Bruce Springsteen has had a long, acclaimed career as a musician. The singer-songwriter of New Jersey released his debut album in 1973 and shot to stardom a few years later with his third record Born to Run. From there, the working-class man became a global superstar and cultural phenomenon with subsequent album releases, sprawling concert tours, tons of accolades, and a massive fan following. Having won Grammy Awards, an Oscar for Best Original Song, and a Special Tony Award, where else is there for “The Boss” to go from here?

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It would seem that the silver screen is the logical answer. Not for Springsteen to become an actor, but rather to tell a human story of his life. One must realize that covering the entirety of a 76-year old rock star’s existence is too big of a challenge for one film, but the latest trend is focusing on a specific period of a person’s life. As a result, the movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is the latest addition to the biopic genre. Directed by filmmaker Scott Cooper, it is based on the book Deliver Me From Nowhere by author Warren Zanes.

Music biopics are a tricky genre for Hollywood to tackle. If done properly, audiences can be treated to stellar films such as Ray (2004), Walk The Line (2005), Rocketman (2019), and last year’s A Complete Unknown. However, the reversal can result in wildly mixed results, such as Sid and Nancy (1986), What’s Love Got to Do With It (1993), and Jersey Boys (2014). In the middle can be wildly entertaining yet sensationalized movies like The Buddy Holly Story (1978) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), or polarizing films like The Runaways (2010) and A Better Man (2024). This begs two questions: where exactly does Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere fit into this genre, and does the movie succeed on its own terms?

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere deviates from the cliché music biographical formula by not covering the singer’s entire life. Instead, it focuses on a two-year period in the early 1980s during the recording of Springsteen’s sixth album, Nebraska. It also isn’t a feature narrative packed with the artists’ “greatest hits” like what the film Bohemian Rhapsody did for Queen’s music. Fans should be advised that several of Springsteen’s most known hits are not featured in the movie.

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Opening with a 1957 flashback, young Bruce Springsteen witnesses tensions between his troubled father Douglas (Stephan Graham) and long-suffering mother Adele (Gaby Hoffman). Returning to 1981, Springsteen (Jeremy Allan White) concludes his famed River Tour with the legendary E Street Band. He’s riding high on the success of The River album and his first Top Ten single, “Hungry Heart”. After playing the encore of their final show date, the E Street Band goes their separate ways, and Springsteen rents a house in Freehold, New Jersey. Despite his relief at being off the road, he finds himself bored and listless with a lot of free time on his
hands. It’s almost as if he is itching to make music again, but doesn’t want to go the usual album-tour route this time. While “Hungry Heart” is still on the radio, he doesn’t want to keep being reminded of his current chart success. During this time, Springsteen frequents The Stone Pony bar, where he watches and performs with local bands on occasion. He meets and falls in love
with Faye Romano (Odessa Young), a single mother and the sister of an old high school classmate.

In New York City, manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) plans to get Springsteen pumped for the upcoming sixth album. He and CBS Records are keen on him doing a big, bombastic album to follow up Born To Run and The River, but Springsteen is not so keen on that idea. What he wants to do is make a more intimate and personal album that gives voice to the plight of working-class, struggling Americans. This causes Landau to worry, but he has faith that his client will pull off something meaningful.

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While watching television one night, Springsteen comes across the Terrence Malick crime-drama Badlands (1973), and he is intrigued by the real-life inspiration of Charles Starkweather. Upon doing research, the singer decides to create a gritty, raw album about life as it really is for the less fortunate. Another big source of inspiration are the works of novelist Flannery O’Connor, whose focus on regional settings, downtrodden characters, violent situations, and the criminal underbelly intrigue him. He purchases a four-track recording device (known as a multi-tracker) and begins pre-production on the new album. Springsteen wants to save time and money by recording demo tracks at home, which Landau and CBS find odd and unconventional. Meanwhile, he’s bonding with Faye and her young daughter, but he remains somewhat elusive in opening up about himself.

As production gets underway, Springsteen starts writing new songs for the record. The recurring theme of these tracks are the blue-collar class struggles, hard times, and a somber perspective of the world. Among them are “Nebraska”, “Mansion on the Hill”, “Atlantic City”, and “State Trooper”. What makes them unique is the unpolished, imperfect sound quality of the tracks. Upon completing the demos, he sends them in the form of a single cassette tape to Landau, who is astonished by the more dark and inward songs. Eventually, Springsteen records a number of tracks with the E Street Band, but he does not feel satisfied with the full-band sound of the songs. He decides to shelve the tracks because they haven’t met his acoustic ideas for the album, as well as postponing further work on songs that could potentially become hit singles. While Landau is perplexed at first, he does come around to supporting his client’s vision and lets him remake the demo tapes as a master recording on vinyl.

To make things difficult, Springsteen doesn’t want to go the standard route of going on a concert tour to promote Nebraska. Nor does he want to release any commercial singles or music videos for the album. He doesn’t want to put his face on the cover, and refuses to do any promotional interviews whatsoever because he wants the work to speak for itself. This proves to be a major source of contention for Landau and CBS record executive Al Teller (David Krumholtz), because they want something that is more viable to market and promote. Landau urges Springsteen to shelve Nebraska for the time being in favour of a mainstream album, but the singer refuses to concede to the label’s demands.

