Documentary Review: 'Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torres'

Many fans have created their vision of who Ben Fong Torres is based on what they saw in Cameron Crowe’s brilliant 2000 film, Almost Famous. Played by actor Terry Chen, the Ben Fong Torres of Almost Famous is a supremely laid back individual who unwittingly hires a teen aged Cameron Crowe, known as William Miller in the movie, to become a reporter for Rolling Stone. The main thing people remember about the character is that he had a catchphrase, ‘Crazy.’ Everything was ‘Crazy’ in a cool, melodic tone that was anything but crazy.

Ask Ben Fong Torres today about how he was portrayed in Almost Famous and he will tell you he doesn’t recall ever saying ‘Crazy.’ Beyond that, he welcomes the loving portrayal of himself through the eyes of his good friend Cameron Crowe. Crowe is one of many people brought on to talk about the life and legacy of Ben Fong Torres who reigned as the Music Editor of Rolling Stone Magazine from its late 1960s inception through the early 1980s. If you know anything about Rolling Stone then you know that being the Music Editor of Rolling Stone is perhaps the holy grail job of music journalism, or it was in the 70s and early 80s.

The new documentary Like A Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torres gives the real life Ben Fong Torres the chance to transcend his own legend. Directed by Suzanne Joe Kai, Like A Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torres takes us back to Ben’s childhood, his unusual upbringing under his tradition minded Chinese parents, the loss of his brother in 1969, and into his more than a decade long tenure as the best of the best rock and roll writers of all time. It’s a terrific story and Director Kai does a wonderful job of letting Torres tell his story in a way reminiscent of how he used to get the biggest and the brightest of rock legends to reveal themselves.

Ben Fong Torres is responsible for some of the most famous and infamous rock and roll stories in the history of rock and roll and he still has many of those remarkable moments saved on audio cassette tapes in his home. Torres was the favored rock writer of Jim Morrison, Grace Slick and the infamously difficult to interview Marvin Gaye. Rock stars loved Torres for his dedication to telling the truth regardless of the fallout. Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane, interviewed just before his death in 2018, tells a story in the documentary reminiscent of a story told in Almost Famous about an article that was inflammatory, incendiary, inside the band's inner circle and entirely true, something the band only realized after they read Ben’s cover story.

Steve Martin appears in Like A Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torres but only long enough to thank Ben for launching his career. Ben’s 1977 cover story on Martin’s comedy is credited by Martin himself as a watershed moment in his career. Martin’s appearance in the documentary is far too short and he doesn’t go into detail about what Ben Fong Torres’ story meant to him but you can sense the friendly camaraderie of the two and we get highlights of Martin’s photo shoots and interviews with Ben and his photographer Annie Liebovitz.

Liebovitz is yet another famed figure who credits Ben Fong Torres for launching her career. Liebovitz became Ben’s closest associate during his time at Rolling Stone in the early years of the magazine. It was Ben who brought Liebovitz on board and it was Ben’s stories where some of Annie’s most remarkable moments in rock photography were born. So close are Torres and Liebovitz that Ben Fong Torres is one of a handful of people who can say Annie Liebovitz was their wedding photographer.

Like A Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torrres bubbles over with charming anecdotes about the most trusted man in rock journalism. At times the documentary borders on fawning but Ben Fong Torres himself shuts that down, grounding the documentary with his humble, thoughtful and sincere persona. Any time the documentary veers toward hagiography, Ben Fong Torres reminds you that while these stories are true, he was just the one telling them to the best of his abilities.

Like A Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torres debuted on the film festival circuit earlier this year. It’s still awaiting a full on release to general audiences.