Anyone who knows the name Jim Dickinson may recall his work on the Big Star albums and he was given some attention in the documentary of the same name. But Dickinson was part of the larger sound in Memphis, Tennessee under the Stax umbrella, of which several other films have been made. In Take Me to the River, we see some of this touched upon, but also the music in the film is part of a larger effort to get the younger acts in touch with the older ones for recognition and appreciation.

Narrated by Terrence Howard (Empire), the film features interviews with musicians from Stax such as William Bell, Charlie Musselwhite and Bobby Rush, among others. Booker T. Jones (from Booker T. and the M.G.'s) is another performer of note. You may not recognize their names immediately, but you'll know the music they worked on. Combined with rappers like Lil P-Nut, Yo Gotti and Snoop Dogg, they discuss and recall work in the studio as they put the songs together.

I appreciate the work that the director Martin Shore does for the film and the fact that the Stax musicians should be recognized and/or rewarded in any way possible. But for long stretches of Take Me to the River, the film seems to forget why it is doing what it is doing. It tends to meander without resonant points about the Memphis scene either during the Stax era or in the modern day, and doesn't discuss for long periods why Stax is important. It's not neglected completely; in fact it tends to pick up on what it is supposed to do and shows us why we're watching the film to begin with; that so many of these musicians are forgotten, and deserve one last moment in the sun.

The encouraging part of the film is that it recognizes this as it goes on and pays the appropriate attention to it. Consider that for a few of the musicians in the film, it was literally their last recording session. Seeing their expressions and how warm they were as people in the studio was great to see, and a touch emotional as they got the chance to show off. Seeing Charles ‘Skip' Pitts, a guy whose guitar work was displayed prominently on the Isaac Hayes song "Shaft," hang out with a 16-year old drummer and be effusive that his work was so polished was a really nice thing to see.

It was nice to see Take Me to the River realize its raison d'etre over the course of the film, but honestly I would have liked to see more of a by the numbers look at the history and legacy of Stax and how that translates over to today's artists; heck, the only one who seemed to realize why Stax should be revered as much as it should is Snoop, and he's my age! But the film should help bring in the young'uns to see why Stax and its musicians should be appreciated, albeit incompletely, and that's fine by me.

Shout! gives Take Me to the River an AVC-encoded 1.78:1 transfer which looks great in the recently shot material, while handling the older footage as well as one could hope. The studio scenes and exterior shots have a variety of color to them and are reproduced loyally to the source. Overall, the Blu-ray looks OK, though there are moments or two of banding that distract from things.

The DTS-HD 5.1 lossless surround which graces the film shows off in the musical numbers as you would expect it to, and it sounds great. The current music sounds clear and well-balanced as can be, placing the viewer in the middle of the studio, and the older scenes occur in the front of the soundstage and sound clear. It's not as good as some of the best lossless presentations for musical discs out there, but it sounds good for the material it works with.

There is a bonus performance (3:58) of "Be Like Me" which is fine, but the meatier stuff are the interviews, the first is with Snoop and William Bell (22:22), which is entertaining to watch for Snoop's love and Bell's history, but the other, with Al Bell and Howard (8:19) felt a little gratuitous, particularly since Howard seemed compelled to interject himself into the material by recording a song for this project, but that's more a personal taste thing I guess.

It's not the best of films from an information standpoint, but looking at the music, Take Me to the River is a fond look back at an influential and impactful presence in American music over a couple of genres, and is worth seeing if you are the slightest devotee of same. Technically, it looks and sounds good, but could have used some work on the extras. Nevertheless, guys like Jim Dickinson and Skip Pitts will enjoy what's on screen.