Showtime's new Motown documentary is a tribute to musical magic — and Detroit

Brian McCollum
Detroit Free Press

Few people are more intimately acquainted with Motown than those closest to home.

But even for Detroiters, “Hitsville: The Making of Motown,” premiering this weekend, will likely be an incisive reminder of just how vast and lofty the label’s legacy truly is.

The documentary, several years in the works with Berry Gordy as an executive producer, will debut at 9 p.m. Saturday on Showtime, following a private Royal Oak premiere event Friday. The film also will be available through Showtime’s on-demand streaming service.

Often as bright and infectious as the music it’s chronicling, “Hitsville” is the most comprehensive documentary yet about the company hand-built by Gordy on West Grand Boulevard six decades ago.

The film, which focuses strictly on the label’s golden years in the Motor City, also serves as a love letter to Detroit, emphasizing the city’s role in fueling the spirit and rise of Motown — what Smokey Robinson calls “a great example of the American Dream.”

Because of the involvement of Gordy and Capitol Music Group, the film’s directors — British brothers Gabe and Ben Turner — got unprecedented access to rare footage and Motown’s vast catalog of songs.

The vaults also coughed up some revealing tape recordings from the company’s famed quality-control meetings — including a now-amusing staff battle over the hit potential of the Temptations’ “My Girl.”

“They opened the doors to everything, because it was the official telling (of the story),” said Gabe Turner.

(L-R): Directors Ben Turner and Gabe Turner at the "Hitsville: The Making of Motown" premiere event. The red carpet and screening were held at the Harmony Gold Theater followed by an after-party at Fig & Olive in Los Angeles, CA on August 8, 2019.

With those inside resources at their fingertips and a host of interviews with key Motown figures, the directors set out to uncover the how-and-why behind “this unbelievable beacon of achievement,” as Gabe Turner put it.

“What’s interesting about Motown is you have some of the most talented people of all time, in one place, making some of the greatest music of all time,” he said. “Your mind goes to: How on earth did that happen?”

“Hitsville: The Making of Motown” is the latest signature moment in a Motown 60th anniversary year that has included a CBS tribute show and ongoing events in Detroit, including activities scheduled next month by the Motown Museum.

More:Motown Weekend to cap anniversary year with concert, gospel, golf: Full details here

"The heartbeat of the film,” Turner said, is the onscreen rapport between best-pals Gordy and Robinson. The two play off each other throughout, swapping memories and occasionally busting chops, including segments shot at Hitsville, now the Motown Museum, run by Gordy’s grandniece Robin Terry.

“Seeing my uncle and Smokey at that piano in Studio A, how giddy they became, there’s such an appreciation for not only their talent but their friendship,” said Terry, museum CEO and chairwoman. “You see how both those things shaped the culture and success of Motown. They really were champions for each other, and the documentary does a wonderful job of really helping you feel the magnitude of that friendship.”

(L-R): Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown."

The myriad interviews include Stevie Wonder, Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves, the Temptations’ Otis Williams, the Four Tops’ Duke Fakir and the surviving Jacksons, with the Supremes’ Diana Ross as the most glaring absence. Cliff Bell’s, the Roostertail, Bert’s Warehouse and the Detroit Institute of Music Education are among the other local settings.

Amid the levity and charm, there are some cool musical moments — including layer-by-layer breakdowns of “My Girl” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” drawn from the original studio tracks.

Turner said he and his brother are “attracted to positive, uplifting stories,” and Motown history fits that bill.

“There are so many filmmakers out there, and the majority of documentaries that get made focus on heavy, dark material,” he said. “We felt the interesting thing about this story was the opposite — it was the joy, love and unity it brought to society and culture.”

Dissecting the magic

The Turners are founders of Fulwell 73, a London production company that counts TV star James Corden among its principals. Their Motown film journey started with a phone call from Steve Barnett, the CEO of Capitol Music Group, which runs the label’s modern incarnation.

Barnett, an England native and soccer fan, had seen the Turners’ 2013 doc, “The Class of ’92,” chronicling the homegrown players who led Manchester United to big success. He was impressed with the film’s tone and storytelling — so would the brothers be interested in bringing that style to a movie about Motown?

