’70s Doc ‘Save the Children’ With Jackson 5 and Soul Stars Hits Netflix

“Save the Children,” an early ’70s concert film featuring many of that era’s biggest names in Black music, was in need of some saving itself. Although the documentary featured iconic stars like the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers, the movie disappeared completely off the radar after being briefly released to theaters in 1973 by Paramount Pictures, never getting an authorized home-video release, let alone revival screenings. But salvation has come, with Netflix having picked up the doc to make it available to be seen for the first time in a half-century.

The two-hour film documents a concert that was put on in Chicago in 1972 to support Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH, with an all-star cast of performers that also included the Staple Singers, Roberta Flack, Isaac Hayes, Gladys Knight, the Tempations, Ramsey Lewis, Wilson Pickett, Sammy Davis Jr., Cannonball Adderley and Jerry Butler. Those who worked on it behind the scenes include Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Al Bell and Clarence Avant. With a lineup like that, it seems impossible that most fans of ’70s soul haven’t even heard of the film, much less had an opportunity to see it. Yet it truly ghosted the world after its initial rollout (and two Motown soundtracks that followed), to the point that the IMDB website doesn’t list a single user review for this lost doc.

“Save the Children” just had its official re-premiere at the Chicago Film Festival this month, with Jesse Jackson and his son Yusef Jackson in attendance, along with the film’s director, the well-known Black filmmaker Stan Lathan, and a behind-the-scenes instigator in the re-release, Alan Elliott (who produced the Aretha Franklin doc “Amazing Grace”). Lathan and Elliott talked with Variety about the effort that went into bringing the pic back into the light.

Lathan has had an exemplary career as a filmmaker, and he’s still going, at 79, as the director of most of Dave Chappelle’s projects since the turn of the century, after helming episodes of everything from “Sanford and Son” to “Sesame Street” to “Hill Street Blues.” This early project still stands as a highlight in his career, although few have seemed to be aware of it.

“It kind of disappeared for years because Paramount kind of… I wouldn’t say they dropped the ball, but they released it in a few cities, and when it didn’t perform the way they wanted it to, they kind of put it down, and then somehow it got lost in the Paramount archives,” Lathan says. “So it took us a long time to find it, and then when we found it, we had to do a lot of fixing up. We didn’t change anything (content-wise), but it looks good, the soundtrack is great, and I’m thrilled about this.”

Says Elliott, who as an uncredited producer and booster “nudged” the film toward re-release: “I don’t mean to not lead with the headline, because this is the only film footage — not TV footage, but film footage — of the Jackson 5 in 1972, and they are the biggest thing in the world at that time. They are Taylor Swift; they are the Beatles. At that time, they are riding a wave of those five or six huge hit records, and when they go on stage and the kids rush the stage, it’s hilarious. I went to the screening in Chicago with a college friend who is a lawyer there, and he starts crying in the middle of the Jackson 5. I said, ‘You’re really that touched?’ He said, ‘You forget about how important the Jackson 5 was to our time, and to see them like this…’”

Elliott continues, “It’s remarkable, the one-take genius of pretty much everybody that’s in the movie. Bill Withers looks like he should be on Mount Rushmore. Gladys Knight should be standing right next to him. Nancy Wilson is an absolute revelation in the movie, it’s such an incredible performance that she does. She’s like Maria Callas — it’s that theatrical, it’s that big. The Temptations are fantastic. Oh my God, Mavis Staples and her father (Pops Staples) are just magic to watch. And Stan and the editor, George Bowers, really tell a story. It’s not just a concert movie. It’s the story of the culture of the time and how it represents America at that time. And it came at such an important time, with the ascendancy of Jesse Jackson into common American parlance.”

“It was (Stax Records co-owner) Al Bell’s genius after Dr. King died to sign Jesse Jackson to a record contract and to market him as the country preacher.  And then, Al Bell helped fund Operation PUSH, at the same time he was funding the start of the blaxploitation film movement with ‘Shaft’ and ‘Sweet Sweetback‘s Baadasssss Song’ and all these other movies. And this movie is such a culmination of Al Bell, Clarence Avant, Berry Gordy and Stan using their influence from the art that they create to create a positive message for society. I mean, it’s a really important movie that I’m just proud to have been around to help nudge over the finish line. It’s as important as mine (‘Amazing Grace’), and I think mine is really important.”

Lathan further discusses the provenance of “Save the Children”: “I can’t say there was anybody that wasn’t great in the film, because everybody came, and this is a fact, once the word got out to the industry. The reason why that was the case is the magnitude of the importance of Jesse, and people being interested in his efforts. He was very close with Clarence Avant, who brought me on and introduced me to Jesse. They hired me to direct and Matt Robinson to produce, and they also brought in Ewart Abner, who was the president of Motown at that time, and Al Bell. And Quincy Jones, of course, brought everything together and put together an all-star (cast) with the stars of the day. Everyone really brought their A-game after the word got out. And Phil Ramone was the music coordinator, of course, along with Quincy, so the sound was perfectly mixed. It sounds even better now that we’ve done surround sound at Capitol Studios.”

Lathan is grateful not just to have caught up with Jesse Jackson at the Chicago premiere but to have been working alongside his son. “Yusef was 3 years old when that we made that, and now he’s a producer on it because he did a lot to help us get through the whole mess we had to go through to get it now, as something that is really gonna be preserved.”

Lathan expounds on what was unusual about the crew at the time. “Jesse Jackson’s PUSH Expo was a huge yearly event that brought lots of people together for civil rights, and he wanted to do a big concert with some of the top artists. But he also had it in his mind that he would try to do it with an all-Black crew. I mean, there were some Black camera people around, but a crew for a huge show like that, it was unheard of — and we managed to do it. The time we spent in the prep was about finding good people from all over the country. And we had eight or nine cameras, and there was only one of the cameramen that was white. That was David Myers, somebody I had worked with on other things and had shot on a lot of big documentaries. So he was kind of the anchor. We put it together and it was great and everybody delivered.”

Notes Elliott, “It’s meaningful because when there are audience reaction shots and things like that, they are done through the lens, literally, of a Black filmmaker, and Black cameramen. And so when they’re taking pictures of the girls and the reaction shots, they’re not at a remove. They are in the moment, in a different kind of way. And you can see it, you can feel it.”

Lathan says that “when I look at it now, I just feel how lucky was I to have that experience, and to work with Jesse and all of these great musicians. I think it kind of helped me to kind of become a little bit more — what should I say? — a little more driven to do good work. And I’ve always done my best, and now it’s 52 years later and I’ve been doing everything I ever wanted to do, and more, as a director. So I’m thrilled about this. This is just an important anniversary for me to be watching it.”

Says Elliott, “It’s really great for Stan to have a victory lap. Not that he needs one, because he has had a lot of victories. But at the Chicago Festival screening, he said, ‘This is the most impactful movie or project I’ll ever work on.’ And he does Chappelle and he’s one of the first directors of ‘Sesame Street’! Just a really, really smart, fun, nice, sweet man.”