Rating: 
Summary: Is rock n' roll such a dangerous thing???
Review: I feel quite out of place reviewing this movie as i was born 8 years after its release, however, that in itself should point out how powerful this movie really is. this movie should be presented in history classes as it captures a chunk of american history perfectly. the music is fantastic (its the stones for crying out loud!); the editing is amazing-it presents the event with no great conviction, allowing the viewer to develop their own opinions; and the violence is horrifying. I am a great lover of the stones and an avid festival goer, this movie stuck so many chords within me. i was lucky enough to see it at a cinema. overwhelming.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: Great stuff...By the way Blaine,PA stands for PUBLIC ADDRESS not POWER AMPS! I hate rock illiterates
Rating:
Summary: Who's Fighting and What For?
Review: "Gimme Shelter" is a lot of things. It's one of the greatest rock and roll films ever made. It's one of the greatest documentaries ever made. It's one of the best glimpses of a moment in time ever recorded, and it's a lasting crystallization of the point in time when the ideals and dreams of the 60's died and the hedonism and self-preservation of the 70's kicked in.The Maysles Brothers and Charlotte Zwerin are famous for making documentaries about bible salesmen, old women in decaying mansions, and artists creating art. "Gimme Shelter" is doubly a shock because these somber and almost grim documentarians have been able to put across a rock and roll film that gives you a feeling of the power of music and the freshness of the spirit that the Stones brought to the table. In these moments, captured in 1969, you can see the point where the Stones make the step from rock stars to phenomena, and you see where the wall between artist and audience spawns from. "Gimme Shelter" follows the Stones from touring and recording to their free concert at Altamont Speedway. The film breaks with documentary tradition and gives us a skewed timeline, interspersing concert footage and recording sessions with newscasts about the aftermath of Altamont, the Stones in the screening room watching footage of Altamont, and scenes of negotiating the final details before Altamont goes down. The Altamont concert itself is a marvel to behold, to witness what was captured by the gang of camera operators wandering through the crowd (including George Lucas). From drug dealers to painted hippies, Hells Angels to fathers and sons, from whimsy to terror. "Gimme Shelter" follows the show from it's chaotic first moments of parking wherever, ingesting whatever and acting however, to scenes of fast and random violence springing up around the stage as well as on stage. All of which culminates in the murder of a man right in front of the stage. All captured on beautiful, grainy 16mm with no tricks and no cheats. The DVD is packed with great supplementary materials. A commentary from David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, deleted scenes (including a great backstage scene of Ike, Tina and Mick hanging out), the full excerpts of the KSAN radio broadcast which is used occasionally in the film, trailers, photos and a small feature on the restoration of the print. If you've seen "Gimme Shelter" before, you've noticed that the sound and image lack a lot. Criterion has completely restored the visuals to crystal clarity and given the audio tracks a much-needed shot in the arm. This film has never looked so good and never sounded so good. The Stones have been the focus of several movies and a gang of media coverage, attempting to look beyond the gamefaces and see the real Stones. Very few have succeeded. "Gimme Shelter" is filled with moments where the Stones forget to pose, forget to put up a pretense and respond with real shock, real anger and real regret. This is the anti-"Woodstock." Besides all that, you'll rarely see the Stones in such top form and sounding and looking so good. If the shots of the band in action don't get you, then the shots of the crowd alone are worth the price of admission. Rock films are seemingly a dime a dozen, and no one tends to care enough to make them real FILMS. "Gimme Shelter" is the antidote to the callous rock film tossaway, a film with as much brains as attitude, a film with a message as well as a soundtrack, and most of all, a film so much greater and so much deeper than the surface could ever lead you to believe.
Rating:
Summary: Great restoration and nice extras only enhance must-see film
Review: As many others have noted, this documentary is an essential portrait of a rock and roll concert gone horribly wrong. But the extras added to this DVD only make it that much better. In fact, after watching the original film, you can then watch it all over again with commentary form the director, view outtake footage, view still photos from the concert, listen to extensive radio interview tapes, or watch how they restored the film with an impressive demostration. In one single disc and a nice booklet, you have enough to keep you busy for at least 6 hours. If only all DVDs were this way... (P.S. - A nice highlight of the film itself is hearing the Flying Burrito Brothers full performace of Six Days on the Road. Now if only they had trained a camera on Gram Parson's face, it would have been perfect.)
Rating: 
Summary: Bravo to a Documentary ¿ But they're out of tune!!
Review: As a documentary, one could not argue that this is fantastic. Unfortunately, the Stones live performances are hardly inspiring. Keith Richards said himself that it was like learning how to play all over again. This was the first time the Stones used PAs (Power Amps). That's why you hear all of that awful feedback. At this time, the Stones were reportedly into their heroin phase, and for some odd reason (yes, they tuned their instruments themselves) but not one damn song is in tune. Nonetheless, Satisfaction is the true highlight music-wise. Under My Thumb is the pitts, but under the circumstances, the whole Altamont show sucks. Keith at the time played a glass-body guitar known as a Dan Armstrong, notorious for not staying in tune. He later switched to Fender. If you want to see better performances of the Stones, you're better off w/ "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones (w/ Mick Taylor)" and "Let's Spend the Night Together (w/ Ron Wood - "technically" not as good as Taylor, but far more of a Stone, who fused with Richards' rhythm-lead style (both influenced by Chuck Berry) - and Ron convinced Keith to switch to Fender Telecasters (Thank God).
