Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, September 16: STARRING ADAM WEST
James Tooley’s tribute to the iconic star of the 1960s BATMAN TV show debuted at the Sun Valley Film Festival last year. It has also screened at the Napa Valley and San Luis Obispo film festivals. FilmBuff now releases the doc across VOD platforms.
From being, for a time, the biggest star of the small screen to a long stretch as a typecast actor who had to make car show appearances to support his family, Adam West has been run through Hollywood’s gauntlet. Despite a resurgence in his career, thanks to opportunities presented by now-grown childhood fans, like a regular role on FAMILY GUY, many still view the genial actor as a has-been. His biggest fans, like LA’s KROQ host Ralph Garman, feel he hasn’t been given his due, as signaled by his lack of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Garman’s quest to correct this slight, working with West’s daughter, Nina, serves as an occasional, and frankly not very engaging, thread in Tooley’s film, which lends the title a double meaning. The bulk of the doc consists of West recounting his career, intercut with scenes from his present day activities, from convention appearances to FAMILY GUY voice recording studio sessions. It’s generally a workmanlike but breezy treatment that will appeal to the actor’s legion of fans without being particularly memorable.
what (not) to doc 