The Wrecking Crew

Director Denny Tedesco battles with a documentary where the soundtrack takes unfortunate precedence over the players.  The story of The Wrecking Crew is a cultural cache of deserving airtime rivalled only by under appreciation until now. Tedesco’s film about his father’s time with a group of largely unknown LA musicians transpires as a matter of necessity in learning that they played on everything from Frank Sinatra records and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds to rifting Mission Impossible and Bonanza theme tunes.  Their fresh style coincided with the birth of rock-n-roll as peer and industry feared they’d both demolish the established order, which explains their destructive moniker. Once the story is revealed the actual content is understandably flat in comparison.  The anticipation of what track might flood the background next contributes to this experience alongside a weighty expectation of anecdotes from the ‘Crew that never comes, probably because they spent most of their 18-hour days cooped-up in studios doing what they loved.