The Grateful Dead Movie

I accidentally found this movie in Atlanta the last night it was in town and was bowled over by it. So, I think, were the half dozen others in the theater. All these years later, I have the DVD, of course.

No matter what anyone says about "The Last Waltz" being the best Rock Concert movie ever made, The Grateful Dead Movie is the best in the genre. It's a concert, it's a documentary with interviews, it uses all the gimmicks and techniques in the history of film from cartoons to flipping Fillmore posters like calendar pages in Citizen Kane(so it's a how-to-make-a-movie, movie too).

Every time I look at my copy of Gutierrez's skeleton poster, I think of the movie and thank Ben Friedman for insisting I buy it at the Postermat those years ago.

Songs captured during a series of October 1974 performances by The Grateful Dead at Winterland in San Francisco. The Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzman, Donna Jean Godchaux, Keith Godchaux, Mickey Hart. Songs include: US Blues, One More Saturday Night, Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad, Truckin', Sugar Magnolia, The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), Playin' In the Band, Stella Blue, Casey Jones, Morning Dew, Johnny B Goode.

The Grateful Dead were famous for their live concerts, a reputation that endured as long as the band existed. Rather than performing within the confines of a strict setlist and a maximum time per song, songs would often develop into long free-flowing jams. Calling these jams does them a disservice as the songs were more than that: wonderfully layered, expression-filled and virtuosic. These sessions involved all sorts of music, from rock, to folk, to country, to blues, to jazz. Amazingly it seemed like every player was doing their own thing yet was in perfect synch with the remainder of the band. Loose and tight, all at the same time.

This video perfectly captures that spirit, talent and artistry, not just showing the band and individuals within it doing their thing, but the effect on the audience too. The whole experience is beyond a musical one (though there may have been some substances involved to help that vibe!).

It's not just driven by the vibe. The music is great too, the tone just makes it even better.

Not perfect though: I could have done without the hippy trippy imagery and some cutaways. Still, this was the trippy 70s and this is The Grateful Dead so not too surprising.

Wow, what a movie. Not only is it filled with great music but it also is a great time capsule of the late '70s Dead scene. It's a movie that non-Dead fans will enjoy because it's truly a movie that brings you to another place and time but it never feels dated in it's presentation. A timeless classic. (Just for the record, I saw this movie in the theater. It was a midnight movie screening somewhere on Long Island, NY. I was in high school at the time. I'm guessing 1980.)

Thanks to this film, we can pretend we are a curious "eye" at a Dead gig in 1974. We are free to reflect on many different types of concert goers, without other people's comments or moral judges. Here are common teens and youngsters, healthy, curious, seekers, and cracked. Of course, we'll also meet some hippies, a member of Hells Angels, policemen and sausage selling guys. All this alongside the bass show of Phil Lesh and the fragile voice and glittering guitar sounds of Jerry Garcia.

Of course, much of the repertoire is standards without any deeper meaning. With Dead, it's under the improvised parts that we'll experience something bigger, something that no other rock band I know of has been close to. To illustrate this, the "eye" chooses to enjoy free dance, a visual description of Dead's greatness. The rhythm section with Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann (drums) and Bob Weir (rhythm guitar) should be enough. But on top of that, Garcia's lead guitar takes us away from everyday life on trips that doesn't feel repetitive.

44 years afterwards, the music still inspires. Sadly, the time atmosphere can't be regained in real life - we are committed to the future. However, like the song "Eyes of the World", we can still look back at the seventies, at a time that sure was no utopia but a time where people still were searching for something new and original.

Hey now,

I think I have watched this movie about 200 times. Really. But it's not just because I'm a Deadhead. It's not just because the time filmed is during one of my favorite GD years, 1974. And it's not just because they have full versions of Morning Dew and GDTRFB on it.

The reason I have watched this movie so many times is because it is food for your mind and soul. ( You can add body if you like to boogie during the film.) It weaves the many layers that make up a Dead show into a cohesive whole. Rather than just show concert footage, the movie dives into the hearts and lives of both the audience and the band members. We get to see pre, during, and post-show activities, as well as interesting insights from the band members.

The film also does the best attempt of all released Dead videos of capturing "it" -- that unexplainable, natural force at work which can make the experience transcedent for those in attendance. The mixture of five different cameras and how close they get to the band help aid in their attempt to "explain the unexplainable."

The highlight of the film is definitely the "Morning Dew", from 10-18-74, right out of a beautiful Dark Star. Jerry made a wonderful decision to have Morning Dew be shown in its entirety. To this day, I still get chills when listening to the climax of that piece.

For Deadheads, this film is essential...but what makes it so respected is that the "uninformed" consumer can just as easily access this movie and see what life was like for a bunch of beatniks from San Francisco.

Mike Hanley