Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)

(6.886) based on 44 votes
In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.
Directors
Release Date
Sep 11, 2002
Runtime
01h 56m
Available in streaming on

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.

Movies like Standing in the Shadows of Motown

A Taxi Driver

May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.
Search similar movies
8.1
A+Taxi+Driver
A Taxi Driver

2017

Search similar movies
Top Secret!

Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillary Flammond, he finds himself caught up in an underground resistance movement. Rivers joins forces with Agent Cedric and Flammond to attempt the rescue of her father, Dr. Paul, from the Germans, who have captured the scientist in hopes of coercing him into building a new naval mine.
Search similar movies
7.1
Top+Secret%21
Top Secret!

1984

Search similar movies
Dying Laughing

The craft, creative process and complicated lives of Stand-up Comedians.
Search similar movies
6.3
Dying+Laughing
Dying Laughing

2017

Search similar movies
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
Search similar movies
8.1
Three+Billboards+Outside+Ebbing%2C+Missouri
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

2017

Search similar movies
Red Desert

In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.
Search similar movies
7.4
Red+Desert
Red Desert

1964

Search similar movies
Transcendence

Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.
Search similar movies
6.1
Transcendence
Transcendence

2014

Search similar movies
Split

Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him — as well as everyone around him — as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.
Search similar movies
7.3
Split
Barbie

Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
Search similar movies
7.0
Barbie
Kingsman: The Secret Service

The story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
Search similar movies
7.6
Kingsman%3A+The+Secret+Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service

2015

Search similar movies
American Psycho

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Search similar movies
7.4
American+Psycho
American Psycho

2000

Search similar movies
Knives Out

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.
Search similar movies
7.8
Knives+Out
Knives Out

2019

Search similar movies
Raging Bull

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Search similar movies
7.9
Raging+Bull
Raging Bull

1980

Search similar movies
The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.
Search similar movies
8.0
The+Grand+Budapest+Hotel
The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014

Search similar movies
Interstellar

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Search similar movies
8.5
Interstellar
Interstellar

2014

Search similar movies
Titanic

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.
Search similar movies
7.9
Titanic
Green Book

Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.
Search similar movies
8.2
Green+Book
Green Book

2018

Search similar movies
I Can Quit Whenever I Want 3: Ad Honorem

Has been an year since Pietro Zinni's gang got caught in the Sopox production laboratory and each of them locked up in different jails. From Regina Coeli jail, Pietro keep warning the authorities a fool syntetized nerve gas and he is ready to make a killing, but no one takes him seriously.
Search similar movies
7.4
I+Can+Quit+Whenever+I+Want+3%3A+Ad+Honorem
I Can Quit Whenever I Want 3: Ad Honorem

2017

Search similar movies
Hush

A deaf woman is stalked by a psychotic killer in her secluded home.
Search similar movies
6.7
Hush
Trainspotting

Hilarious but harrowing, the film charts the disintegration of the friendship between Renton, Spud, Sick Boy, Tommy and Begbie as they proceed seemingly towards a psychotic, drug-fuelled self-destruction.
Search similar movies
8.0
Trainspotting
Trainspotting

1996

Search similar movies
Ad Astra

The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Search similar movies
6.1
Ad+Astra
The Danish Girl

When Gerda Wegener asks her husband Einar to fill in as a portrait model, Einar discovers the person she's meant to be and begins living her life as Lili Elbe. Having realized her true self and with Gerda's love and support, Lili embarks on a groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Search similar movies
7.6
The+Danish+Girl
The Danish Girl

2015

Search similar movies
Heathers

A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.
Search similar movies
7.3
Heathers
The Lives of Others

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.
Search similar movies
8.0
The+Lives+of+Others
The Lives of Others

2006

Search similar movies
The Big Short

The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown.
Search similar movies
7.4
The+Big+Short
The Big Short

2015

Search similar movies
Silver Linings Playbook

After losing his job and wife, and spending time in an institution, a former teacher winds up living with his parents. He wants to rebuild his life and reconcile with his wife, but his father would be happy if he shared his obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Things get complicated when he meets Tiffany Maxwell who offers to help him reconnect with his wife if he will do something very important for her in exchange.
Search similar movies
7.1
Silver+Linings+Playbook
Silver Linings Playbook

2012

Search similar movies
Pretty Woman

While on a business trip in Los Angeles, Edward Lewis, a millionaire entrepreneur who makes a living buying and breaking up companies, picks up a prostitute, Vivian, while asking for directions; after, Edward hires Vivian to stay with him for the weekend to accompany him to a few social events, and the two get closer only to discover there are significant hurdles to overcome as they try to bridge the gap between their very different worlds.
Search similar movies
7.5
Pretty+Woman
Pretty Woman

1990

Search similar movies
A Star Is Born

Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers — and falls in love with — struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer — until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
Search similar movies
7.5
A+Star+Is+Born
A Star Is Born

2018

Search similar movies
Taxi Driver

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge for violent action.
Search similar movies
8.1
Taxi+Driver
Taxi Driver

