"There aren't even shots of Mick doing blow in Cocksucker," Morgen says, during a telephone interview. Frank's film was never officially released because even the Stones found it too controversial (copious amounts of sex and drugs to go with the rock 'n' roll) a court order, which still stands today, allows the film to be shown only when Frank himself is physically present, and the film cannot be screened more than once in a given year. That shows the lengths Morgen went to find his material. The snorting-cocaine shot comes from outtakes from Cocksucker Blues, Robert Frank's film about the Stones' 1972 US tour. Very quickly, the film's director, Brett Morgen ( The Kid Stays in the Picture Chicago 10), boldly states that this movie will not protect its respected-elder subjects from the transgressions of their wild youth (and middle age).
This revelatory moment comes before we even know how the roughly two-hour film will be structured or what about the Stones' long career-the band is celebrating its 50 th anniversary-will be stressed. Crossfire Hurricane, which premieres November 15 on HBO and will be released on DVD in 2013, clearly is not going to be an airbrushed, polite celebration of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Mick Jagger raises a knife blade to his nostrils and satisfyingly inhales whatever was on it.
In grainy black-and-white footage taken in the early 1970s, we're taken into a Stones dressing room. It occurs between the key opening credits-the name of the director and the title of the film. We're not even five minutes into Crossfire Hurricane, the new documentary about the Rolling Stones' long career as rock 'n' roll icons, when there's a scene that makes us say, "Whoa! This movie is not going to hold back."