Harry Benson: Shoot First

How much do any of us know about the photographers (including their names) who have shot the iconic photos we love, buy and frame, or watch in biographical films? Very few of us, I suspect, which is why you must watch the brilliant documentary "Harry Benson: Shoot First."

Harry James Benson, CBE (Commander of the British Empire), born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1929, is the subject of this superior film, a man who took risks of both life and career to shoot photos of wars, famines, presidents, film and recording stars, as well as ordinary folk, in honest illuminations.

Director/writers Justin Bare and Matthew Miele, Americans in their mid-thirties, have found their way into Benson's soul through their examination of his extraordinary work. Benson, by his own words, was a rough-and-tumble photographer, ready to go anywhere to snap photos of those in the news, as well as humble folk, and is described by interviewees as arrogant, charming and fanatical about his vocation.

Benson's work was published in such major fare as Life Magazine, Vanity Fair, People and The New Yorker. An example of how persistent he was in capturing an image is his photo of the reclusive older Greta Garbo, with just her head sticking out of the ocean, an "invasion of her privacy" decried by her grand-nephew - and one of his most valuable shots.

There are five book collections of his work for us to see, including "50 Years in Pictures" (2001). And now this invaluable film-bio, with hundreds of his photos, some with descriptive narrating by him, and interviews with others who have known him for years: His family, journalist Dan Rather, filmmaker James Brooks, magazine editors over the years, and in the gallery of his photos, iconic shots of Muhammad Ali clowning with the Beatles, the Beatles clowning amongst themselves, Elizabeth Taylor before and just after her brain surgery, Presidents Nixon, JFK (and Senator Robert Kennedy as he lay dying after his June 1968, assassination, and was quoted later as saying "I kept telling myself, 'This is for history, pull yourself together, fail tomorrow, not today'"), Henry Kissinger, Donald Trump before he began his run for the presidency, Ronald (and Nancy) Reagan, other celebrities (such as Sharon Stone, who is interviewed), Alec Baldwin (ditto), and a nude frontal of Ali as well as an ass shot of Bobby Fischer, the chess champion.

Seemingly he is a man who could be (and was) everywhere, his work as a whole meaningful and a template for other photographers.

Their film is astonishing to watch and to learn from, especially for those of us who enjoy the results of photojournalism, in addition to the stories behind many of them. You cannot go wrong seeing this superior film.