Woodstock
What were the 60s really like? Certainly we have a plethora of movies from the era that depicted dramatically the ins and outs of the counterculture of the times, helped by the use of popular music from that period. But the real deal continues to elude us save for the one resource of cinema that purports to tell the actual truth: The documentary. Now granted, the modern documentary has successfully been twisted into mainstream propaganda for the masses via the manifesto efforts of those such as Michael Moore, while other examples of Oscar contender types are shuffled down and relegated to small little cinemas where they are usually only viewed by Oscar voters themselves, but when it comes to portraying the most complete and accurate depiction of the 60s and the attitude that came with it, one can gratefully turn to undoubtedly the greatest documentary ever made or ever filmed for that matter, released in 1970 but obviously filmed over a 4 day period in the upstate New York town of Bethel, a no brainer winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature which shows us the granddaddy of all rock n roll supershows in all its legendary glory, but most importantly also shows us the event through the eyes of the young people themselves with actual footage of the happenings in and around the concert site complete with the shenanigans of the so called hippies who seemed to crawl out from under every rock imaginable to descend on this bewildered small town and literally take it over, with reportedly over 500,000 in attendance at its peak and creating a nation within the mind for themselves and generations to follow to live through. The initial idea was daring enough: Invites to perform were sent out to just about every major recording artist of the era before the organizers sat back and waited to see just who exactly would actually accept. Certainly a number of long shot invites were sent that were declined, such as Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan (who mercilessly criticized the organizers for âexploiting the hell out of that townâ), and even The Beatles, who declined the offer even as John Lennon came back and offered to appear solo provided that Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band came with him (to which he was told ânoâ). But then again some of the top bands in the country DID accept the invite, including the number one band in the country at the time, Creedance Clearwater Revival, who were so disappointed with their performance that they asked not to be included in the final movie, a wish that was granted even though footage of a couple of their songs has been released in recent years. The same situation occurred with The Grateful Dead asking not to have any of their filmed performance be included for people to see either. But much of what did get in was incredible. The early moments of the film see the setup of the stage itself, the early arrivals, and the interview with the slightly creepy Executive Producer of the event, Michael Lang (an obvious rich kid hippie redeemed by the fact that he pretty much admits on camera that he doesnât really care if the event makes money or not). As the hustle and bustle continues and the various artists are flown in and the schedule is rearranged due to some talent arriving late, that in turn leads to the first act being thrown out there ahead of schedule for that exact reason, that being Richie Havens, doing his acoustic guitar thing as he completely improvises what would soon become his most popular song, âFreedomâ. Indeed, no complete sets are shown, with most featured artists getting to do 1 or 2 songs in the film with the exception of Hendrix who gets 3, and weâve yet to see separate releases for any of the full sets of the artists who were filmed and performed at the show (again, with the exception of Hendrix). Certainly, there are some journeyman acts on hand that fail to make all that much of an impression such as Canned Heat and Ten Years After (who almost come off as a bad 80s hair band). Sha Na Na hit the stage (minus their yet to be joined legendary frontman Bowser) and dance around while they sing their silly 50s cover âAt The Hopâ and dance offstage while one wonders why they were even invited. Joan Baez comes in babbling off stage and on about the status of her imprisoned draft dodger husband while singing what I guess amounts to a Vietnam protest song. John Sebastian shuffles out and uses some foul language to impress the crowd before singing his one song used for the movie and then shuffles away. And Country Joe McDonald along with The Fish leads the crowd in a âFUCKâ chant before going with his infuriatingly obnoxious anti Vietnam screed âLookin To Die Ragâ. All along we get to meet some of the other personalities around the event, including the VERY creepy Hugh âWavy Gravyâ Romney of The Merry Pranksters, Farmer Max Yasgur, hanging out around the stage like he owns the place (which he does), and the most emotional moment of the film happening not onstage but during a debate amongst Lang and the other two organizers, all of whom essentially amount to being three rich hippies with not a drop of corporate blood in them, realizing the groundswell of young people coming onto the premises with no money (and thus no ticket), and deciding ultimately that this event is not and never has been about financial profit as they open the gates and let EVERYONE in for free while knowing that doing so is going to cost them a hugely substantial amount of money but at least taking comfort in the idea that what they have created here will certainly live on forever in the hearts and minds of both those who were there and those who will relive it in the years to come through the magic of home theatre in a truly unselfish act that made the later revival attempts in 94 and 99 pale by comparison since they were practically controlled by corporate entities and ultimately resulted in the burning down of everything while the event was still in progress in 99. And then of course there are those immortal acts who DID own that shit when they took that legendary stage, amongst them The Who with Roger Daltreyâs charisma and Pete Townshendâs expert guitar work as they are shown finishing up their performance of Tommy (which they had played all night) and then going with an encore of âSummertime Bluesâ. Then Joe Cocker makes history with his showstopping, unforgettable, unbelievable rendition of âWith A Little Help From My Friendsâ (which he came back with in 94 to open the show). Arlo Guthrie sidles onstage (and is unfairly stymied by abrupt editing) to do his signature âComing Into Los Angelesâ. Crosby, Stills, and Nash (along with Neil Young who was present and accounted for but refused to allow himself to be filmed performing) sneak onstage almost in the dark to perform âJudy Blue Eyesâ. Jefferson Airplane is out next to give us some âmorning maniac musicâ as a bleary eyed Grace Slick calls it, and indeed they do. And then Carlos Santana (peaking on a mescaline trip) turns things into overdrive with a scorching rendition of âSole Survivorâ, Sly And The Family Stone (led by Sly Stone who sadly descended into being a crackhead in the 80s and 90s) hit the stage and light things up with their performance of âGonna Take You Higherâ as the crowd happily sings along, and Janis Joplin (in her madly giggling, power vocals prime) asks the massive crowd if theyâre doing okay before performing âWork Me, Lordâ. Then itâs time for the Main Event. Even with a depleted crowd on Monday morning, a noticeable buzz goes amongst them as the one and only Jimi Hendrix walks out, greets the crowd in his own special way, and rips into his standard bearer âVoodoo Childâ followed by his iconic performance on the guitar of âThe Star Spangled Bannerâ and finally we get his trademark âPurple Hazeâ, with Hendrix seemingly oblivious and in his own world as he hits all the right licks. If much of this sounds overwhelming, it really isnât despite a near 4 hour running time, as at some points we wonder what great songs DIDNâT make the cut (much of which were released later on separately), but overall it doesnât change the effect we get here, a virtuoso effort from director Michael Wadleigh aided by editor Thelma Schoonmaker and even a young Martin Scorsese! But for documentaries that didnât just record an event, but actually succeeded in capturing an era, there will never be one any greaterâŚ
10/10