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Review: 'American Masters: Marvin Gaye' on PBS

Verne Gay | Off Camera

May 7, 2008

Why you should watch. Because if you're 16, it might be nice to hear the soundtrack of the '70s and realize that brilliant music actually came out of that decade. If you're 60, you certainly don't need to be given any reason to watch - it should be self-evident.

What it's about. The full "American Masters" treatment on one of the great Motown artists, though with a little more "warts-and-all" overview than living "Masters" usually receive. Born Marvin Gay in Washington, D.C. (the "e" was added later), his father was a traveling minister and cross-dresser given to rages and sermons; the son was "driven by demons and angels and unable to reconcile the two," the broadcast observes. After being discovered singing in a choir, Gaye Jr. ultimately arrived at Motown Records, marrying label founder Berry Gordy's sister, Anna, 17 years his senior. It was not a bad career move.

He soared to superstardom, at Motown, but plunged into a deep depression after the 1970 brain-cancer death of singing partner Tammi Terrell. "What's Going On," the 1971 landmark album, was the progeny of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement, although Gaye told a friend, "God [wrote] it...."He fell hard for a 16-year-old beauty; the split with Anna got ugly, and he was forced by the courts to give her proceeds from his next album - "Here, My Dear," which sold next to nothing.

There's a mad, horrifying descent into drugs and alcohol, a brief escape to Belgium, where the 1983 hit "Sexual Healing" emerged. But in a rage against his father on April 1, 1984 ... well, you know what happened. (For those who may not, he was shot to death by Gaye Sr.)

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Bottom line. Perhaps the most entertaining (sorry, given the circumstances of Gaye's life and death, but it is) and enjoyable "American Masters" in this worthy PBS series' history. You will watch, rapt, from the opening second to the last. Plus, the music. What more can be said, other than "Masters" is both judicious and generous with the clips, revealing a master of genuine vocal beauty and subtlety.

Colleagues such as Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Mary Wells and Smokey Robinson offer their thoughts. David Ritz, his longtime friend and biographer, provides context and insights, but doesn't mention the lawsuit - filed by him - against Gaye when the singer didn't give him adequate credit for writing the lyrics to "Healing." So - as always - viewers may reasonably wonder what else didn't make the cut. That said, you still will be enthralled.

AMERICAN MASTERS. Marvin Gaye: What's Going On. Tonight at 9 on WNET/13.