John Martyn: Johnny Too Bad

John Martyn: Johnny Too Bad (2004) blends Music and Documentary elements. Top cast includes John Martyn, Beverley Martyn, and Ralph McTell. Family dynamics play a central role in how the story evolves.

Actor: John Martyn

This honest and often blackly hilarious film shows Martyn at home in Ireland, during the lead-up to and aftermath of an operation to have one of his legs amputated below the knee. Contributors include sometime collaborator and buddy Phil Collins, the late Robert Palmer, Ralph McTell, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, fellow hellraiser bassist Danny Thompson, John's ex-wife Beverley Martyn and younger generation fan Beth Orton. We see a man incapable of compromising his creative vision, from his folk club roots in the Sixties, through a career of continuous musical experimentation. Along the way there is a surreal roll-call of accidents and incidents, including a collision with a cow