 Inside looking out
I was an impressionable teen when I saw Gimme Shelter for the first time. Living in northern CA when this all happened, I got to watch the entire drama play out on the evening news. The second time I watched it was at the old Ventura Theater as part of a midnight triple feature (remember those?) with Pacific Vibrations and Zachariah (Ws).
Anyway, this movie is a surreal trip into the bad boy Stones' image, and a truly amazing "rockumentary" that followed an amazing band during an amazing time in our cultural & musical histories.
Amazing ... Disturbing.
First, there isn't anything I could say to further eloborate on the quality of a Criterion Collection film reproduction. They are as good as it gets, period. Reference quality audio and video -- 'nuff said.
Now then, as regards "Gimme Shelter" itself:
This film has taken on mythical status over the years. The subject is now a matter of legend and of ever-increasing historical significance. To look back upon it now after having lived it in the day - I turned 18 in '69 - evoked more emotions than I was prepared to deal with. I'd not seen the film again since it's theatrical release (and then for all the wrong reasons). I'm glad that I purchased my own copy (rather than watching a rental) so that each time I summon the courage I can return to look at it again.
It doesn't matter if you attended Altamont or not. If that is your generation you can look back at it and see the magic of a moment disappear and know exactly what was lost. The summer of love vanished in the flash of a blade. [My hands are shaking.]
Don't take it out on the 'Stones. They were just silly kids caught up in the current.
I loved them then and to this day. You can see how scared Mick was having that crazy redneck stare at him murderously and yet trying his best to put on a show.
On a lighter note, it was a hoot finding out that Scorcese and Coppola were on that camera crew. :-)
Thanks.
Peace.
The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions
This film captures the Rolling Stones at their performing apex. They were never better than they were in 1969. The Beatles were in decline. The Stones had a juggernaut career arch happening - Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street. Add to that a couple of seminal 45 rpm singles - Jumpin' Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women. You catch the drift. A force of nature unleashed on an American landscape still heady from the peace, love, and 500,000 people not killing each other at Woodstock despite mud, rain, minimal food and limited toilets.
The road to Altamont is paved with good intentions. Blake said ditto about the road to Hell. It builds, and builds, and builds. Melvin Belli negotiates. Deals are made and unmade. Nothing is going to stop this show.
The people are coming. Walking down the highway. Leaving the cars. Carrying blankets and jugs. Just like Woodstock. To quote Joni Mitchell from a song about another festival, "Well can I walk beside you/I have come here to lose the smog/And I feel in myself a cog in somethin' turnin'."
This time the cog was the end of innocence. The beginning of the Days of Rage. Kent State. The very ugly 1970's.
It accelerates. Jefferson Airplane begin with their signature opening "Other Side of This Life." It derails. The band is pointing. Marty Balin jumps off the stage and disappears. More chatter. Grace Slick impotently urges "Easy now, easy now." At this point in her career Grace is an icon, a superstar, and there's only a couple or people bigger - like maybe Mick Jagger? Marty's been clobbered by a Hell's Angels. The home team. The very people Jefferson Airplane suggested be the security force for this show.
"Angels beating musicians?" Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead says, not believing. All is not good at the Altamont Speedway. Uglier in its own way than Max Yasgur's cow farm could ever be, even with three days of rain and calf-high mud.
By the time the Stones take the stage, it's a swirling mass of insanity more fitting a Bosch painting than a rock & roll show. Mick takes the stage. He's prancing. He's preening. He's doing the stuff you've already seen work all across America. But now there's a very high, very psychotic Hell's Angel looking at him seething.
Keith Richards sees what's going on. He stops playing. He's pointing. He's getting as angry as Marty Balin. Jagger bleats, "Who's fighting? And what for?" He sounds just like Bette Davis in "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane." Impotent.
From there it escalates to tragedy. Jagger watches it from a safe control booth, in slow motion. He gets up after seeing what he's seen. His face is impassive.
