The Cowsills | Cinefamily | 08.25.11

Mr. Ian Broyles screened his documentary on The Cowsills tonight at Cinefamily. Not familiar?  I don’t blame you, I didn’t know who they were either until I heard them play the song from this movie.

Broyles helps unfold the story of how a group on top of the world, the very group that The Partridge Family is based on, falls apart.

Notes.

• The father had a vision of a cross between The Bee Gees & The Von Trapp Family and added their mother to the band.
• No one wanted their mother in the band.
• The mother didn’t even want to be in the band.
• Their father was frighteningly abusive.
• They estimated they made about 20 million during their run of fame, but did not see a penny of it, in fact, ended up in debt that took 10 years to pay off.

The documentary is equally fascinating as it was sad and I can’t recommend it enough. See it if it ends up in your town.