I've read several reviews here that are very negative principally because the reviewer found Wild Man Fischer's music to be either annoying or talentless or some combination of the two.<br /><br />While it is true that without his music Wild Man Fischer would have no claim to fame, and sometimes it's difficult to see the connection between all the plaudits lauded upon him by the various celebrities in this documentary and the numerous rather poor examples of his songs generously placed throughout the film, this documentary isn't really about how great or annoying his music is, it's about the Wild Man himself, and it turns out that it's a genuinely interesting story expertly told.<br /><br />I have to admit here some bias. I am one of the handful of people who actually purchased "An Evening With Wild Man Fischer" when it was originally released in the late 60s. I listened to that record quite a bit actually. I never once thought of Wild Man Fischer as a great Artist (with a capital "A") but I did recognize that there was more to the music than the surface - the music revealed the man underneath and his tragic story which was interesting. Plus, the record WAS entertaining in an odd sort of way.<br /><br />Larry "Wild Man" Fischer in many ways was saved by his music. Not only has it been his means of escape throughout his life, a bizarre sort of self therapy, but it has also served as a magnet drawing in people who through their influence and belief in his music have gone out of their way to be helpful to him. People like Frank Zappa, Mark Mothersbaugh, Barnes & Barnes & Rosemary Clooney to name just a few. That's really what this story is about.<br /><br />And as it turns out, Larry doesn't make it very easy to be helpful to him.<br /><br />Time after time his paranoia causes those close to him to have to distance themselves - sometimes for their own safety - because Larry really is a wild man who is subject to paranoid delusions as well as auditory hallucinations. This even happens to the filmmakers during the course of filming this documentary.<br /><br />The filmmakers do an exceptional job not only of following Wild Man Fischer around and documenting his various moods and behaviors, but they manage to get access to many people who have known or worked with Larry in the past and get their takes on different events (I do wish though that Dr. Demento had been encouraged to sit up for his interview - he reclines on his side with his head propped up for the duration of his interview while duded out in his Dr. D outfit - complete with top hat - it's distracting and makes him look like a pretentious doofus). In addition there's a lot of rare archival footage in the movie which I found highly entertaining. There's an exceptional animated segment produced by Pat Moriarity that was also memorable.<br /><br />What I wasn't prepared for was the overall sadness of the movie, sad in that here is a man who genuinely has a vision and a desire and the determination to try to make something of himself but whose affliction is at the same time both the wellspring of his inspiration and the source of his inability to achieve his goals. When he has his paranoid schizophrenia in check he loses his 'pep' as he calls it, his ability to create and perform, so the irony is that when he loses his mental disorder, he loses his art. Put another way, if Larry wasn't crazy, he'd be a nobody.<br /><br />Sad also because here is a man who obviously craves attention and love and yet his paranoia constantly rears its ugly head and destroys important relationships needlessly. Bill Mumy, probably the longest running relationship in his life, finally had to distance himself from Larry. When asked what was the best thing about working with Barnes & Barnes Fischer answers without hesitation that the best thing about it was having Bill Mumy to talk to - having him to talk to all the time. When asked how he feels about the fact that he no longer has a relationship with Bill Mumy, he tears up some papers the filmmakers are working from then walks off.<br /><br />The final scenes in the film at the side of his bed-ridden aunt, probably the only family member who really believed in him and gave him unconditional love, are genuinely heart rending.<br /><br />"Derailroaded", like all good documentaries, encompasses the totality of its subject and brings it home in all its ugly-beautiful reality. In many ways, this documentary reminded me of "Crumb" in its mixture of oddball outsider pathos. Deserves to be seen.