( 20 reviews )
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Posted: Jun 19 2009
This is the young Bob Dylan on a three week concert tour of England in 1965. It is a tour de force of cinema verite. It is fascinating to watch a young artist of extraordinary talent being asked questions about the meaning of his music. Dylan's incredulous manner in response is funny, ironic, and at times very sarcastic; especially with the totally "out of it" reporter from Time Magazine. The interview is one of the subjects of a very informative commentary by director and documentary genius D.A. Pennebaker and Bob Neuwirth, the tour manager. His treatment of his young fans is a sweet counterpoint to his sarcastic treatment of the press. He is kind and very solicitous of a gaggle of young girls he has up to his room before a performance. An added pleasure is the snatches of the beautiful voice of Joan Baez who accompanied him on the tour. Her offstage voice is as beautiful and radiant as onstage; strong and pure. The deluxe edition has full tracks sung by Dylan while on the tour, including It Ain't Me Babe, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, and To Ramonna. They are great. This a "must see" for Dylan fans. See it before you so "No Direction Home", a brilliant follow-up by Martin Scorsese about a subsequent much more controversial English Dylan concert tour when Dylan had switched from acoustic to electric.
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Posted: Jun 18 2009
I had a hard time one summer. My parents had moved out East and I wasn't interested in spending the summer away from my college buddies. I was able to live with my uncle in Cedar Rapids but I really didn't know anyone else there and it was about 100 miles away from my buddies (and had no car). It was really a depressing time but I found my emotional outlet that summer of '72 in Bob Dylan. I had all his first 5 albums and I kept playing them all summer long. Cedar Rapids didn't have any meaning for me but Life was sure expanding its' meaning through the brilliant insight of Dylan. I went back to college that Fall and my music playlist greatly expanded. In time my interest in music expanded to where Dylan was just a part time thing. Years later my wife, knowing my love for the music of Bob Dylan bought me "Planet Waves". I only played it once; his singing sounded so awful I couldn't stand it. Things picked up later, around the time of "Hurricane", and I enjoy a lot of the latter Dylan as well. However, I was always so grateful for his presence and his insight that lousy summer of '72. I rented "Don't Look Back" with a rather casual interest recently. I wasn't in a big hurry to watch it since my evenings were so full. However, when I finally sat down to view it, I relived all the good that he put into that lonely Summer. I mentally re-enacted every mood and insight that I had had before as I traveled down a memory lane of protests, noble causes, and revelations. For the Dylan purists, all of this preceeds Dylan's discovery of the electric guitar. It is a movie put together from his 1964 British Tour. The music is great but the real enjoyment I took from the film was Dylan himself. This movie candidly shows him in a variety of moods and settings. Some of the scenes were simply outstanding. I think my favorite was an extended scene where he and a cohort were interviewing a rather clumsy British interviewer. It may sound uninteresting but I enjoyed Dylan's effort to try and figure out just what made this guy tick. He was having fun and the rest of us were as well. I rented this DVD. I will certainly be purchasing my own copy. It's worth watching again and again...especially if I ever get stuck in Cedar Rapids.
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( 0 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 5 2009
i just saw this on tv tonight and i found it very boring.the sound wasnt very good either and watching dylan with acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica is a bore itself.i was dying to hear some drums and electric guitar and bass in this music.but even that wouldnt have mattered since dylans voice makes your ears bleed.they shouldnt call this a rock documentary they should call it a folk documentary.wish they had gone on tour and filmed the beatles 65 tour instead of dylan.
