Sweetwater

While I was born about 2 years too late to have even been alive during Woodstock, this TV movie about the first band to play this legendary festival was informative and did an excellent job of telling this story.

The story's primary focus is on Nansi Nevens...a young girl with a golden voice who fronts an unknown rock band and takes them straight to the top, only to fall prey to the demons of fame. Amy Jo Johnson (who has been primarly known as the Pink Ranger to this point) does a stellar job as young Nansi, and delivers surprisingly good vocals on the Sweetwater songs (yes, she sang, check the credits)

The story is believeable, and focuses on a typical American trait..."whatever happened to......." Good turns from Michelle Phillips as present day Nansi (perhaps exorcising a few 60's demons of her own??) and the rest of the cast add to the enjoyability of this movie.

This was VH-1's first shot at making movies, and based on this movie I will likely watch any others that are made. A good addition to their "Behind the Music" series, as you learn much about the characters and the history of the first band to play Woodstock

Usually, made-for-TV movies turn out to be simply filler, without much substance. Not so in the case of Sweetwater, a film about the first group to perform at Woodstock, and then never heard from since. Amy Jo Johnson turns in a very impressive performance as Nansi, the band's lead singer, who suffers an agonizing blow to her career after a near-fatal car accident which scarred her vocal chords. The movie shows the height of her fame (Woodstock), and then the tragic crash and burn of a singer who refused to give up her life as a singer, until she almost lost her life to booze and destitution. The movie was pretty powerful emotionally, and VH-1 did a great job by following up the movie with a "behind the scenes" look at the real performers of the group, in a "where are they now" kind of format. The one thing I would've liked to see in the movie would have been a showcase of more of Sweetwater's songs. Unfortunately, the predominant song throughout the movie was "Motherless Child", which started to get on my nerves by the time the movie ended. But, all in all, a decent movie - one that VH-1 should be proud of.

The general theme of the movie was good. It was overplayed in some portions, but what I really enjoyed was hearing songs from their first album. It was sad to see how so many people were effected by one tragic event. Amy Jo did a great job of playing Nancy and her voice was great.

I just finished watching this TV movie & couldn't believe that people hadn't already began to comment about it. I loved it, personally. Amy Jo Johnson shows she's more than Julie (of "Felicity"), giving a wonderful performance. I have to admit, the working in of the reporter's storyline seemed a little inappropriate. They barely touched it, but tried to make it seem like a big thing. All in all, this was really good, I thought.

Sweetwater shows the viewers how much trouble that music stars go though during their stardom. One day, you lead at a major concert and in the next couple of weeks, your life can really fall apart. Amy Jo Johnson did a good job portraying the lead singer for Sweetwater, and her roller coaster life. The casting was excellent in picking a talented actress and a great singer. I liked how the movie goes back and forth between the 60s and the 90s, with a television reporter wanting to do a story on the Woodstock opening act, Sweetwater. Kelli Williams from "The Practice" is the reporter and she wants to find out what happens to the band and their lead singer, Nancy Nievens. I recommend this movie to whomever wondered what happened to the band, and for the young people wanting to go into music, so they know what being famous can involve.