The Grateful Dead

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.

They were the ONLY ones who did what they did.

I think for people that don't know anything about The Grateful Dead (or but think they do, but their entire knowledge of the band consists of the songs they've heard on Classic Rock Radio, and that stoner kid in one of their classes) the hardest thing for them to grasp as they're watching this movie is that it Actually Happened.

This is not Fiction, and it ain't CGI. All of those speakers are not Props. None of those people are Extras.

The best part is - none of it was Planned. NOBODY in the Organization ever would have thought in 1965 that someday they would be as big as they were in 1974. At the time this movie was filmed, they (the Organization) were wildly out of control, and were needing to just STOP.

These concerts were the last ones before the band took a badly needed year and a half hiatus from touring. When they came back to the road in 1976, they assumed the form they would pretty much take until 1995. Up to October, 1974 - they were in a continual state of flux. This film documents one of their peaks, even it it is on the down-side of it.

What people who still believe in Corporate Media (older-type folks) and MTV (kids - most of whom believe the world MTV portrays is real) will never understand is that The Grateful Dead were so much bigger than all of that.

Forget 'Casey Jones' (although the version on this film is Smokin') and 'Touch of Grey'. If you want a peak into the most important social phenomenon of the Twentieth Century - this is a good place to start.

I've tailored this review towards people who don't know anything about the Dead, because those that do have already seen this film. I've watched this movie at least two hundred times since 1990. It hasn't bored me yet. It's a different film each time I watch it - much like the concerts I went to.

Last advice - if you don't have a good sound system, don't bother. Wait until you can watch the movie at your buddy's house with the killer system. Watching this movie with the sound coming out of a TV set speaker is like having sex without a partner.

TURN IT ON, TURN IT UP - and most importantly - RELAX! The worst thing that can happen to you is that two hours and twenty minutes after you push Play is that you'll like the Grateful Dead! (Imagine what your friends will think!) PEACE!

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.

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.

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.