Article: Films catch pressures of pop music stardom

Given their perennial popularity and raucous energy, it seems odd that Hollywood has not turned out more films about rock 'n' roll and country music stars. Today's release of the highly hyped "Great Balls of Fire" (playing at local theaters) - the story of seminal '50s rocker Jerry Lee Lewis - might change that, but the genre seems to have some fundamental cinematic limitations. Many of these stars' lives have been too debauched, unenlightening and brief to make upbeat drama.

The tales of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, for example, would make for pretty dark and unresolved entertainment. Also, their lives tend to be riddled with so many controversies that the sanitized legend sometimes ...

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