, too, could experience "A Second Act" with his band mates.I think that "The History of the Eagles" should be required viewing of any budding producers, agents, or artists. It is one slice of life, one sobering view of fame, celebrity, success and failure, of Phoenixes emerging from their own self-induced immolation, of a group of young men growing up as their country and citizens in it also evolved painfully, sometimes jubilantly, with a lot of luck and some daunting disappointments.Watching the movie is almost like watching and listening to a magician explain patiently how the trick worked as well as disclosing those times when it didn't work.