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Summary: Dylan, From 16mm to DVD!
Review: 1965, the British Tour is on and pirated Radio Caroline is pumpin' out one salty Bob Dylan song after another to the delight of their thirsty listeners. "Don't Look Back" gives you a raw look into inquisitive English journalism and zealous teenagers who are still flyin' high on dizzy Beatles fumes. Tracks of the DVD include rare versions of Dylan classics, a discography and an early music video that "MTV of the 60's" surely would have had in hot rotation. The director's cut is your audio tour guide to the people, places and faces of Albert Grossman, Alan Price, Donovan, and Joan Baez. Compared to D.A. Pennebaker's later project "Sweet Toronto", D.L.B. is a remarkable piece of work that's been documented as one of rock's finest movies. Once viewed, you'll have a clear understanding as to what makes Bob Dylan a really cool cat and how he's impressed millions with his honest approach to song writing.
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Summary: Wonderful Film Documentary
Review: I have watched this documentary at least three times and never get tired of seeing it. This documentary follows Dylan on a tour through England and the viewer gets to play a fly on the wall as you watch this genius interact with the likes of Alan Price (The Animals), Joan Baez, and Donovan. For me, Dylan's music is not the highlight of this film---it was watching a young musician who had just reached new heights of fame deal with the media, the public, the promoters, and the groupies. My favorite part of the film is the scene inside Dylan's hotel where Joan Baez is singing a gorgeous song with her guitar and Dylan is pounding on a typewriter, seemingly oblivious to Baez's singing. He comes across as somewhat arrogant, but who can blame him? This shows the human side of Dylan, and shouldn't be missed by any fan.
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Summary: Bob's an ass, but that's ok.
Review: If that's who wrote the songs, then that's who's supposed to 'star' in the movie. {Roger Ebert had to check his archives to see if he orginally noticed what a jerk Dylan was,(he was happy to find that his current opinion hadn't been contridicted in his 60's review).} The funny thing is, the journalists who
Bob is so rude to were giving him good writeups.
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Summary: Trying to be hip, and actually being hip in spite of it
Review: There's no doubt this film was an influential piece of cinema verite for subsequent rockumentaries. With little ado, it follows Bob Dylan and his small entourage (including Joan Baez) around England on an acoustic concert tour in the spring of 1965, in delicious black-and-white (mostly with hand-held cameras.) Much of the time we are in cars and hotel rooms, with occasional footage of Bob onstage performing alone with his guitar and harmonica. On a certain level we get a gritty version of the carefree fun of the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" - Bob and friends mostly hang around, seemingly without a care in the world, not appreciating how fleeting is this era of anyone's youth. At the same time, Dylan spends much of his time in pointless debates with journalists and others who are hanging around, keeping up a self-centered patter that I trust would embarrass an older man looking back on his cocky youth. It's argument for the sake of argument. His insouciant bravado has always been maddening; Bob shows little of his true self to the public in interviews and encounters, but then...he goes onstage, and those songs speak directly to our hearts, now as then. It's a weird contrast between the backstage kiss-off artist and the onstage genius. However, snatches of the real Dylan do slip through in this footage too. He seems wary and insecure around peers such as Donovan. Before going onstage at the Royal Albert Hall, the man who has just spent a long time telling a reporter that Time magazine is meaningless stops to carefully check himself in the mirror before going on. After the same concert, he seems genuinely upbeat and glad about the performance. In these and a few other glimpses, we see chinks in the armor of the self-conscious rebel, and behold, there is a human being beneath. No wonder the songs are so good. (The sound quality of the live performances isn't great in this film, but then it probably wasn't in real life in those days either.)
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Summary: The Calm Before The Storm: UK Tour 1965
Review: This black and white film portrays Dylan's last acoustic tour in such an intimate and natural way that the viewer gets the impression of participating in its gradual unfolding. Shot by DA Pennebaker as cinema verite', the innovative techniques used in the film appropriately mirror the innovation that was taking place in popular music at the time, spearheaded primarily by Bob Dylan. The viewer, like a fly on the wall, gets to see Dylan in different settings and situations: moments of tension backstage, hanging out with the likes of Alan Price, Donovan, John Mayall and Marianne Faithful, giving interviews, singing old Hank Williams songs in hotel rooms with Joan Baez, on stage in theatres across England, fooling about with Bob Neuwirth. It's all there.....and more!
Apart from the original film, the DVD offers the viewer the unique opportunity of seeing the film (again!) with an ongoing commentary by Pennebaker and Neuwirth themselves, who shed light into what went into nearly every scene.
Besides, the DVD also includes 5 previously unreleased audio tracks (crystal clear quality) recorded in various locations in England during that same tour.
A fascinating and revealing experience not only for the diehard Dylan fan.
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Summary: A n essential DVD for any Dylan fan
Review: I absolutely loved this DVD, especially since I had read about it a Dylan biography. Joan Baez, Albert Grossman, and Donovan make appearences. And '60's London looks great in glorious black and white.
An another note, Bob sure smokes a lot in the movie. Gee whiz.
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Summary: Happy About a Green Door.
