Mercer had a wonderful life, and was one of the true giants of 20th century popular music, and fortunately there was tons of archived material to draw on. However, the chronology in this documentary can be somewhat disjointed and, as another commenter has pointed out, it's somewhat confusing to continually display the dates when the songs were written on the screen, without the dates of the actual later performances. Personally, I would have preferred the elimination of most or all of the contemporary (2009) performances, which are often underwhelming....when a simple search of YouTube/the web reveals that there is plenty of footage of Mercer himself that wasn't used in the documentary (i.e. Classic U. S. TV shows, and full-length episodes of Mercer's 1943-44 NBC radio series), well as available vintage performances of his songs by other artists. Of course, I'm viewing this from the perspective of 2023, not a 2009 BBC Arena series audience or as a big fan of co-producer Clint Eastwood and his family/friends! It's interesting to see Paul McCartney and Bono (U2) featured prominently in the closing credits. By the way, I viewed this documentary at YouTube, where it is available nearly in full.
Review of Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me
Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me
(2009 TV Movie)
Wonderful story...documentary somewhat flawed
19 February 2023