|
Directed by: Michael Wadleigh, Martin Scorsese Starring: 500,000 stinking hippies (this is a review of the directors cut, which as far as I know is the only version on DVD) This film is tremendous. Far more than just a compilation of performances, I don't think a better document of the 60s youth movement has ever been released. The film is about 60% music, 40% crowd and by film's end you've gotten a taste for the entire generation's hopes, dreams, follies, and paranoia (watch for the guys freaking out over a crop duster flying overhead). And miraculously, for three days that idealism WORKED. 500,000 people spent three days listening to music, skinny-dipping, playing in the mud, learning yoga, playing conga drums, and just generally loving around and nobody got hurt. When the kids at Woodstock 99 couldn't get cheap water, they burned the place down...the 69 audience had little to no food, water, clean clothing, or medical facilities over the course of the whole concert and never so much as complained. That shows you something right there. But there's more than just good feelings and idealistic kids in this movie. There is, of course, the music. I'd be willing to say there isn't a lackluster performance in the lot. Janis Joplin's is a little long, as is Crosby Stills and Nash's, and the Jefferson Airplane songs they chose could have been better, but these are small complaints compared to Jimi Hendrix, Sly & the Family Stone, and The Who. Several of the musical highlights come from unlikely sources: Ten Years After give their guitars a blazing workout for 11 minutes, Santana showcases their instrumentalists' virtuosity to a collage of festival images, and Country Joe and the Fish sing a rollicking rendition of the great yet forgotten "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag". It's also a brilliant piece of filmmaking. Split-screen always runs the risk of being too busy and distracting, but here is a film that uses the technique almost the entire time and it works perfectly. In fact I can't imagine the film working as well without it: its use ensures that there is ALWAYS something interesting to look at and makes the 225-minute running time feel shorter than it should. The only fault I can find with the filmmaking is that the camera spends far too much time concentrated on Jimi Hendrix's face while he's abusing his guitar. See this movie. Don't worry about the running time - split it up into two viewings if you have to. Just see it. RATING: 5.5 PROS: The ultimate document of the late 60s CONS: Drags at some points ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066580
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2004 08:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:38 |
|
|
Agreed, great documentary. Especially good work from the young editor Martin Scorcese. Favorite part: Drum solo during the middle of Santana's "Soul Sacrifice". Forget the drummer's name, think it was Michael Shrieve, can't be sure, but he wasn't more than 18 or 19 at the time.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2004 08:18
|
|
|
Yeah, best drum solo ever, ten times better then Bonham's Dick. Though it doesn't compare to Joe Cocker's Beatles cover, probably the best performance ever committed to tape. I want his shirt. Fez 5.5
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2004 07:37
|
|
|
This was a great documentary and I definately need to see it again. If you like music from the sixties, then you must see this movie.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2004 08:28
|
|
|
This is a great documentary and you can not only learn much about the music of the time, but it also shows clothing and cars, as well as some 1960s phrases ('i was rappin' to the fuzz, man' -arlo guthrie). It is also great because it preserves a time when people banded together for the good of the cause (i.e. helicopters dropping care packages, the hogfarm, the fact that it was, (although not originally intended to be) free, which doesn't happen at concerts anymore. Woodstock became a city of its own that weekend in mid-August. Also, the outro of the film, which is new to the directors cut, is a nice way to pay tribute to some of the fallen legends of rock music. Favorite parts: Joe Cocker's performance, CSNY's performance, and Arlo Guthrie and Wavey Gravey talking to the crowd on stage. Least favorite part: the rain scenes with the tribal mud playing 4.5
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2004 01:28
|
|
