The Last Waltz (U.)
Directed by Martin Scorsese. 1978
Starring Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson. Released on Blu-ray and DVD as part of the Eureka! Masters of Cinema series. 117 mins.
The compendium of great concert movies begins with The Last Waltz and ends with Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense with nothing before, in between or since coming close. This record of The Band's farewell concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976 at San Francisco's Winterland (the place where the Sex Pistols would bow out a year later) succeeds because Scorsese and band songwriter Robertson work methodically to ascribe it a mythic context and because the performances are equal to the context they give it.
It is helped by the unique makeup of The Band, a support band whose output eventually surpassed all the supposed stars. The film presents them less as rock stars and more like more touring archivists, their career an epic attempt to master all the various forms of American folk music. Despite the film's focus on songwriter Robertson, they are a band without a frontman, so it's a film where there is no big star just any number of top quality character actors. (That said, Danko is the spit of De Niro in Mean Streets.)
Scorsese keeps the film locked firmly on the stage, with plenty of close-ups. The audience is barely acknowledged. But then there are often so many people on that stage, performing or standing in the wings, he doesn't need to; at times the stage resembles mission control on a Nasa Moon mission with rows of people hunched earnestly over banks of equipment.
At various points, The Band are joined on stage by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Crystal Gayle, Dr John and Neil Diamond. The performances are intercut with Scorsese's interviews with Band members about their 16 years on The Road, a thoroughfare which is always spoken of in hushed reverent tones and is presented as barely less gruelling as the one envisaged by Cormac McCarthy.
Scorsese here is the inspiration for the figure of Marti DiBerg in This is Spinal Tap, but the interviews are as integral to the film as the music. They help shape the concert into a narrative and do it remarkably effectively. I found myself gripped and moved by this movie, and it’s not as if I’m a die hard fan of the performers; there are a number of acts in it I wouldn’t cross the road to see.
It's pretty arrogant to present your farewell concert as the grand culmination of a period of history, but they are equal to it and the film covers a diverse array of musical styles: rock, blues, country, gospel. The film leaves you with a sense of loss, even though you maybe can't quite put your finger on what is passing. Something has most definitely been lost though: if you doubt that try watching the grim spectacle of Scorsese's Rolling Stone's concert film Shine a Light.
Extras.
Considering the actual event lasted well over 7 hours, including a turkey dinner and dancing to start off the evening, you might expect a bit more in the way of deleted numbers but all you get is a 12 minutes jam session done after the concert had ended but before The Band came back to a one song encore, which Scorsese has open the movie.
Watching a concert movie with a commentary seems quite a perverse option but the second one made up of various on stage and off stage performers is worth dipping into if somebody comes on you don't fancy.
If nothing else the extras show that the film is a great tribute to the productive effects of cocaine. The whole thing was conceived and set up in six weeks.
Limited Edition Hardbound Case
· 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray
· PCM 5.1 Audio
· Optional English SDH subtitles
· Audio Commentary by director Martin Scorsese and Musician Robbie Robertson
· Audio Commentary by “The Band” members Levon Helm and Garth Hudson, journalists Jay Cocks and Greil Marcus, creative consultant Mardik Martin, producers Jonathan Taplin and Steven Prince, Cameraman Michael Chapman, Music Producer John Simon, Irwin Winkler and performers Mavis Staples, Dr. John and Ronnie Hawkins (includes optional subtitles identifying who is talking)
· Revisiting The Last Waltz [22 mins]
· Archival Outtakes
· Stills gallery
· PLUS: A 100-PAGE perfect bound collector’s book including writing on the film by Adam Batty, Greil Marcus and Robbie Robertson; an abundance of extremely rare archival imagery; extensive notes, storyboards and sketches from the film’s production [Limited Edition Exclusive]
Directed by Martin Scorsese. 1978
Starring Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson. Released on Blu-ray and DVD as part of the Eureka! Masters of Cinema series. 117 mins.
The compendium of great concert movies begins with The Last Waltz and ends with Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense with nothing before, in between or since coming close. This record of The Band's farewell concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976 at San Francisco's Winterland (the place where the Sex Pistols would bow out a year later) succeeds because Scorsese and band songwriter Robertson work methodically to ascribe it a mythic context and because the performances are equal to the context they give it.
It is helped by the unique makeup of The Band, a support band whose output eventually surpassed all the supposed stars. The film presents them less as rock stars and more like more touring archivists, their career an epic attempt to master all the various forms of American folk music. Despite the film's focus on songwriter Robertson, they are a band without a frontman, so it's a film where there is no big star just any number of top quality character actors. (That said, Danko is the spit of De Niro in Mean Streets.)
Scorsese keeps the film locked firmly on the stage, with plenty of close-ups. The audience is barely acknowledged. But then there are often so many people on that stage, performing or standing in the wings, he doesn't need to; at times the stage resembles mission control on a Nasa Moon mission with rows of people hunched earnestly over banks of equipment.
At various points, The Band are joined on stage by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Crystal Gayle, Dr John and Neil Diamond. The performances are intercut with Scorsese's interviews with Band members about their 16 years on The Road, a thoroughfare which is always spoken of in hushed reverent tones and is presented as barely less gruelling as the one envisaged by Cormac McCarthy.
Scorsese here is the inspiration for the figure of Marti DiBerg in This is Spinal Tap, but the interviews are as integral to the film as the music. They help shape the concert into a narrative and do it remarkably effectively. I found myself gripped and moved by this movie, and it’s not as if I’m a die hard fan of the performers; there are a number of acts in it I wouldn’t cross the road to see.
It's pretty arrogant to present your farewell concert as the grand culmination of a period of history, but they are equal to it and the film covers a diverse array of musical styles: rock, blues, country, gospel. The film leaves you with a sense of loss, even though you maybe can't quite put your finger on what is passing. Something has most definitely been lost though: if you doubt that try watching the grim spectacle of Scorsese's Rolling Stone's concert film Shine a Light.
Extras.
Considering the actual event lasted well over 7 hours, including a turkey dinner and dancing to start off the evening, you might expect a bit more in the way of deleted numbers but all you get is a 12 minutes jam session done after the concert had ended but before The Band came back to a one song encore, which Scorsese has open the movie.
Watching a concert movie with a commentary seems quite a perverse option but the second one made up of various on stage and off stage performers is worth dipping into if somebody comes on you don't fancy.
If nothing else the extras show that the film is a great tribute to the productive effects of cocaine. The whole thing was conceived and set up in six weeks.
Limited Edition Hardbound Case
· 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray
· PCM 5.1 Audio
· Optional English SDH subtitles
· Audio Commentary by director Martin Scorsese and Musician Robbie Robertson
· Audio Commentary by “The Band” members Levon Helm and Garth Hudson, journalists Jay Cocks and Greil Marcus, creative consultant Mardik Martin, producers Jonathan Taplin and Steven Prince, Cameraman Michael Chapman, Music Producer John Simon, Irwin Winkler and performers Mavis Staples, Dr. John and Ronnie Hawkins (includes optional subtitles identifying who is talking)
· Revisiting The Last Waltz [22 mins]
· Archival Outtakes
· Stills gallery
· PLUS: A 100-PAGE perfect bound collector’s book including writing on the film by Adam Batty, Greil Marcus and Robbie Robertson; an abundance of extremely rare archival imagery; extensive notes, storyboards and sketches from the film’s production [Limited Edition Exclusive]
