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How They Got Over

Play trailer Poster for How They Got Over 2021 1h 27m Documentary Music Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 11 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
How They Got Over tells the story of how Black gospel quartet music became a primary source of what would be known as rock and roll, and in the process helped to break down racial walls in mid-twentieth century America. Beginning in the 1920s, Black singers across the country took to the highways as the new technology of radio and records made it possible to reach a wider audience. Intense competition brought new ways to entertain, first with guitars, later with full bands, then with a performance style that would inspire Mick Jagger and a host of other rock and rollers. Their music was infectious, wrecking many a house on the chittlin' circuit, then graduating in the 40s and 50s to the Apollo and other major auditoriums across the country. The success of gospel quartets inspired record labels to form "doo-wop" groups that enticed gospel singers like Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett to cross over to greater fame. How They Got Over features classic performance footage of the Soul Stirrers, Dixie Hummingbirds, Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi, Sensational Nightingales, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Highway QCs, Davis Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many more. Some of the greatest names in quartet music are interviewed, giving vivid accounts of how they "got over" in their performances: shouting, bending over backwards, dancing, jumping off the stage -- what came to be known as "gospel drama." In capturing their story, the film celebrates the spirit of gospel performers and how they helped usher in a musical revolution that changed the world forever.

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How They Got Over

Critics Reviews

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Ty Burr Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack) 10/29/2021
3.5/4
The film offers great history and greater music. Go to Full Review Lisa Kennedy New York Times 10/28/2021
With a trove of archival performance footage, much of it from the television show TV Gospel Time, and the wisdom to let those images breathe, the film leans into the maxim about showing not telling. Go to Full Review Ben Sachs Chicago Reader 04/08/2020
[A] lively, no-frills documentary. Go to Full Review Mark Jackson Epoch Times 05/27/2022
3.5/5
A great opportunity to view archival footage and listen to the originators of commercial gospel, but also a treatise on and example of what tends to happen in America at the crossroads of spirituality and commerce. Go to Full Review Armond White National Review 05/18/2022
The self-motivated perseverance -- and artistry and creativity -- preserved in these images is stunning. Go to Full Review Martha K. Baker KDHX (St. Louis) 05/11/2022
Everything has a history even if it's been hidden or discounted. The history of the music movement known as Rock and Roll harks back to gospel quartets, back to the Hummingbirds and the Fairfield Four and the Davis Sisters. Go to Full Review Read all reviews
How They Got Over

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Cast & Crew

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Robert Clem

Director

Ira Tucker

Self

Isaac Freeman

Self

Clarence Fountain

Self

JoJo Wallace

Self

Willie Rogers

Self
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How They Got Over

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Movie Info

Synopsis How They Got Over tells the story of how Black gospel quartet music became a primary source of what would be known as rock and roll, and in the process helped to break down racial walls in mid-twentieth century America. Beginning in the 1920s, Black singers across the country took to the highways as the new technology of radio and records made it possible to reach a wider audience. Intense competition brought new ways to entertain, first with guitars, later with full bands, then with a performance style that would inspire Mick Jagger and a host of other rock and rollers. Their music was infectious, wrecking many a house on the chittlin' circuit, then graduating in the 40s and 50s to the Apollo and other major auditoriums across the country. The success of gospel quartets inspired record labels to form "doo-wop" groups that enticed gospel singers like Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett to cross over to greater fame. How They Got Over features classic performance footage of the Soul Stirrers, Dixie Hummingbirds, Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi, Sensational Nightingales, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Highway QCs, Davis Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many more. Some of the greatest names in quartet music are interviewed, giving vivid accounts of how they "got over" in their performances: shouting, bending over backwards, dancing, jumping off the stage -- what came to be known as "gospel drama." In capturing their story, the film celebrates the spirit of gospel performers and how they helped usher in a musical revolution that changed the world forever.
Director
Robert Clem
Producer
Mike Tannen, Robert Clem
Screenwriter
Robert Clem
Distributor
First Run Features
Production Co
One State Films
Genre
Documentary, Music
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 29, 2021, Limited
Runtime
1h 27m