I'm sorry, kids....having written "The Rainbow Connection" and taking some time off for Recovery does not, in any way, give anyone the complete picture or even the scope of Paul Williams' music. I was SOOOO disappointed in this film. I felt sorry for Williams and his wife...this guy just started following them around and filming everything - no discretion, no important questions...and a focus on a small handful of songs from Paul Williams' incredibly prolific career. He asked NO intelligent or even non-cloying questions - like where were you born, what did you like in school, what was it like working with Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand, who's your favorite Muppet?, has your process changed? What are you working on now, any new music? Etc...etc....this was done by a guy who made a documentary expecting Williams to come up with the whole script....he did no research, never listed Williams' credits or mentioned how many movies he wrote for...just loved his 'rainbow connection' sung by folks from all over the world. He spent a fortune and did nothing but dull Williams' reputation...I should have realized from the start the 'maker' was a jerk...why would you even THINK he was dead....the internet is readily available to use for RESEARCH as well as for publishing your own flat ideas.

The reason I was interested in seeing "Paul Williams Still Alive" is because of his recent and entirely unexpected entrance into the limelight at the Grammy Awards. When the enigmatic French band Daft Punk won the award for Best Album, folks were wondering how they'd accept the award. After all, this group's members are anonymous-- wearing strange getup that conceal who they are. So their representative to speak for them was Paul Williams, as he'd produced some of their music. Imagine...a European electro-pop group whose front man is the 1970s TV and recording icon Paul Williams. His tragically unhip songs today (such as "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "Rainbow Connection") are not the sort of stuff you could imagine Daft Punk listening to, that's for sure! To me, THIS makes for a great story...and isn't even mentioned in any way, as the documentary came out just before his work with Daft Punk.As for the documentary, I have very mixed feelings about it. On the positive side, it celebrates the huge number of hit songs he gave us in the 70s and 80s--song you heard all the time during that era. It also gives you a nice portrait of the man today--having worked on his substance abuse recovery to create a nice, but busy, life for himself. All this is great. But, the film also has a huge distraction--the filmmaker, Stephen Kessler. He is much of the film--as unlike many documentaries where you don't see or even hear from the filmmakers themselves (my favorites, by the way), much of the film is Kessler talking about himself and insinuating himself into Williams' life. And I didn't care that Kessler was like a proverbial 'ugly American' in that he refused to eat the local food when he was traveling in the Philippines...who cares if he's like this or not since the film is NOT supposed to be about him!?! Maybe I am reading something into it, but he just seemed annoying (his interviewing style was obnoxious at times) and I didn't want to hear about him and his love for Williams. I just wanted to see and hear Williams. As for Williams, he seemed like a nice guy--and put up with a lot and seemed to roll with what came. All in all, it was nice to see that he is a happy guy who isn't spending his time looking back but without Kessler's ever-present presence, i think it would have been a much better film.To any filmmaker out there reading this, why don't YOU make a good documentary about Paul Williams? He's very interesting and a worthy topic for a film...and you couldn't possibly do a worse job than this mess!!

Greetings again from the darkness. This documentary was recommended to me by Adam, a fellow movie and music lover. Without his urging, I probably would have never taken the time to watch this ultimately fascinating and intriguing look at Paul Williams. I say that after an extremely clunky first few minutes where director Stephen Kessler, a self-proclaimed childhood fan of Williams, displays his insecurities and lack of focus as a filmmaker.The best stories have an abundance of conflict, and it turns out that the polar opposite goals of Williams and Kessler make for some spellbinding viewing. See, Kessler wants to figure out what happened to the 1970's icon and Williams simply wants to show how he has adjusted to a somewhat normal life. Kessler wants to look back, while Williams is living (happily) in the present.If you don't recognize the name Paul Williams, then you probably didn't watch TV or listen to the radio in the 1970's. The guy was everywhere! Known mostly for his prolific songwriting, he also performed, appeared in movies, TV shows, game shows and talk shows. In fact, he was a favorite of Johnny Carson and appeared on The Tonight Show fifty times. And then ... just like that ... he was gone. Drugs and alcohol destroyed his career. Now twenty years sober, he still performs - just in much smaller venues. This is man who has spent much time soul-searching. His insight into being different (difficult) or special (addicting) makes for a chilling moment.Kessler follows Williams around until he is forced to join him in front of the camera. Their strained relationship is painful to watch until things begin to turn during a long bus ride in the Phillipines. With so much of the focus on Kessler's attempt to connect with Williams, this is as much a personality analysis as it is a look at the history and current status of Williams.The final act of the film seems a bit staged as Kessler finally gets the "sleepover" at Williams' house that he had been after for 2 plus years. Reviewing old TV clips does not get the desired reaction ... Kessler never seemed to grasp what he had with this film. It's obvious that the two men now have a connection, but if you are expecting a tribute film to the glory years of Paul Williams, you will be disappointed. If instead you embrace this unusual film, you will come away impressed with the man that Paul Williams has become. It's no "Rainbow Connection" but maybe it's even more.

As a fan of Paul Williams I was looking forward to this documentary. Indeed I was heartened when the director, Stephen Kessler, begins his film explaining what a fan he was of the era in which Paul Williams was well... Paul Williams, and how big a fan he was of the man himself. Alas, we never get to see into Paul Williams.Unbelievably, while "Phantom of the Paradise" and fan conventions for that film is where Kessler's story starts, the director never delves into just what made "Phantom of the Paradise" so special to so many, never asks Paul Williams about the film, his inspiration, his contributions to the film. It might as well have never happened. Hello?! Mr. Kessler?! Maybe peal back the onion a bit on "Phantom of the Paradise"? Ask a few questions about the film? I was waiting... nothing. The film only begins to show what it could have been at the very end where we finally see into what Paul Williams thinks of all this, what he once was, and his career. But unfortunately it's too little too late. Even the uplifting ending comes off as manufactured and trite. Like after knowing each other for over 2 years Paul just happens to mention, "Oh... I got VHS tapes".I trust there's a future in Mexican food commercials for Mr. Kessler. At least there, in the one we saw in his documentary, we saw the cheese in the burrito.