Rating: 
Summary: Forget Woodstock, this is the defining concert film
Review: One of the best documents of the sixties and the music that affected people and society. D.A. Pennebaker who also directed Dylan's Don't Look Back and later The Rolling Stones Altamount Concert Gimme Shelter has crafted another winner. Highlights include The Who smashing their guitars, Eric Burdon and his new version of the Animals, Janice Joplin, Otis Redding and of course Jimi Hendrix with covers of Wild Thing and Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone among his heart pounded numbers. But the scene where Jimi "sacrifices" his guitar is the most unforgettable image left on the viewers consciousness, simply mesmerizing.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Need I Say More?
Review: This documentary is a piece of history. Here, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Who play in the us for the first time. Respectively, some of Ottis Redding's music is filmed in this film, before his untimely demise. Anyhow, a lot of great acts were filmed, plus some footage of the beginning of the festival. Pete Townshend trashing the stage with his guitar after "My Generation" is just the tip of the iceburg. Some more inside features follow: A few minutes after J.Joplin and Big Brother played "Ball and Chain ( a timeless act)", a screatching violin plays and a projector projects a person "moving" with the noise.Here, pure disorientation. A moment later, you find out that this is the introduction to the song "Paint it Black" by Eric Burdon and the Animals." The Jefferson Airplane played "High Flying Bird" and the trippy piece "Today." Country Joe and the Fish, the definition of American psychadelia, played a long instrumental piece, "Section 43." Talk about Windowpane (LSD). Besides music, the crowd and the audience is intriguing. You see many of the performers walking in the crowd like regular people. The bonus footage, the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away" is a great encore. Where else would you find this act in movie stores? There is much more to this film, so I encourage you to check it out. Besides, if you do, you don't have to worry about finding it when it goes out of print again, which almost happened to me. A true piece of history.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful Documentary
Review: Beautiful film work. I would have loved to have seen more of the crowd and have a slightly longer film. But the festival seemed so controlled compared to Woodstock that there was probably not much to see of the festival spirit. I couldn't believe that the people actually sat in chairs. They seemed almost passive --I guess you had to have been there. The video is beautifully filmed, and the music great!
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Summary: This is what it is like when someone "steals" a show.
Review: Janis Joplin blew this crowd away. It is spectacular to watch the reaction from Mama Cass as her mouth literally drops open and to hear the screams from this audience when Janis sings Ball and Chain. By the way this performance is on the 3-CD boxed set released in 1993 called Janis. And to be sure Janis wasn't the only reason to watch Monterey, a haunting set from Otis (a god) and a little heard of guitarist named Jimi Hendrix (a god). This was not my generation having only recently graduated high school, but why oh why can't concerts be this beautiful with so little aggression any more?
Rating:
Summary: more mamas and papas
Review: why not release the full mamas and papas set terence@boultby.freeserve.co.uk would like to hear of other fans
Rating:
Summary: "this festival will spin your head"
Review: Like a bird in the sky you must feel when you see this document.You can feel the love spirit when you watch it.It's a pop festival who wrote history.Then the this box shows 'the outtakes performances' and this is really beautiful.Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds are remarkable.The disc with Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding is 68 minutes of culture from the summer of love.The music generation nowadays can learn something about this dvd box.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Rock-n-roll, pre Woodstock
Review: LA and San Francisco scenes come together in this amazing piece of filmmaking, Janis blows the entire audience away including Mama Cass, and there is a not to be missed live version of High Flyin' Bird by Jefferson Airplane, not to mention the momentus and legendary fiery feedback frenzied sacrificial guitar sequence. You'll love the crowd shots with some possible Merry Prankster footage. . .and of course the cornerstone Otis.
Rating:
Summary: "Monterey Pop": A REAL Hippie Music Experience
Review: "Monterey Pop" captures the real essense of a "Hippie" music festival preceding slick commercial "pseudo-Hippie" productions With often-jerky hand-held cameras, D. A. Pennepaker brings together color, clothing and culture of the Hippie period supported by its musical boundaries. Present are mainstream Simon & Garfunkel, R&B's Otis Redding, and exotic Hugh Masakela and Marion Makeba's African folk/jazz. Included are Rock's lesser knowns Scott McKenzie, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish and Eric Burdon and the Animals. Featured are "big names": The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Mommas and Poppas, Janis Joplin & Big Brother, Jefferson Airplane. An exciting 18-minute Ravi Shankar raga melds two worlds as a fitting finale. An undercurrent of the film is how Pennepaker catches a "hippie" vs "mainstream" motif. Capturing Hippie culture: sharing food, offering barely articulate enthusiasms, or presenting an off-the-wall dress code; he compares it with better-dressed, more upscale audience members. With the images, one recognizes music unifing these differences. It ain't MTV, or fancy camera lens stuff: just straight-ahead documentary; but it's a GREAT way to spend 98 delightful, laid-back minutes.
Rating:
Summary: "Monterey Pop": A REAL Hippie Music Experience
Review: "Monterey Pop" captures the real essense of a "Hippie" music festival preceding slick commercial "pseudo-Hippie" productions With often-jerky hand-held cameras, D. A. Pennepaker brings together color, clothing and culture of the Hippie period supported by its musical boundaries. Present are mainstream Simon & Garfunkel, R&B's Otis Redding, and exotic Hugh Masakela and Marion Makeba's African folk/jazz. Included are Rock's lesser knowns Scott McKenzie, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish and Eric Burdon and the Animals. Featured are "big names": The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Mommas and Poppas, Janis Joplin & Big Brother, Jefferson Airplane. An exciting 18-minute Ravi Shankar raga melds two worlds as a fitting finale. An undercurrent of the film is how Pennepaker catches a "hippie" vs "mainstream" motif. Capturing Hippie culture: sharing food, offering barely articulate enthusiasms, or presenting an off-the-wall dress code; he compares it with better-dressed, more upscale audience members. With the images, one recognizes music unifing these differences. It ain't MTV, or fancy camera lens stuff: just straight-ahead documentary; but it's a GREAT way to spend 98 delightful, laid-back minutes.
Rating:
Summary: good But Expensive
Review: The movie is really short. Its a sin that ravi shankar was put on at all, let alone wasting 20 min on him, what a joke! Pennebaker said the Grateful Dead's song was 10 min and was to long to put in. It obviously wasnt a problem for Ravi Shankars set (terribly repetative) I just feel kind of jipped with this set as a whole. I got Woodstock Directors cut for $15 and it feels twice as long. There is hardly any crowd shots in this $70 dollar dvd set. Some of the few gems are Buffalo Spingfield and Simon and Garfunkle. Hendrix aint bad either. If you are just curious about the movie buy a used vhs off ebay for a tenth of the price, the audio isnt anything to scream about and vhs would suffice.
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