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Summary: One of the best documentaries of any kind ever made
Review: Part of what makes GIMME SHELTER so appealing is that it's not like other documentaries to which we've grown accustomed in the wake of Ken Burns' Civil War epic. In the Burnsian idea of documentary, the facts are arranged into a coherent story with conclusions already drawn by the filmmaker. They are non-fiction movies as much as they are a record of events. But GIMME SHELTER is a documentary in the more or less original sense of the term. It shows events as they happened, pointing its camera at history actually in the unfolding. The result is a film which captures a genuine sense of what both the era and the concerts felt like. There's also an incredible impression of the passage of linear time. From the beginning kernel of an idea for a free concert in San Fransisco, through the serpentine negotiations to make it happen, to the tragic end, you see what was originally a noble, generous idea go bad. More cleverly, the filmmakers have documented the reactions of latter-day Stones reviewing their film. You see the discomfort of the band members grow as they see key points in the history of the concert play out. This through-the-looking-glass technique is what takes GIMME SHELTER from mere concert video to film classic. [DVD NOTES: Like all titles in Sony's Criterion Collection, this DVD is packed with fascinating extra features. From an excellent 44-page booklet comprised of several essays and background pieces, to the fine audio commentary by the directors, and contemporary audio from the local press, you'll be watching this DVD for days.]
Rating:
Summary: Reintroduce Yourself to the Best Rock Movie Ever
Review: The unreleased clips of the band doing two Chuck Berry Covers as well as a few others lends credence to the fact that they were, in fact, still putting on an excellent live show--even at the very end of the 1969 tour (the Maysles started filming the concerts only 10 days before the tour proper ended, but you'd never know it by the band's energy and great performances). The unplugged version of "Prodigal Son" featuring only Jagger and Richards is wonderful (even though Richards ends the song early, just as Jagger begins a new verse). Another outtake, which shows the band mixing "Little Queenie," features Keith Richards chiding one of the camera people for getting in the way of the sound monitor. Ike and Tina also pop up backstage, jamming with Mick. According to the directors' comments, Jimi Hendrix was present backstage at the MSG show that was being filmed, but he is not shown. Don't tell me that no one bothered to film him! Where is this footage? Also, there are suggestions that the original cut of the film contained more offstage Stones raunchiness than is featured in the final cut, but that the Stones wouldn't permit it to be shown. Perhaps. But all I ask is, Why not include ALL the outtakes for the DVD? Do you think the Stones circa 2000 are so afraid that their image might be tarnished if some risque footage surfaces? Sound and video are obviously excellent, and I could finally see clearly the fracases at the Altamont show, which were too fuzzy and dark to see very well on earlier releases of the video. ONE BIG QUESTION: Did anyone else notice a missing or at least re-edited scene with Mel Belli? It originally appeared immediately after Jagger's prophetic line at the press conference ("how one can behave in large gatherings"). In the DVD, Belli talks on the speaker phone to a sarcastic promoter who vows that "if one blade of grass is torn down, (the Stones) will be expected to build it up again." I just watched my old Betamax edition (taped from PBS in 1981), and this scene features most of the same visuals, but the caller had a different voice (kind of nasal with a slight English accent) and says something like, "I have a problem right now. My people do not have time to set this up in Altamont . . . it's one big pain in the ass," and then impatiently asks Belli (twice) if he is in touch with Jagger. I have a feeling that the original scene's audio was overdubbed (when the film came out 30 years ago) because of a legal reason (i.e., the original caller would not consent a release to have his voice used in the film, etc.) or that the audio quality was not clear enough, and the only other way to include the scene was to have someone overdub the voice). Or else we have two different scenes that look alike. Anyway, it's the only puzzle to me. The rest of the restored film is in such good condition that you can safely toss out your old VHS or Beta tapes of it.
Rating:
Summary: Rock N Roll
Review: Great re-release!!! Sound and picture are great and the added footage is a rare treasure. I'm not sure why it is not in wide screen format (was the orginal theatrical release???) but this is a most have for Stones fans. When is "Ladies and Gentlemen" coming out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: This is almost like a horror movie!
Review: I have seen this movie dozen's of times. I used to have a copy on video. Although the music is the greatest ever, the movie dark and it is unbelievable that this ever happened, I mean the murder at Altamont. As far as I know the Stones came out about 2 hrs later than they should have and that helped to escalate the tensions in that cold, Decmeber San Fran night. Even Sonny Barger, the Hell's Angel's frontman explained this in his latest autobiography. It seems Mick did not want to come out earlier because he thought he would look better later at night. That is a true ego. I am sure all the other opening acts did not think like that. But, anyway, the music is the best the Stones ever made and they would never again sound that good. This movie is one of a kind, very well made and anyone who is a Stones fan or music fan of that era would be amazed and entertained by it in a wierd way. I can't wait to see the extra footage from Madison Square in the new DVD release. That's all
Rating:
Summary: Gimme Shelter Defines the Rolling Stones
Review: The movie had already displayed the Stones at their peak - everything they've done since is compared to the bench-mark they set during this period - and the DVD is a MUST own. The picture and sound of the DVD version are un-real. When the full surround of the Digital 5.1 kicks in, you won't believe this was recorded 31 years ago. The extras are great. The eerie vibe of the KSAN "day-after" Altamont broadcast alone is worth the price of the DVD. The 3 extra songs, although not near the qaulity (picture or sound) of the songs in the movie, are great clips. This is the best visual Stones that exists...
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