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Bruce Springsteen: The Promise - The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town

Logo for Bruce Springsteen: The Promise - The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town

Thom Zimny's film, The Promise - The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, explores the three years it took to make Bruce Springsteen's fourth studio album, 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town. Struggling with newfound stardom brought on by 1975's Born To Run and locked in a legal struggle for control of his own career with his manager Mike Appel, Springsteen was determined to make an album that would do justice to the dreams and struggles of working-class America. The 'Boss' and the E-Street Band worked tirelessly to make a profound, mature work tinged with what Springsteen calls 'American noir'. In the process, he wrote and recorded nearly 70 songs, gave away potential hits like Because The Night and nearly drove his band and his producers around the twist. Zimny's film is driven by in-depth interviews with Springsteen, the E-Street Band and producers Jon Landau and Jimmy Lovine and features extensive black-and-white archive footage of the process from the time, shot in Springsteen's home studio and at New York's Record Plant.