1976

Search similar movies
The Sound of Music

In the years before the Second World War, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home.
Search similar movies
7.7
The+Sound+of+Music
The Sound of Music

1965

Search similar movies
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in a hospital and is set to face trial for attempted murder on her eventual release. With the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his researchers at Millennium magazine, Salander must prove her innocence. In doing this she plays against powerful enemies and her own past.
Search similar movies
7.1
The+Girl+Who+Kicked+the+Hornet%27s+Nest
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

2009

Search similar movies
The Secret Life of Pets

The quiet life of a terrier named Max is upended when his owner takes in Duke, a stray whom Max instantly dislikes.
Search similar movies
6.3
The+Secret+Life+of+Pets
The Secret Life of Pets

2016

Search similar movies
Dirty Dancing

Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
Search similar movies
7.3
Dirty+Dancing
Dirty Dancing

1987

Search similar movies
The Trial of the Chicago 7

What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.
Search similar movies
7.7
The+Trial+of+the+Chicago+7
The Trial of the Chicago 7

2020

Search similar movies
The Invisible Man

After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.
Search similar movies
7.5
The+Invisible+Man
The Invisible Man

1933

Search similar movies
Isn't It Romantic

For a long time, Natalie, an Australian architect living in New York City, had always believed that what she had seen in rom-coms is all fantasy. But after thwarting a mugger at a subway station only to be knocked out while fleeing, Natalie wakes up and discovers that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare—a romantic comedy—and she is the leading lady.
Search similar movies
6.2
Isn%27t+It+Romantic
Isn't It Romantic

2019

Search similar movies
2001: A Space Odyssey

Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
Search similar movies
8.1
2001%3A+A+Space+Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey

1968

Search similar movies
Creed

The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Search similar movies
7.4
Creed
Out of Africa

Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.
Search similar movies
7.2
Out+of+Africa
Out of Africa

1985

Search similar movies
North Country

A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States — Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
Search similar movies
7.3
North+Country
North Country

2005

Search similar movies
Lisbon Story

Lisbon Story is Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.
Search similar movies
7.1
Lisbon+Story
Lisbon Story

1994

Search similar movies
The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On

Presented by Paul McGann, The Cavern Club and LA Factual have come together to produce "The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On" - a unique documentary feature, telling the untold, complete and colourful story of the 'greatest club in the world'.
Search similar movies
7.8
The+Cavern+Club%3A+The+Beat+Goes+On
The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On

2019

Search similar movies
A Hard Day's Night

Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.
Search similar movies
7.3
A+Hard+Day%27s+Night
A Hard Day's Night

1964

Search similar movies
SLC Punk

Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.
Search similar movies
7.1
SLC+Punk
Spice World

World famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.
Search similar movies
4.9
Spice+World
Spice World

1997

Search similar movies
Sarong Girl

A dancer in a girlie show plots revenge when a judge orders her show closed.
Search similar movies
Sarong+Girl
Sarong Girl

1943

Search similar movies
Let's Go Collegiate

Rawley University is about to receive a star athlete who could give it the first championship rowing team it's ever had. Unfortunately, he gets drafted into the army before he's able to join the team. Two of the team's members get the bright idea of passing off a burly truck driver as the "athlete". Complications ensue.
Search similar movies
5.0
Let%27s+Go+Collegiate
Let's Go Collegiate

1941

Search similar movies
Zero to Hero

When a rock wannabe is forced to replace his famous sertanejo look-alike, he faces a life-changing choice — lose his own identity or follow his heart.
Search similar movies
6.4
Zero+to+Hero
Zero to Hero

2023

Search similar movies
Jailhouse Rock

After serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
Search similar movies
6.2
Jailhouse+Rock
Jailhouse Rock

1957

Search similar movies
Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

A young girl has already seen everything there is to see and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her world and she finds herself in the universe of QUIDAM, where she is joined by a playful companion, as well as another mysterious character who attempts to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling and the terrifying.
Search similar movies
7.6
Cirque+du+Soleil%3A+Quidam
Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

1999

Search similar movies
Neil Young: Heart of Gold

In March 2005, Neil Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. Four days before he was scheduled for a lifesaving operation, he headed to Nashville, where he wrote and recorded the country folk album Prairie Wind with old friends and family members. After the successful operation and recovery period, he returned to Nashville that August to play at the famed Ryman Auditorium, once again gathering together friends and family for this special performance.
Search similar movies
7.4
Neil+Young%3A+Heart+of+Gold
Neil Young: Heart of Gold

2006

Search similar movies
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars

An unflinching and deeply personal journey into the life and work of guitarist Eric Clapton told through his own words and songs.
Search similar movies
7.4
Eric+Clapton%3A+Life+in+12+Bars
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars

2018

Search similar movies
The Order of Myths

In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.
Search similar movies
6.0
The+Order+of+Myths
The Order of Myths

