The Grateful Dead Movie

I am and was a big fan of the dead but too young to have been a fan when this film was made. The film chronicles the 1974 4 night stint at the historic winterland in san francisco. at the time there were some that did not know whether or not the band would tour again. of course they did decide to hit the road again and the rest is history.

the movie shows the essence of the grateful dead experience from the fans to the crew to the band. it is a trip to look in on the scene as it truly was in 1974. i could think of no better way to show future generations what the early 70's rock scene and particularly the dead scence was like. the band footage is pretty good and is mixed in with great shots of the fans. additionally you get a look at the "wall of sound" which was the set up the band employed during the 1974 tour. donna jean describes the film as the good, the bad and the ugly of the dead experience. i think that is accurate.

the rest of the features on the DVD are great. the extra songs are awesome although they completely lack any flow. they could have formatted them in the same order as they were done. instead they are very random. the interviews are great and lend some light on the tremendous amount of work that has to go into bringing the extra material to the public.

if you like the dead and have been to a show (or 2 or 20) this is a must see. if you are younger and just want to see what all the fuss was about you should also get the movie.

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.)

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.

This captures the GD in their prime and in front of a loving, hometown audience in 1974. There is concert footage mixed with some trippy animation, but the real time capsule is all the footage of their fans that is included. You get to see a lot of Deadheads grooving to the music, goofing around, dancing, and verbally expressing themselves. Apparently the post-production and editing were very expensive, time-consuming, and stressful. I don't think it was a big hit in the movie theatres, but like most of their music, it stands the test of time very well. There would be plenty more live GD videos in the years to come. The same group of shows also led to their "Steal Your Face" live album and its famous logo.

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.