*Get In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies on Amazon here*
*Get Victim Zero by Kat Ward on Amazon here*
*Get Untouchable Jimmy Savile by Shawn Attwood on Amazon here*
*Get How's About That Then?: Jimmy Savile: The Authorised Biography by Alison Bellamy on Amazon here*
Jimmy Savile was a television personality in Great Britain who seemed to be part of the public's collective lives for decades. Behind the camera, he assaulted young and old, and the extent of his crimes only came to light after his death. Basically, he got away with it.
Savile was a strange, eccentric presence. He was a disc jockey in the 1950's, and then branched into television for decades until his death in 2011, two days before his 85th birthday. He also raised millions of pounds for charities and hospitals, and was a confidante to the elite of royalty and politicians. His private life was very private. He never married or had children, and his sexuality seemed to be nonexistent- he existed to entertain, like a robot, and didn't seem to have a social life when out of the limelight. Rumors about his "liking young girls" were just rumors, part of his act was playing up his "dirty old man" shtick, puffing on giant cigars and joking about his sexual proclivities. He was so liked by the media, authorities, and public, that when formal complaints about him were made, they were quickly quashed- after all, he was rubbing elbows with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the royal couple Prince Charles and Diana. As Savile's luck would have it, he died alone in his penthouse flat and was given a hero's send-off in his beloved Leeds, United Kingdom, just as the accusations and stories broke. His victims ranged from the young to the elderly, males and females, with some being incapacitated patients in the very same hospitals he was raising money for. In the days before he died, rumblings of wrong-doing were growing stronger, and he denied his crimes until the end. Some of Savile's victims didn't come forward because no one was going to believe them. He ravaged a now-closed school for wayward girls. He violated patients at a hospital for spinal cord injuries. He was abusing people for so long, some of them eventually died of old age (or suicide in one case), never telling their story to anyone but perhaps a close family member. Who would take their word that this charitable, beloved fixture was capable of any of this?
As for the film itself, it's being unnecessarily streamed in two parts as a "limited series." The total running time is just under three hours, and no, this is not a limited series. It could use some editing, however. Too much time is spent on showing the viewer how Savile rose through the ranks of British media, befriending the all the right people, as if they were justifying why the public fell in love with him. I only heard about Savile after the accusations started, and watching old footage of him is skeevy and fascinating. I honestly don't see the appeal, he's strange looking and not very funny, but I also realize that there isn't much footage of him available, and who wants to say nowadays that we was fantastic? An entire "episode" in this limited series could have been done about the victims, but they are only briefly reviewed. This is a mistake in many a true crime documentary on streaming services. Some of the more salacious aspects of Savile's crimes are also ignored, which only serves to ignore the trauma his victims and families went through. Some of Savile's victims were helpless because they didn't have proof of their crimes, as if they spent that traumatic event collecting CSI-inspired evidence. Another aspect of the film that didn't work was the "how did you not know what he was doing?" questioning to former acquaintances of Savile's. I worked retail from the age of eighteen through my early fifties. I worked with, and was supervised by, literally hundreds of people in those decades- I even met my wife through work. I've also seen coworkers and former coworkers run afoul of the law (minor infractions- no serial killers, that I know of), or go through painful divorces or breakups because of their behavior or the behavior of a significant other. I've even had a coworker who appeared in a pornographic movie that they told me about. I had a college instructor, and a high school guidance counselor, jailed on sexual crimes against children (so much for that reference letter) but I have never been employed with someone who committed the crimes on the level of Savile's, much less shared their problems at work (again, that I know of). Savile was brilliant in keeping his anonymity, research into his private life consistently turned up nothing, so I can't imagine he would be sharing what he was doing, and if he did slip up- he was just being Jimmy Savile, the scamp. Like I said, I was unfamiliar with the Savile case, and I don't remember watching any of his shows in the early 1990's when I was briefly living in the United Kingdom.
This is a good starting point, and a very good, but not a great, documentary.
Stats:
(2022) 170 min. (7/10)
-Directed by Rowan Deacon
-Featuring: Jimmy Savile, Roger Ordish, Mark Lawson, Meirion Jones, Alison Bellamy, Dominic Carman, Sylvia Nicol, Christine Checkley, Ian Hislop, Marjorie Wallace, Tina Davey, Martin Young, Carine Minne
(TV-MA)- Some sexual violence, some profanity, strong sexual references, very strong sexual violence references, strong adult situations, tobacco use
Media Viewed: Streaming
*BAFTA*
-TV- Original Music, Factual (won)
-TV- Editing, Factual (lost to "Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes")