Review: A previous reviewer wrote, "Often it's best for our heroes to stay away from the camera...[than] our illusions wouldn't be so vulnerable." This statement is one of the sorriest statements I've heard in regards to Bob Dylan in a long time. I shake my head in shame when I read the reviews of Dylan's films ["Masked and Anonymous," particularly], mainly because the reviewers seem to spend most of their time critiquing Dylan as a person--or even the bulk of his career--instead of devoting their attention to the critique of the film. For some reason, people are obsessed with saying bad things about Dylan, even though he never did anything bad at all. When they aren't trashing his life and career, it seems, the rest of them are treating him like he isn't even human, but only a commodity god to be consumed and lauded, but never understood. They don't want him to be real, they only want him to be a remote and intangible entity--a voice in their head, a friend for them from their past. How could you be a fan of Dylan but not want to comprehend him as a person or consider his words? Anyhow, the great thing about Don't Look Back, I think, is the fact that it presents to you all of the Bob Dylans you want--and you can choose for yourself which you take with you from the film. If you want to think of Dylan as an immature egotist who "uses people for furniture," you can. However, if you actually put some thought into the film, and apply Dylan's music to your analysis, as well, you can take from the film a far more positive, and far more accurate, representation of Bob Dylan--that is, looking at the film as a whole, recognizing and considering everything, and then incorporating all parts into an overall conception.Don't Look Back puts Dylan in a harsh and unrelenting light some of the time--revealing him as a human, and not a god. He acts stupid ["always carry a light bulb"], and he is also quite mean and merciless, at times. Dylan was the most intelligent person in his group of friends, and he was certainly aware of it. Dylan, as we can see, treated everyone around him as second-rate--he ignores Joan Baez, mocks his young fans, and demolishes the "science student" into a stuttering, fumbling mess. Of course, you say, you must make certain allowances. He was only twenty-five, he was being hailed as a genius, and he had throngs of women throwing themselves at his feet. Certainly anyone would become narcissistic and arrogant when treated in such a way. The mean, inconsiderate, and harsh Dylan, everyone seems to forget, is only one side of him. Surely you can take away from the film only this one facet of his character, but aren't there other instances to consider? Though there are negative characteristics portrayed in the film, there are nice ones, as well. When Dylan improvises on the piano, he has the most pleasant look on his face, as if he were in another place--haunted, or something. The man sitting next to him is dosing off and barely pays any attention, but it is such a strange moment. How lucky it is that it was caught on film. Just before that, even, Dylan stands outside a guitar shop and looks in awe at the array of guitars in the shop window. "Would you take a look at that guitar?" he says to a man, who still does not respond. He is like a little boy, looking at the instruments as if they were very special and important. The best and nicest moments in the film are the ones in which Dylan is alone or is, so to speak, interacting with himself--on the piano, the guitar, his voice, or the typewriter. He is innocent and youthful when caught on camera by himself, but when relating socially, he turns defensive and unsure. You can't even blame him, really, for the self-defensiveness--the people that surround him rarely respond to what he says; mostly because they can't relate to what he's saying and don't really know how to answer. Like in the end, just before the credits roll, Dylan says to himself, "I feel like I've gone through some kind of change or something." Nobody else in the car knows what he is talking about, and they still don't really bother to respond to him. Dylan doesn't seem to care, though, he just looks out the window quietly, and this hopeful, whimsical, expression comes to his face while the city lights go by.
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Summary: Don't Look Back
Review: This documentary was both enlightening and entertaining. This DVD is a must see for any Dylan fan. Never before had I truly seen Dylan's ferocity and playfulness. The live stuff is great as well. The guy who made this documentary (name is escaping me) also made a Jimi Hendrix one and a Monterey one I think...hope that they are as good as this one. This documentary is a little window into how Dylan was back in '67...around Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited and all...good stuff!
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Summary: It was such a long time ago
Review: Of course I love Bob Dylan and I have most of his albums and I've even met him. His talent is limitless and far beyond everyone else's. He is as dynamic today as he ever was and his every song stands on its own merit. But, this video was shot such a long time ago -the 60s. It's arty and well-done and it's certainly an important historical piece. If you're a big fan you'll enjoy it but it's not the type of movie most people wold watch again. It's slow moving and can't compare to the type of documentary we are used to nowadays. Worst part is that there are no complete songs. The interviews and songs are cut up and mixed. I feel that one can't have Dylan explained to you - you have to open yourself to Bob Dylan and just feel the song as best as you can. Everyone will feel it differently. That is the mastery of his gift.
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Summary: Wonderful film that will turn you into a Dylan fan
Review: I watched this film after just starting to get turned on to the music of Bob Dylan and was shocked at how good this was. Most of what you see behind the curtain's of concerts and of the daily lives of singers now are closely scripted. You will never see anything like this film on MTV, it is real unscripted ?fly-on-the-wall glimpse of one of music?s most influential figures,? says the box of this film. Britney Spears or any of the so-called artist MTV shoves down America's mouth will never be shown yelling and swearing over glass in the street. This film shows Bob's manager cursing and threatening a hotel worker, Bob Dylan yelling and going crazy over someone throwing glass(very funny), Great concert footage and footage of Bob singing in hotel rooms, Bob making the press look stupid, Bob's sly manager milking BBC people for every dollar in order to get Dylan to perform for them, Dylan completely ignoring Joan Baez as she sings, Dylan making jokes about Donovan, Dylan smoking every second, Dylan's card video for Subterranean Homesick Blues, Dylan being swarmed by fans and screaming for people to get a girl who jumped on his car off, Bob meeting a crazy old lady who acts like she is someone big in England and shows off her power by telling Bob and his friends to stay at her mansion (very strange), Bob obsessing over what number his songs are on the charts and what his picture looks like in the paper, so on and so on. Just buy this movie if you like Dylan, if your just starting to like him, if you never heard of him. It is a welcome relief from today's bad music with overly scripted artist who can't play instruments and who don't write the words to the songs they sing. After watching this you?ll want to download all of Dylan?s songs.
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