They jumped at the chance — surprised that a definitive Motown documentary didn’t already exist — and were soon meeting with Gordy in Los Angeles.

“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Berry to see a couple of young English dudes coming into his office, like, ‘Hey, man, we’re the right people to tell the story of Motown!’ ” Gabe Turner said. “But he liked our approach.”

While it hits on pivotal moments — Gordy’s founding family loan, the belated blossoming of the Supremes, the scary times encountered in the South on early concert tours — the documentary doesn’t unfold in strict chronological order. Rather, it uses Gordy’s assembly-line approach as a storytelling template (complete with a factory-style schematic), venturing through chapters on “Finding the Artists,” “Quality Control,” “Artist Development” and the like.

“The real key for us was to find a structure very early where we could tell a coherent story,” Turner said. “You want to be able to say: This was (Motown's) plan, and this is how they executed it.”

Mary Wilson in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown."

Having turned the Supremes, Wonder, Robinson, Gaye and others into household names, Motown heads into the 1970s facing a fast-changing society and musical evolution.

The film wraps up as Gordy prepares to uproot his company to L.A. while his production-line system is at last transcended, exemplified by Gaye’s groundbreaking “What’s Going On,” among the last significant Motown recordings in Detroit.

For those well-versed in Motown lore, there will be few revelations. “Hitsville” is a familiar, feel-good recounting of the tale as Gordy himself has previously relayed it, including in his 1994 autobiography and 2013 Broadway musical.

And while that means it’s largely a warts-free version of the story, it does include the handful of stock missteps and controversies that Gordy has granted as part of Motown mythology: He laughs off allegations of mafia ties, acknowledges the pushback his apolitical approach got from black-power activists, and concedes he initially fought the creative ambitions of artists such as Gaye.

“You can have the greatest assembly line in the world, but people are not cars,” he says by way of epiphany toward the film’s end, as Motown preps for its West Coast move.

Berry Gordy in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown."

While the territory made be well-trodden, “Hitsville” presents it in a newly compelling way. The film feels fresh and relevant, down to its visual vibe — including animated pop-up quotes that have the look of a trendy 2019 lyrics video. Smart contributions from figures such as Jamie Foxx and Dr. Dre drive home Motown’s enduring impact.

“We really wanted this to travel generations,” said Turner. “We don’t want it to play only to people that have consciously known Motown. We want it to play to people who’ve been in a shopping mall and heard Motown, and it’s lodged in their heads and they don’t know where it’s from. We want parents to sit with their kids and watch this. It’s a story that needs to travel. It needs to go through generations, and it needs to be constantly re-imagined and re-invigorated.”

Gordy didn’t exert a heavy hand on the production, Turner said. If there’s little scandal and personal drama onscreen, he said, that's a result of the subject matter itself.

“Our focus was on the early years and booming success — we weren’t looking at the contentious stuff of the latter years, when people started to leave,” Turner said. “We didn’t come across too much controversial stuff that would have even been a problem. And anytime we spoke (with Gordy) about the film, it was like you were producing a record and he wanted to make the best possible record. It genuinely felt like he was trying to make it better, and not curb what we were trying to do.”

The film doesn’t carve out big space for everyone. Artists such as Mary Wells, the Marvelettes and the Contours are glimpsed just briefly.

Still, “Hitsville” is cohesive and teeming with energy — and the challenge of equal screen time just shows how much history had to be crammed in to two hours.

As Motown Museum chief, Terry will be hosting Friday evening’s hometown screening, where label alumni, museum sponsors and other guests will watch at the Emagine Royal Oak.

(L-R): Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson at the "Hitsville: The Making of Motown" premiere event. The red carpet and screening were held at the Harmony Gold Theater followed by an after-party at Fig & Olive in Los Angeles, CA on August 8, 2019.

She was on hand earlier this month for the documentary’s red-carpet premiere in L.A., attended by Gordy, Robinson, Wonder and others.

“I kept thinking as I was watching: I can’t wait for the hometown crowd to experience this,” Terry said. “There’s so much love given to Detroit, so much appreciation for the city where Motown happened.”

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

'Hitsville: The Making of Motown'

Premieres 9 p.m. Sat.

Showtime

1 hour, 53 minutes