Rolling Thunder Revue

2019

Action / Biography / Documentary / History / Music

7
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 8531 8.5K

Plot summary

Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.

Director

Martin Scorsese Photo
Martin Scorsese

Top cast

Sharon Stone Photo
Sharon Stone as The Beauty Queen
Patti Smith Photo
Patti Smith as The Punk Poet
Gene Simmons Photo
Gene Simmons as Self
Sam Shepard Photo
Sam Shepard as The Writer
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.28 GB
1280*952
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 22 min
Seeds 3
2.63 GB
1440*1072
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 22 min
Seeds 14

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by paul-allaer 9 / 10

Rambling but still must-see from historical perspective

As "Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese" (2019 release; 142 min.) opens, Dylan is performing Mr. Tambourine Man solo. We go to today's Dylan, who claims "This was so long ago, I don't recall a thing. I wasn't even born!". At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.Couple of comments: this is directed by longtime Dylan admirer Martin Scorsese. Here he brings a work of mostly fiction, although of course the concert footage is real. You may recall that during the 1975 Rolling Thunder Review, Dylan filmed a ton of footage, which eventually was released as "Renaldo and Clara" in early 1978 (more on that later). Basically Scorsese was handed the unused footage and told "do with it what you want". As if Scorsese would decline that opportunity! While they are of course very different films (and thankfully this one doesn't run 4 hours, which was the original running time of "Renaldo and Clara"), there are clear parallels between the two. In then end, "Rolling Thunder Review" also rambles quite a bit, and I found it of most interest for the concert footage, and the current interviews (all fictional). Nevertheless this is really a "must-see" for any and all Dylan fans. Now almost 50 years later, this footage is most interesting from a historical perspective. (I remember seeing "Renaldo and Clara" with a buddy of mine in a movie theater in London in the summer of 1978, and we were just dumbstruck about it. Can't recall if we stayed for the entire 4 hour showing.)"Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese" was released on Netflix in 2019, bypassing theaters altogether. I didn't have Netflix in 2019, and only recently stumbled on it. Please note that this is currently rated 93% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. Of course don't take my word for it. If you like Dylan, and in particular his Rolling Thunder era (including his vastly underrated 1976 album "Desire"), I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
Reviewed by rbronews2 9 / 10

Documents the beginning of "Americana music"

Some observations: The quality of the sound was greatIf you fast-forward to "Isis", you won't miss anything. Patti Smith didn't come across well at all. (You don't have to watch this film very carefully to see evidence of drug use. Probably including acid.)The "Desire" album, which is one of my favourites, was a work in progress at the time of the tour. The majority of the songs on it are in the film. ("Joey" and "Sara" didn't make the cut.) "Hurricane" was one of the musical highlights.Other musical highlights: "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "Simple Twist of Fate", Dylan doing an acoustic version of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" before an audience of Indians, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", and Joni Mitchell rehearsing "Coyote" (a favourite song of mine) with Roger McGuinn and Dylan, in Gordon Lightfoot's apartment, no less.Speaking of Mitchell, she and Joan Baez developed a strong dislike of each other during the tour. The film didn't go into this.Some non-musical highlights: I never saw an interview of Ruben "Hurricane" Carter before. Ronnie Hawkins was his usual funny self. Dylan's present-day comments were great. He often refuses to stay on topic during interviews, but not this time.I'm a big fan of McGuinn, so I would have like to have seen more of him. However, fans of Eric Anderson, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Mick Ronson, and T-Bone Burnett would feel the same way. If Scorsese said, "there wasn't enough time", he could have removed most of the interviews with non-musicians in the film, and nobody would have minded.
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