Gimme Shelter (1970) CRITERION NTSC DVD9

Criterion: Called “the greatest rock film ever made,” this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When 300,000 members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hell’s Angels at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway, direct cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin immortalized on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment.

IMDB: In December of 1969, four months after Woodstock, the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane gave a free concert in Northern California, east of Oakland at Altamont Speedway. About 300,000 people came, and the organizers put Hell's Angels in charge of security around the stage. Armed with pool cues and knifes, Angels spent the concert beating up spectators, killing at least one. The film intercuts performances, violence, Grace Slick and Mick Jagger's attempts to cool things down, close-ups of young listeners (dancing, drugged, or suffering Angel shock), and a look at the Stones later as they watch concert footage and reflect on what happened.

Allmovie: This musical documentary concerns the Rolling Stones and their tragic free concert at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco in early December 1969. The event was all but destroyed by violence that marked the end of the peace and love euphoria of the 1960s. The night began smoothly, with the supercharged Flying Burrito Brothers opening up for the Rolling Stones and performing the truck-driving classic "Six Days on the Road" and Tina Turner giving a sensually charged performance. But on this particular evening, the Stones made the fateful (and disastrous) decision to hire the Oakland chapter of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang as bodyguards and bouncers. It was a foolhardy, careless choice that turned the night into an unmitigated disaster; halfway through the Stones' act, the Angels killed one black spectator, and injured several others who were present (including Jefferson Airplane's lead singer Marty Balin). In the film, we watch Mick Jagger — ere an ebullient, charismatic performer of bisexual charm — reduced to standing on stage like a frightened child with his finger in his mouth in wake of the violence. Unsurprisingly, the Grateful Dead refused to perform after the violence erupted; the picture ends on a despairing note, with the Stones repeatedly watching a film of the murder. Celebrated documentarians Albert and David Maysles directed and Haskell Wexler shot the film, with heightened instinct and control; as a result, this film is considered one of the greatest rock documentaries ever made. Stones songs performed include "Brown Sugar," "Under My Thumb," and "Sympathy for the Devil."

DVD Beaver Review: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews10/gimme_shelter_.htmIMDB-link......: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065780/

Year.............: 1970
Country..........: AMERICA
Audio............: DD 2.0, DD 2.0 Dir. Comment, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 All English
Subtitles........: English
Video Format.....: 1,33:1 Not Anamorphic
DVD Source.......: DVD9
DVD Format.......: NTSC
DVD distributor..: http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=99
Program..........: DVD Decrypter in File Mode
Bit Rate.........: 7,56 Mb/sec according to DVD Bit Rate ViewerMenus..........: [ x ] Untouched, intact.
Video..........: [ x ] Untouched, intact.
DVD-extras.....: [ x ] Untouched, intact.
DVD-Audio......: [ x ] Untouched, intact.

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