I Called Him Morgan

Composite Score: 82.6

Featuring: Lee Morgan, Helen Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Larry Reni Thomas, Judith Johnson, Jymie Merritt, Bennie Maupin, Paul West, Billy Harper, Al Harrison, and Albert Tootie Heath

Director: Kasper Collin

Writers: Kasper Collin and Jesper Osmund

Genres: Documentary, Music, Crime, History, Biography

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Box Office: $128,986 worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                I Called Him Morgan is a documentary about the life, work, relationships, and tragic death of the famous jazz musician Lee Morgan, focused around and culminating with his murder at a nightclub in 1972. The film plays as both a true crime documentary and jazz music documentary (two of the most successful types of documentary there are) and succeeds at interweaving the two narratives together – telling a story about the rise and development of a jazz musician alongside the intrigue and betrayal of an intense crime of passion. The information contained in the film serves to stir up new discussion on the topics it contains and offers very few satisfying answers by its end (but in a satisfying way).

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?      

                The film’s treatment of its two central characters, Lee and Helen Morgan, might frustrate some viewers. Both people had been dead for more than twenty years by the time the documentary was released, so all conversations with them come from old recordings, meaning they are what survived to that point, limiting what the filmmakers had to work with. As a result, Lee’s stance on his relationship with his wife and with the “mistress” that caused the crime is notably lacking, creating an incomplete picture of the events. In the same way, the only recording of Helen that the film uses happens to be one that she agreed to give one month before her death, more than twenty years after the crime had occurred, meaning that her memory and opinion about the events is unreliable at best. This lack of reliability in a non-fiction work can be frustrating for people coming to the film seeking cold, hard facts. By the film’s end, it remains unclear how much either party was truly at fault for Lee’s death.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Both the jazz and true crime content in I Called Him Morgan leaves the audience feeling thoroughly informed and entertained by the film’s end, providing information from a combination of recent interviews, old recordings, and dated photographs and videos. The emotional responses of all of Lee’s former bandmates in their modern interviews lends to the sense of loss that the filmmakers look to elicit from the audience. At the same time, their lack of complete picture regarding the events of Lee’s death allows the film to present its crime not as unsolved but as unresolved, leaving the audience thinking and wanting more, which is a sign of a quality documentary.

                I Called Him Morgan’s unique blend of jazz and true crime goes a long way in securing the film’s place among the Greatest Films of All Time. Despite some less-than-satisfying conclusions, the film leaves its audience satisfied that the story has been told and interested enough to share the story with others down the road – a documentary that accomplishes its goals. This film is currently available to rent on most streaming services if you want to check it out.