Only the Strong Survive

The movie is the product of his (Friedman) big, shiny love of forgotten soul legends whom superstardom (and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I might add) has eluded.

This is no antique show: Faced with an audience, they are still amazingly vital and sometimes amazingly lewd.

The No. 1 thing Only the Strong Survive will have to survive is being overshadowed by "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." Less focused than last fall's slam-dunk Funk remembrance, Survive is a more modest soul review.

Agreeable and warm, is content for the most part merely to allude to complexity and darkness in the lives of its subjects.

Less an historical flashback than a present-tense valentine.

The rather sad performances boast more clams than a Pismo beach party.

All Only the Strong Survive has to offer are scraps, and it's a sad thing to sit through a movie billed as a tribute to a group of terrific performers and to come away with nothing more than scraps.