Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

While I was watching 'Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese' I couldn't help but think: Hey, this live footage is outstanding; it sounds incredible and I'm not even a huge Dylan fan! But darn-it if all this backstory isn't boring as crap.

**two months pass**

When I sat down to write this short, relatively negative review in advance of recording a podcast about how this should have just been released as a concert movie, and the documentary aspects didn't work at all, I stumbled upon the information that nearly all the documentary elements were fiction. The director who shot the original footage? Just an actor playing a character named Stefan Van Dorp, a European filmmaker who claims to have directed the original footage (in reality, Dylan and a crew shot the footage for Dylan's own project, the 1978 feature 'Renaldo and Clara'). Sharon Stone? Digitally inserted into photos; never met Dylan on tour as a 17 or 19 year old or however old she was supposed to be in a past that never happened. There's no word on whether Dylan being inspired by the band KISS to paint his face white is a real factoid or not, and what does it matter? An entire fiction concocted by two elderly men that couldn't even be a fraction as interesting as what actually transpired in reality... now that is truly an artistic statement! +1 for effort, and by effort I mean: genuinely fooling me. Now and then, there's a fool such as I, bored and ready, willing and able to click the next thing I see featured on Netlifx that even remotely intrigues me at all.

My ex and I saw Bob Dylan perform in 1984, a superb concert. My ex was and is a huge fan of his and as he doesn't own a TV (yes really!) I invited him to pop over and watch this on Netflix. The music is of course fabulous, Desire is my favourite Dylan album so it was a treat to hear so much from it. On the whole we both really enjoyed this. For me, the highlights were Bob and Allen Ginsberg at Jack Kerouac's graveside. his interactions with Joan Baez (where they are talking about each marrying other people - wow), Scarlet Rivera (so talented) and the section about Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter. However, I wasn't too impressed with the fake present-day interviews. I felt they were distracting from the main event which for me was the footage from 1975 and the real interviews. This made my ex-husbands Father's Day mind, I'm sure he went home to listen to some of his vast Dylan music collection.

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.

In what's a documentary that's sure to delight diehard Bob Dylan fans, Rolling Thunder Revue sees esteemed director Martin Scorsese once more delve into the life and times of the beloved folk superstar after his previous 2005 effort No Direction Home, with Scorsese this time choosing to focus on a very particular time and place in the music legends life in the mid 1970's.

It's important to note, Revue is very far from a straightforward documentary, with Scorsese curiously choosing to install into his film fake characters, misleading footage and potentially fake information as he takes an unorthodox approach in examining Dylan and his large cohort of offsiders journey across America as they played numerous shows in an effort to connect more with smaller audiences in more emotionally intimate gigs.

Scorsese's reasoning behind his trickery, that may not even at first be that apparent is never really explained and its off-putting to say the least as you begin to realise that despite extensive polished footage from this tour, Revue is not at all interested in providing us with the cold hard facts or anything of much substance as it instead flies by thanks to its wonderful time capsule like footage that transports us back to a time and place in American history where the country was healing from the wounds of the Vietnam war and the "hippy" movement was finding itself in a transitional stage of its life.

The footage that Scorsese and his team have managed to polish up and utilise for Revue is truly stunning and thanks to the intimate nature of much of the documents of the tour, we as an audience are literally transported to the stage Dylan inhabits and for anyone that has ever called themselves even a minor fan of Dylan's works, Revue will be like opening a treasure chest of the very best of the esteemed poet/singer.

All of Dylan's most well-known songs are here and Scorsese isn't afraid to let them take centre place in this documentary, as the films near two and half hour runtime is loaded with more concert footage than you could dare dream to see and while this is a sure-fire way to please fans of Dylan's particular brand of musical musings and instantly recognisable voice, for more casual fans or those along more for the cultural insight, Revue will begin to wear a little thin around the half way mark with Scorsese indulging his Dylan love to an arguably more self-indulgent manner that will alienate more casual watchers.

It's safe to say that Revue really is a film best enjoyed by Dylan fans as it appears set to be one of the more divisive Scorsese films ever made, most surely one of the most experimental and odd, and in a career littered with not only great fictional films but emotional and insightful documentaries such as The Last Waltz or Living in a Material World, Revue ends up being a mostly cold and rather forgettable experience.

Final Say -

With its odd mix of fact, fiction, archival footage and doctored narrative, Rolling Thunder Revue is an odd experience that will be a favourite amongst Dylan fans and one that gets by for the rest of us thanks to its amazingly captured 1970's footage.

2 ½ face masks out of 5

I am a huge Bob Dylan fan. All of it. This era in particular. The choice of songs and variety of musicians was so unique and brilliant. The glaring omission of Mick Ronson is unforgivable. They don't even mention his name a single time! His guitar work during this tour provides a constant swirling tapestry of melody, solos, and originality that deserves a documentary on its own. Shame on Bob. RIP Mick!

The music and footage is great and could stand on its own. The rest as many have mentioned is pretentious drivel.