Lightnin’ Hopkins initially resisted Les Blank’s attempts to film him, but he softened after a long night the two spent playing cards together. This footage shows Hopkins performing a song he wrote in honor of the filmmaker’s futile efforts at the table.
This short piece, produced in 2014, features an interview with Skip Gerson, director Les Blank’s collaborator on THE BLUES ACCORDIN’ TO LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS.
In this interview, conducted in September 2013, filmmaker Taylor Hackford, a lifelong admirer of the work of Les Blank, discusses THE BLUES ACCORDIN’ TO LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS, the film that galvanized Blank’s career.