A PREFACE: IF this (admittedly refried) print which I had the pleasure of viewing had even one (1) complete song from the live set of Dylan and the Hawks, it would have earned an extra star. Also, I will refrain from including the 'limousine scene' with Dylan and Lennon from my review, as it was never Pennebaker's intent, so far as I can determine, to include it.
OK, so if the point of this movie was that 'Ol Bob went through some crazed times during the British tour of 1966, I don't think anyone, including Bob Himself, could have spared that impression from being salvaged from any amount of footage. A previous reviewer noted that the performed songs bear little resemblance to their studio prototypes here...
Yes, the old folky tunes ('Baby Let Me Follow You Down' is a great example) are indeed verging on swirly psychedelic territory at this point, and I must confess that I like these versions better... this movie is a perfect companion piece to THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL 4 - THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (live Dylan , and is best enjoyed as such...
As for Bob's bad behavior and film editing, well, guess you'd have to be a musician to appreciate the context or something if you can't figure that out... this is 1966 we're seeing here for crissakes... and Bob is looking, acting, and possibly sounding not far off here from Syd Vicious of the Sex Pistols ten years later (see 'FILTH AND THE FURY')... Give granddad some credit, will'ya! If much of this has been left irreperably on the cutting-room floor, too bad, so sad, but this is enough to tell the story...
This Document got chewed. Amazing it survived at all.
