********er Blues- has anyone seen it?

Hi. I've only read about this infamous Rolling Stones film. Has anyone seen it? What are some of the lowlights?

 

Seen some clips on YouTube. The infamous Mick and Keith Scene, where they're rolling up some american currency for the dirty deed of drug use

 

Thanks, I'll do a search on youtube.

 

It has not been released officially on DVD, however when it is shown publicly, Robert Frank is usually there to talk about it before and after. That would be the only legal way you could see it, and as far as I know, there are no plans to release it. Imagine the Best Buy ad for that.

It's good for what it is, and it is everything you think it is, with the sex, the drugs, and the good ol' music. You may emphasize on one or the other, but it fits the time. It's a high profile home movie, more or less, and it's a film where you go into it thinking "is this going to be sleazy?" Nah, it's The Rolling Stones.

 

Some guy was handing out free DVDs of CS Blues at a club we were at. It was his birthday and he just decided to pass out these DVDs to people who were there. I don't know why, but I got one.

 

It's actually pretty boring. There's a scene of some slimy looking roadie and his sleazy girlfriend shooting heroin, there's the infamous naked groupie on the plane scene (which was staged)....it sounds more interesting than it really is.

 

I still have a really cruddy looking 20 year old VHS boot of this somewhere. I agree with signothetimes53, it's actually a fairly dull flick. I haven't watched it in many years but outside of the odd scene of Keith throwing a TV out of the window, some groupie drug/nudity, it's about as exciting as watching somebody else's home movies.

 

It really is going to appeal more to a fan of Robert Frank's films then a Stones fan, but his framing of the concert footage is amazing - focusing on scenes the way your eye would focus during a show; works really well to give a feeling of 'being there'

 

This sums it up perfectly. It'd be much better if we got a DVD release of "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones."

 

We might see an official DVD release soon, the first two volumes of "The Complete Film Works of Robert Frank" have been announced:

http://www.steidlville.com/books/54...Daisy-The-Sin-of-Jesus-Me-and-My-Brother.html

http://www.steidlville.com/books/54...-Conversations-in-Vermont-Liferaft-Earth.html

 

It's nothing special. A lot of the supposedly outrageous behavior seems tame now, and some of it was staged by Frank, besides. If you're going to hunt down Stones video from this period, find a copy of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones.

 

If your into photography, Robert Frank is one of the best documentary photographers ever. So him working with the Stones is pretty cool, there is no BS in that movie whatsoever. Its is really what makes it so great, along with interesting camera work. I've got the version that has color footage of the Stones jamming with Stevie Wonder on stage, really good stuff.

 

I have CS Blues on DVD. It is pretty boring and arty. The concert parts are pretty good. I think some of them are the same performances as Ladies and Gentlemen...

 

It's available for rental, on both DVD-R and VHS, at a certain Portland video outlet whose name I probably shouldn't mention, but if you're a Portland videophile you surely know what I'm talking about.

I lasted about an hour before switching it off. Pretty boring, really.

--Paul Curtis

 

certainly aimed to be more sensational than factual, its mildly interesting as a stones fan for the band footage

 

both these descriptions sum it all up pretty well in my opinion

 

I was disappointed, but I was expecting sheer mayhem, and it still is much more of a circus than the "Rock & Roll Circus" from '68 ever was...

I believe you get to see Bill Wyman snort coke from a knife, but apart from that it's the roadies and hangers-on that take care of the action. After you've seen it, the least thing you want to be in this world is a rock star from 1972.

 

good line.

 

Robert Frank brought the film to Boston in 1987 and had an exhibition. I was fortunate enough to be working in a cinema at the time, so I scored a ticket and went with a good friend who is a huge Stones fan. While what was happening on screen wasn't terribly interesting, it's not a bad film at all.

 

I saw it at a music in films fest... probably 1978, in SF. Robert Frank introduced it. The agreement he made with the Stones says he can show it once a year, only. Yeah, it's not really much to get worked up about. Just seems sort of silly now. Performancem, on the otherhand is much better fiction.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why this film has remained in limbo for so long? Is it solely because it shows the Stones in a less than flattering light?

 

Is the sound quality atrocious on most copies of CS Blues?

I have no idea why Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones has not been officially released. It's one of the greatest concert films of all time.

 

Is it? I saw it when it was first released - at a "legit" theater in Century City, Lost Angeles, as I recall - and I fell asleep! I would like to see it again, though.

 

I can imagine falling asleep during CS Blues, but not Ladies & Gentlemen! I think it's an exciting concert doc.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one here who feels that the film's storied reputation (and even its infamous title) are ultimately more fascinating than the actual film itself. I was able to procure (for free, no less) a rather high-quality DVD version of the film; maybe because of the "free" part, I haven't been able to sit through the entire movie in one sitting. As weird as it sounds, I was honestly bored by the thing. The backstage parts seem more like most of the name-brand participants are flat out just as bored as we are, like you're looking at animals in a zoo. The supposedly sensationalistic scenes, staged or not, just don't shock. What I've seen seems half-a**ed and sleazy (but not in a flattering way). The concert scenes, too, fall flat merely because the Stones seem so out of it; I can only hope that the rest of the tour had stronger performances than the "Brown Sugar" that Mick delivers. On almost every level, Gimme Shelter (unfortunately, my only other point of comparison regarding cinematic Stones) is a far superior movie. The Stones in Gimme Shelter are tight, on fire, and the film really captures the menacing vibe of the day. For as awesome of an album as Exile On Main St. is, this document of them during that period really does no one any favors, whether it be the filmmakers or the Stones themselves.