Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Mayor of the Sunset Strip celebrates the career of disc jocky Rodney Bingenheimer. Never heard of him? Few people outside of the music industry have, which is why this film proves to be an invaluable resource. As the movie explains, through Bingenheimer’s job at noted rock station KROQ-FM, he was instrumental in introducing America to pivotal musical acts including The Sex Pistols, Nirvana, and The Ramones. Back in the ’70s, he was quite a celebrity within the Los Angeles party scene and even owned his own disco at one point (where folks like Andy Warhol and David Bowie were regulars). But as the ’80s and ’90s arrived, Bingenheimer found that he was becoming increasingly less relevant – to the point where he’s now stuck with a graveyard shift at KROQ once a week. Director George Hickenlooper knows that Bingenheimer is a fascinating subject, and does a nice job of detailing the various successes of his life – but he devotes quite a bit of time on Bingenheimer’s less successful later years as well. The film’s most poignant moment – which sees Bingenheimer angrily confront a protege that essentially stole his style – is made all-the-more devastating because it comes at a point where we’ve really gotten to know and like this man. And that’s exactly what makes for a good documentary; if the film can get you to a place where you become that familiar with its subject, the movie’s done its job.

*** out of ****