Meanwhile, on a personal level, Springsteen is still having issues with his father. Having moved to Los Angeles, Douglas loses his airport job and takes up drinking heavily. Upon getting a phone call from Adele, Springsteen makes it his mission to find Douglas and fix his own personal demons. On top of everything else, he himself is struggling with troubled memories of his childhood amidst his father’s alcoholism and mental health problems. This causes him to slowly withdraw emotionally from Faye, who realizes that their budding relationship isn’t likely to work. Yet the question remains: at what point is Springsteen going to seek help?

Jeremy Allan White (The Bear) does a fine job of bringing the young, raw Springsteen to life. While he doesn’t bear a striking resemblance to Springsteen, the actor manages to project a showman’s charisma and an aura of intensity all at once. He also depicts a more vulnerable side by showing his character’s difficulty in showing emotions when relating to other people. White does a good job in singing the Nebraska songs with a similar timbre and range to that of the real Springsteen’s vocals.

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Jeremy Strong provides a reliable, self-assured strength as Jon Landau. The Succession alumni has proven himself to be one of Hollywood’s most reliable go-to character actors, and this film is no exception. When playing a real-life person, one must be careful to focus on what makes the character tick and operate the way he or she does. Strong makes Landau a source of dependability and frustration, especially when dealing with the nature of the music business and navigating his client’s wishes. As a result, he takes what could have been a one-note performance and gives new dimensions to the role.

Stephen Graham delivers a quietly subdued and nuanced performance as Douglas Springsteen. Having made an impression in Netflix’s excellent Adolescence limited series, the actor brings a complexity to yet another paternal role. While there are some unsettling moments depicted in flashbacks, Graham makes Douglas a wounded soul. Although he is shown treating his wife and son rather harshly, there are moments where he shows a gentler side. What could have been a stereotypically cliché turn becomes more layered and thoughtful, especially by the film’s third act and cathartic conclusion.

The rest of the cast does well with the material. Paul Walter Hauser offers a more laid-back, bemused turn as Mike, and he provides some of the film’s lighter moments, such as the idea of an artist recording an album in his house with multitrack recording equipment. David Krumholtz injects the character of Al Teller as being business-minded and increasingly frustrated with Springsteen’s unconventional approach to recording the Nebraska album. Gaby Hoffman gives a world-weary yet loving performance as Springsteen’s mother Adele, but it’s frustrating that she’s mostly featured in the flashbacks and the film’s first half. More exploration of her bond with Bruce could have enhanced the narrative. Odessa Young plays Faye as a kind, loving single mother who finds the singer endearing, and her presence is a welcome one. While relegated to a subplot, the actress makes Faye to be believable and realistic in her discovering their relationship might be unlikely to last. Ultimately, she provides the film’s voice of reason in urging Springsteen to seek help for his problems.

Fans of Springsteen will be disappointed at the film’s lack of depth in covering Springsteen’s dynamics with the E Street Band. The group factors into the movie’s beginning and appears during recording sessions in the third act, but they aren’t given much depth or exploration. Johnny Cannizzaro plays guitarist Steven Van Zandt, and Brian Chase plays drummer Max Weinberg. Judah Sealy appears as saxophone player Clarence Clemons, but he’s given very little focus or screen time. Despite these men being a big part of Springstreen’s life at this time, the film doesn’t give a lot of insight into how they operate in the studio or on stage. It should be
noted, though, that this is a narrative about the Nebraska recordings, of which the band played a minimal role.

As part for the course in Hollywood, there are some artistic liberties taken with this period of Springsteen’s life. The character of Faye is actually a composite version of a few women whom Springsteen dated in the early 1980s. In addition, this is meant to show Springsteen’s inner torment and difficulty in opening up emotionally. A third act reconciliation scene between the singer and Douglas is depicted as happening circa 1982, but in reality, the actual reunion took place almost a decade later, in 1990. On a more humorous note, a diner scene has Springsteen eating hot dogs and saying he enjoys mustard, but the real man is known for having a dislike of said condiment.

Music is a big part of this film. While we only get one major sequence with “Born To Run” being played live, there are other moments that prove delightful. Nebraska tracks such as “Atlantic City”, “State Trooper”, “Mansion on A Hill”, “Reason To Believe” , and the titular song are performed by White. The movie also features an impressive take on “Born In The USA”, which was recorded during the Nebraska sessions but held over to the next album. “I’m On Fire” is also played. Sharp-eared filmgoers will also recognize mentions of “Glory Days” and “I’m Going Down”, both of which made it onto Born in the USA.

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Overall, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a decent film, but it falls into the genre traps of repetitive scenes and lack of new revelations. White does a great job in bringing the essence of Bruce Springsteen to life, and the actor’s talent is definitely not in question. Strong, Graham, Krumholtz, Young, and Hoffman deliver solid performances. Cooper succeeds in delivering a human story, and the music provides a somber yet thoughtful perspective of a man’s take on the world. Three out of four stars.