''Beware of Mr. Baker'' is a 2012 American documentary film by Jay Bulger about the jazz and rock drummer Ginger Baker.

Background

For Bulger's article "The Devil and Ginger Baker" in '' Rolling Stone magazine'', Bulger lived with Baker in South Africa where Baker had spent the previous decade living in seclusion. The article and the numerous hours of interviews Bulger captured on film became the premise for the film, and in the spring of 2010, Bulger returned to South Africa with a small film crew to finish making the film. It premiered at the 2012

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. The title is a reference to a sign outside his South African compound, and also indicative of Baker's combative personality displayed in the film.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gave the documentary film an approval rating of 98% based on 48 reviews; the average rating is 7.8/10. The consensus reads, "Free of the hagiographic overtones that dog many documentary profiles, ''Beware of Mr. Baker'' presents a clear-eyed, thoroughly gripping look at one of rock's greatest – and most personally problematic – musicians." The film won several awards and was nominated for the 'Grierson Award' at the 2012 London Film Festival. Baker said of the film himself, "Some of it is very good and some of it is very annoying." He elaborated that he was frustrated with the inclusion of some of the people on the film but was pleased to see

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...

had taken part.

References

External links

* 2012 films 2012 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about rock music and musicians Films about percussion and percussionists 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{music-documentary-film-stub