Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

Stories told about Bob Dylan are almost as old as the man himself and it will not be me who claims to unravel the real from the unreal or the interesting from the uninteresting. In the same way there will be many arguing for what is so or not so in this wondrous extravaganza, but it will not be me. The original footage included here is of far higher quality, both technically and artistically, than we had any right to expect and if it is woven imaginatively, so much the better. I don't recall Dylan ever looking as animated as here on stage, nor perhaps as consistently happy but more importantly knocking out the songs so very well. This is a fantastic (even if possibly fantastical) film which I enjoyed from beginning to end and if someone wants to pick apart the Sharon Stone or Hurricane sequences, let them I don't care. No fan of Bob Dylan will not want to see this. No fan of Bob Dylan will (or at least should) be disappointed with this extremely well made tribute to the man and record of a certain time.

Some people say that Dylan was at his very best when he did the RTR tour, and it's probably true; his four-hour movie ,"Renaldo and Clara" featured numerous live performances but there was too much in it that should have been edited : thus it was a flop at the box office and one dreamed of a compilation of the songs performed by Dylan and his first -class cast.Some sequences (Jack Kerouac's grave, the Indians ) were already included in Dylan-directed work,but Martin Scorcese made them aborbing and we are treated of the delight of incredible live performance (Dylan in close shot seems possessed ,almost frightening); "the lonesome death of Hattie Caroll ",notably ,is given hard-rocking treatment which makes the version on "the times they are a changin" look like a demo ;and to sing it along with "Hurricane" connects the links of the chain .There are interventions (Dylan ,Baez, Scarlet Rivera , david Mansfield) filmed some forty years after the event .Like in "Renaldo and Clara" , (remember the title and "the woman in white" ) ,all the artists have pseuds :for instance Joni Mitchell is "the musician" and they laude her courage to perform unreleased material -"coyote" is performed in a hotel room with support from Dylan and McGuinn.All the movie is absorbing and there's an interesting parallel with the political events of those years ;the only moments I could do without are Sharon Stone 's sequences which are a little off the subject ;on the other hand , all that concerns the boxer is proof positive that music can right a few wrongs.

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.

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.