Runtime:
I saw the Director's Cut that is 224 minutes long
Directed
by: Michael Wadleigh
Starring:
Many incredible musicians and a few hundred thousand hippies
From:
Wadleigh-Maurice
I both plug a movie and a particular Blu-ray release of said movie:
While
it ended up being a big money loser (much more people than expected
showed up, so the festival organizers made the snap decision to make
the event a free one; the debts weren't paid off until this movie and
its soundtrack were released), the event that took place from August
15 through the morning of August 18 officially known as the Woodstock
Music & Art Fair became iconic in popular music history as an
estimated 400,000 plus people showed up to a dairy farm in Bethel,
New York to see an incredible lineup of popular musicians at the time
and for such a large gathering everyone got along and the problems
there were... they were due to the larger than expected crowds...
food, water, sanitation, etc.
I
saw the 224 minute Director's Cut of this film and it is not just
musical performances that are shown; the movie starts with the
festival preparations and throughout you get to hear from some of the
organizers along with some of the attendees (they were mainly
hippies) and people living in the area, some for and some against the
event. It was a fair look at Woodstock and various negatives were
brought up, including how rain delayed things on Sunday and that's
why it ended the next morning. This documentary is definitely a
snapshot of the late 1960's and its attitudes; there was “free
love”, a peace movement and anti-Vietnam War sentiments. Yep,
there's also discussion of drugs and you even hear one young lady
discuss an acid trip.
I
am a nerd & I enjoy older music so naturally I've heard of most
of the acts that performed at Woodstock (including those that did not
make the movie) and there's plenty of great tunes & performances
you get to see throughout. What a lineup you see here... Richie
Havens, Joan Baez, Santana, Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, The Who, Sly &
The Family Stone, Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills,
Nash, & Young, Jimi Hendrix, etc. While the picture and audio was
not perfect due to the cameramen using cameras more designed for
portability than anything else, it does not diminish what was
captured here... an incredible few days where people chilled and got
to see an incredible bevy of musicians delivering unforgettable
performances. To think that things started and ended oddly... Havens
had to play for almost 2 hours in order to kill time because the
roads were crowded and none of the other acts for the day were
there... and the Hendrix performances that arguably became the most
famous one from Woodstock, hardly anyone was there as he played
Monday morning and many people left as soon as they got their first
glimpse of him.
And
of course I'd be remiss if I did not talk about how the movie was put
together despite the limitations with the equipment. Seven editors
were responsible, including two legendary names in Thelma Schoonmaker
and Martin Scorsese; the picture size not only changed all the time
but often you saw split screens and other visual treats that were not
only fun to watch but were not so distracting they detracted from the
experience. Furthermore, I recommend getting this on Blu-ray and
preferably one of its 2014 releases. It's only the movie on the first
disc and there are two other discs which not only talk about the
creation of the film and restoring it, but there are also 34
additional songs to listen to, both from bands in the film and those
that are absent. The reason why high-profile acts like the Grateful
Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival were not in the movie was that
Jerry Garcia and John Fogerty respectively were not happy with their
bands' performances. You do get to see them perform in those extras.
This
is a great release for a great picture, in other words.
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