Rolling Thunder Revue (Netflix)

The movie is great and really Dylan was absolutely fantastic in performance. Sound was really poor at Castro in SF unfortunately. Really unnatural and goosed highs. Had to wear my plugs which was a drag cause I missed lots of dialogue but at least the music sounded like music. Theater was packed and really into it.

 

Showing in Nashville at Belcourt was great and packed to the gills. A bit of spoken dialog I couldn't quite make out (especially on the phone interview clips), but I'll be rewatching with closed captioning on in my Netflix browser. I'm intrigued that a few of the bits presented as "fact" aren't accurate -- apparently the filmmaker character is fictional, according to some of the things I read earlier today. It's a very Dylanesque bit of prankery, but it's also a distraction from an otherwise A-plus documentary.

The performances as presented were basically all stellar. I could feel the crowd losing interest during Oh Sister, but other than that everyone was on the edge of their seats. It was also interesting to recognize some performances as obviously NOT the ones picked for BS5 all those years ago (I'll have to compare the dates and stuff in the box set liner notes).

 

Okay, now, after reading a bit more about the film here (How True Is Netflix’s ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’? ), I see that much of it was pretty fictional. The Congressman Tanner/Altman stuff was over my head entirely. Doesn't take away from the music though, but it does make it a VERY different film than NDH was.

 

Saw it at the Castro Theatre in SF. Couldn't keep my eyes off the live footage--phenomenally captured--and could re-watch these parts again and again. The performances are completely transfixing. I welled up on more than one occasion.
Let's hope those songs that were cut away from or weren't included are given the light of day. Would have loved to have seen more of them on the big screen, though. All of 'em.

The sound mix was superb to my ears.

 

Saw it at the Texas Theatre last night and it far exceeded my expectations. Just awesome. The closeups of Dylan on stage were very intense. I don't really mind the artistic license taken with some of the story line, but I would rather have seen an interview with Bob Neuwirth over a certain blonde actress. But ohhh...Joni.

 

Saw it on the big screen last night. Best theater experience I’ve had in years. Too many highlights to mention, though many have already nailed a lot of them. Joni is a mesmerizing force on the big screen. And oh, that Isis performance. As a huge R&C fan I was so happy to see the scene of Bob and Joan talking about marriage. Talk about art imitating life. This scene is referred to in Ratso’s book, but I never thought we’d ever see it. A truly unique moment where we actually see Dylan bearing his soul. “I married the woman I love”. Sara may be absent in person and in song in thefilm, but her ghost is ever present. I also love theway Ginsberg ties the whole thing up at the end of the movie. Brilliant! Oh, and I love Stefan Van Dorp! A true artiste.

 

So since there is no Stefan who actually shot the footage?

 

Howard Alk and his camera crew.

 

As long as there's plenty of Mick Ronson in it....

 

Very good footage of Mick.

 

Anyone have any idea when this will actually appear on Netflix? There was sadly no Kansas City showing for my brother the huge Dylan fanatic.

 

I think it's available as of today, no?

 

I'd like to see the whole, unedited Folk City and SIR rehearsals.

 

I just checked, and you're right it is.

 

I’m pretty sure Bob said “I married the woman I loved “. Past tense. Could be significant because he and Sara were on rocky ground at this point.

Ronson is fantastic but doesn’t really fit in with the minstrel review vibe. Scarlett has the gypsy feel for sure!

 

Ronson looks great and plays well but a lot of his solos don’t fit with the style of the music played.

 

I love Ronson but it does seem odd that he was part of this.

 

See, now, I think he LOOKS out of place but sounds perfect. To me, the sound of this era is defined by Ronson, Scarlet, the drums & congas/percussion, and the steel guitar. All those elements together give this such a signature sound that I wouldn't want any of those elements to go missing.

 

Re "I married the woman I loved" I think you're seeing things which aren't there.

How else could he say it?

 

He could have said “the woman I LOVE.” Present tense. But, it would have been grammatically incorrect.

 

I agree. I meant he looks out of place. Must have been interesting going from Ziggy Stardust to Rolling Thunder.

 

Saw it at the Castro last night - was overwhelmed by the performances and concert footage.

Was a little suspicious of the "film-maker" stuff, but thought I'd just never heard about the guy. Once I saw Tanner appear, I knew there were shenanigans going on (I watched all the Altman Tanner stuff years ago). The Sharon Stone bit was odd, intriguing and possibly all fake. Was the interviewee in the hat the real Hurricane?

It's an interesting take on documenting a myth-maker and ties in well with the "don't find yourself, create yourself" theme - would love to get the quote from Ginsberg at the end

 

That certainly seemed to be Rubin Carter. He looked exactly like him.
The Sharon Stone stuff seemed genuine to me.

 

She's a good actress.

 

Is there a planned soundtrack release or is there a guide as to which performances in the box are seen on the film?