But the fandom of interviewees including Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Cee Lo Green, Chris Brown and Sheryl Crow - who performed as a big-haired backup singer on the Bad tour - is generally disarming. Writer Richard Price, who scripted the film for Scorsese, is - forgive me - priceless, discussing how an asthmatic Italian and an asthmatic Jew were enlisted by Jackson to make a video “to show the brothers that he’s down with them.” But Lee also gives serious consideration to the ways in which Jackson reaffirmed his connection to the black community.ĭespite acknowledging the album’s flaws - everyone, including Stevie Wonder, agrees that his duet with Jackson, “Just Good Friends,” was a dud - the film is not guiltless of hagiography. It’s obvious that Lee is having as much fun as the audience sitting in with Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker as they look back over their work on the Bad short 25 years on.

Who remembered that one of Wesley Snipes‘ earliest roles was in the “Bad” video? Or that the arcane refrain “Shamone!” was Jackson’s homage to Mavis Staples? Or that the line “Annie, are you OK?” was inspired by the standard name given to CPR demonstration dummies? The director’s appetite for trivia is contagious.

The wealth of primo talking-heads fodder makes this of interest far beyond Jackson fans to anyone curious about the production and marketing of popular music.

No less fascinating is his recap of the multiple choreographic influences that went into the video for “Smooth Criminal,” ranging from Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon to Soul Train to Bugs Bunny to Buster Keaton. But it’s clear that his connection to this material runs deep, revealing itself, for example, in his exhaustive attention to the making of Martin Scorsese’s short film for the album’s title track. Lee directed Jackson’s 1996 music video for “They Don’t Care About Us.” Despite conducting the interviews personally, he keeps himself out of the picture here aside from one or two audio snippets.

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