2008

Search similar movies
Panic! at the Disco: Live in Denver

A concert documentary following Panic! at the Disco during their performance in Denver, Colorado for their headline tour after the release of their debut album, 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' in 2005.
Search similar movies
7.0
Panic%21+at+the+Disco%3A+Live+in+Denver
Panic! at the Disco: Live in Denver

2006

Search similar movies
Trolls World Tour

Queen Poppy and Branch make a surprising discovery — there are other Troll worlds beyond their own, and their distinct differences create big clashes between these various tribes. When a mysterious threat puts all of the Trolls across the land in danger, Poppy, Branch, and their band of friends must embark on an epic quest to create harmony among the feuding Trolls to unite them against certain doom.
Search similar movies
7.3
Trolls+World+Tour
Trolls World Tour

2020

Search similar movies
Xiara's Song

Xiara Trujillo is a precocious seven-year-old who moved from the Bronx to Maryland with her mom, Aracelli Guzman, four years ago. Though she seems happy hanging out and playing with her pal Melissa, Xiara becomes defensive and emotional when talking about her father, Harold Linares. As we see and learn, Harold is in jail serving a ten-year sentence for weapons possession; Xiara seems to blame his incarceration on her mother, whom she says "kept calling the police." Xiara, who has always been extremely close to her father, acts out with her mother.
Search similar movies
3.5
Xiara%27s+Song
Xiara's Song

2005

Search similar movies
The Forty-Year-Old Version

Desperate for a breakthrough as she nears the big 4-0, struggling New York City playwright Radha finds inspiration by reinventing herself as a rapper.
Search similar movies
6.7
The+Forty-Year-Old+Version
The Forty-Year-Old Version

2020

Search similar movies
Undiscovered

A group of aspiring entertainers try to establish careers for themselves in the city of Los Angeles.
Search similar movies
4.6
Undiscovered
Undiscovered

2005

Search similar movies
Pennies from Heaven

During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent school teacher.
Search similar movies
6.0
Pennies+from+Heaven
Pennies from Heaven

1981

Search similar movies
Ask the Sexpert

A sex columnist gains popularity even while a ban on comprehensive sex education in schools is adopted by approximately a third of India’s states.
Search similar movies
7.4
Ask+the+Sexpert
Ask the Sexpert

2017

Search similar movies
Hounddog

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Search similar movies
6.4
Hounddog
Up the Yangtze

At the edge of the Yangtze River, not far from the Three Gorges Dam, young men and women take up employment on a cruise ship, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China.
Search similar movies
7.3
Up+the+Yangtze
Up the Yangtze

2007

Search similar movies
Nine Days and Nights of Ed Sheeran

A music documentary with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, one of the fastest rising stars in pop music today. Over the course of the hour-long documentary, fans will have intimate access to Sheeran at a critical turning point in his life and career.
Search similar movies
8.0
Nine+Days+and+Nights+of+Ed+Sheeran
Nine Days and Nights of Ed Sheeran

2014

Search similar movies
A World Without Beethoven?

"What would the world be like without Beethoven?" That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary from Deutsche Welle. To answer it, the film explores how Ludwig van Beethoven's innovations continue to have an impact far beyond the boundaries of classical music, 250 years after his birth.
Search similar movies
7.7
A+World+Without+Beethoven%3F
A World Without Beethoven?

2020

Search similar movies
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

A 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The film is comprised of two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a supergroup called The Dirty Mac, along with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards.
Search similar movies
7.4
The+Rolling+Stones+Rock+and+Roll+Circus
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

1996

Search similar movies
War Dance

Three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda compete in their country's national music and dance festival.
Search similar movies
7.2
War+Dance
Bukowski: Born Into This

Director John Dullaghan’s biographical documentary about infamous poet Charles Bukowski, Bukowski: Born Into This, is as much a touching portrait of the author as it is an exposé of his sordid lifestyle. Interspersed between ample vintage footage of Bukowski’s poetry readings are interviews with the poet’s fans including such legendary figures such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Fante (wife of John), Bono, and Harry Dean Stanton. Filmed in grainy black and white by Bukowski’s friend, Taylor Hackford, due to lack of funding, the old films edited into this movie paint Bukowski’s life of boozing and brawling romantically, securing Bukowski’s legendary status.
Search similar movies
6.8
Bukowski%3A+Born+Into+This
Bukowski: Born Into This

2003

Search similar movies
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.
Search similar movies
6.4
Roman+Polanski%3A+Wanted+and+Desired
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

2008

Search similar movies
The Guitar

The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams.
Search similar movies
5.5
The+Guitar
The Guitar

2008

Search similar movies
Who Killed the Electric Car?

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust, and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed.
Search similar movies
7.3
Who+Killed+the+Electric+Car%3F
Who Killed the Electric Car?

2006

Search similar movies
The U.S. vs. John Lennon

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Search similar movies
6.6
The+U.S.+vs.+John+Lennon
The U.S. vs. John Lennon

2006

Search similar movies
The Devil and Daniel Johnston

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.
Search similar movies
7.7
The+Devil+and+Daniel+Johnston
The Devil and Daniel Johnston

2006

Search similar movies