Not the best ROCK film ever made. It's the best DOCUMENTARY ever made. With some great rock and roll performances. Despite what decade you were born, nor what music you like to hear, you need to see "Gimme Shelter." Blood curdling to this day. "The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions." - William Blake
Maybe THE Best Rock Documentary ... Ever
Of all the films devoted to popular music, only a handful rise to the top in my opinion: "Woodstock", "Monterey Pop", "The Song Remains the Same" and "Gimme Shelter". All of these films feature the cream of the rock music world and three of them focus on the now outdated fad of music festivals. However, it is "Gimme Shelter" that separates itself from the rest as it is the only film that depicts the more sinister side of rock and roll ... by displaying the greed and general contempt the upper echelon of rock music displays towards its mass of followers. "Gimme Shelter" is a one-of-a-kind film that is part concert film, part documentary and part drama/mystery/action/thriller. It has all the ingredients necessary to keep most viewers glued from start to finish ... great music, hedonistic rock stars, crazy people and murder. It is shocking, insightful and downright haunting ... even to this day.
A simplified summary of "Gimme Shelter" is that it documents the Rolling Stones on their 1969 American Tour that culminates with a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in California. The film starts with Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts (the Rolling Stones drummer) viewing the footage of the free concert; this is followed by a series of radio interviews of those involved with the free concert. Right from the start, you realize that something horribly wrong must have occurred at this free concert. But, just like a good book, the film immediately returns the beginning of the story, the optimistic and exciting start of the Stones' '69 tour ... forcing the viewer to see everything that leads-up to the impending drama.
As "Gimme Shelter" proceeds, we are treated with some excellent concert performances of that '69 tour (including Tina Turner's stirring, soulful and sexually-charged version of "I've Been Loving You Too Long"). The Rolling Stones appear to be in top form as they appear before sold out venues, complete with adoring fans jumping on the stage to get a piece of the superstar, Mick Jagger. Between the concert footage of the Rolling Stones tour, the viewer is given a "behind-the-scenes" view of the colossal effort involved in organizing the grand finale ... the free concert in California ... "Woodstock West". Additional footage of the band offstage and in-between venues displays the cool, arrogant nature of Jagger, as well as an incoherent and apparently drugged Keith Richards. It appears very clear that the Rolling Stones are only expected to show up for this scheduled free concert ... as they casually discuss this pending event, we see the organizers frantically trying to make the event a reality ... you immediately sense that it could be a disaster.
Once it the free concert is finalized ... at the Altamont Speedway ... the remainder of the film is devoted exclusively to that concert. Serving as a documentary of the times, the viewer is treated to seeing the migration of some 300,000 concert-goers to the Altamont Speedway ... a graphic and thoroughly entertaining display of drugs, outrageous attire, uncontrollable body movements and general lunacy. Then, the mood of the film becomes darker as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club literally takes over ... the crowd and the film. As the opening acts of the concert perform, the violence begins as bikers begin beating concert-goers, as well as the Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin. By the time the Rolling Stones appear, it is night-time and obvious that it is the Hells Angels who are in control. As the Stones play their music, the crowd's vocal reaction to the violence drowns out the music and there are points where the band is forced to stop playing in order to try and calm the situation. Finally, when things appear calmer and the band begins playing "Under My Thumb", violence suddenly erupts again and tragedy strikes. At this point, we realize what the beginning of the movie was all about. The ending of the film clearly depicts the Rolling Stones fleeing the disaster of their free concert by cramming into a helicopter ... leaving their fans to fend for themselves in a sea of Hells Angel-infested waters ... an eerie and lasting impression.
"Gimme Shelter" is a must-see for any fan of rock music, the Rolling Stones or popular American culture. The footage is raw and entertaining ... it grabs a hold of the viewer and digs in. The Criterion Collection version of this film has greatly improved the visual quality of the original footage and offers a few extras that were not included in the original video release.
gimme shelter
liked the authenticity, the skill of the filmers, the behind the scenes activites, and the reflection of the times which i experienced personally living in california
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