When Dusty Springfield died in 1998, she left a legacy behind that will last forever. From bringing Motown to the British public in the 1960s to producing an impressive opus of work herself with songs including Son of a Preacher Man and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me , with a career that continued well into the late 1980’s thanks to the Pet Shop Boys rejuvenating her career.
This feature-length documentary (the first one of any real notable worth) takes the viewer on an in-depth and informative look through the singer's life, from her early life as a singer in The Springfield’s right up to her unfortunate downfall in 1998 with cancer.
The viewer gets a detailed account of Dusty’s life and work using a combination of archive footage of her speaking on various television shows and brand-new interviews with the likes of Burt Bacharach, Mari Wilson and Marc Almond, all of whom have an interesting anecdote or story to tell about the much loved singer. The documentary also does not shy away from topics that perhaps many, including Dusty, would rather were left in the closet, including her issues with her sexuality and her addiction to alcohol and drugs.
The brilliant thing about having a feature-length documentary over a standard television documentary is that the film has time to focus on what it should be focusing on, her music. The film has extended sequences from many of Dusty’s performances throughout her career including some early footage of her band The Springfields.
Although the film many not offer a great deal of new content, it provides a brilliantly in-depth document of one of the U.K's most important white soul singer's life, told by the women herself and those she shared her life with.