The Grateful Dead Movie

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best movie about the Dead!
Review: This great movie has done something no other Grateful Dead production has succeeded in doing: blending the music of the Dead with the feeling of what it was like to attend a '70s Dead show. The Views from the Vault, Downhill from Here, etc., are nice videos, but they capture the Dead in outside venues. Yes, the sound quality on those is great. But "The Grateful Dead Movie," culled from a San Francisco run just before the boys took a year or so off, goes beyond mere music. It focuses on the fans, too. My favorite scene is the obviously blissed out fan whose standing in front of the stage the whole time; close behind is the equally "dosed" amigo in the white slacks and sport coat that have been tie-dyed. The camera captures the cops being cool with the heads sitting outside waiting for the show and passing doobs -- something that wouldn't happen in this day and age. The opening animation is awesome and dissolves into a nice U.S. Blues as the film replaces the animation. From the moment this VHS begins until the final credits, it's great, great stuff. Yes, Jerry was very involved in its editing, so I'm sure his artistic talents had a great impact on the end results. The ONLY down side to things is that this isn't available on DVD format yet. The day it is (and that day surely will come), I'll order it the day it's released and revel in a film classic for about the 200th time. Great stuff. If you want video of the Dead, start HERE!

Rating:
Summary: I see Dead people...
Review: This is a totally great movie about The Grateful Dead. It really captures what it was like to see the Dead live in concert.

Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I used to be a total Deadhead. I saw them 587 times in concert.

The only thing missing for me in this movie that I used to see during the actual concerts is the 30 foot tall talking turtle that used to sit next to me at most of the shows. That dude was awesome! He'd sit there and tell me stories about life in Giant Turtle Land and then he'd play air guitar along with Jerry's real guitar playing. Giant Turtle Guy was the best!

Anyway, if you love the Dead, you'll totally love this movie. Get it and get a Grateful groove on...

Rating:
Summary: Film vs. Video
Review: This is one of the best Concert Film's ever made. The shows were actually filmed October 16-20, 1974, right before they took a year off to make Blues For Allah & work on solo projects. Compared to the more recent "Videos" that have that video high tech look & seem almost too perfect, this Film has a much warmer intimate feel to it. The fan interviews are a trip & the Dead security dude that was at all their shows bring back lots of grateful memories.

Rating:
Summary: GD Movie DVD
Review: While most reviews here deal with the original movie only, a few things to note about the release as a whole - the sound of the original movie is, for whatever reason, not stellar and they do not alter Jerry's original mix for the DVD release. I have always been puzzled over this. I had a VHS copy and had always thought that the sound quality was a little poor, and the sound of the audio tapes and "Steal Your Face" are about the same. The vocals are kind of crappy, as is the drum sound. There is the option of choosing an updated 5.1 mix, which is much better than the original.

The bonus material has also been updated and remixed and the results are quite stellar. The only complaint about the bonus footage is that there is not enough of it! As someone less interested in all of the fan footage from the movie, the second DVD is a gem. The version of Scarlet Begonias is incredible, as is the China Cat>Rider. The more "out" material is predictably fantastic, but the cuts in and out of the Dark Star and Other One are kind of harsh. Nevertheless, it's truly worth it, and the extra interview footage and documentaries are nice too. Nice to hear what Donna Jean has to say after all these years. The Other One is really interesting as they flow through the jams, particularly what came to be known as the Mind Left Body jam - the onstage communication is fascinating.