World Tour 1966: The Home Movies

1966 World Tour: The Home Movies (2003)

*** (out of 4)

Bob Dylan's 1966 tour is perhaps the greatest rock and roll tour in the history of music and many feel that it really changed rock in general. Backed by The Hawks, who would later become known as The Band, the tour broke new grounds for Dylan and this documentary features behind the scenes footage by drummer Mickey Jones. Running just at 90-minutes, this here serves as mainly an interview as Jones talks about the various cities they played, what they did on their days off and of course he's asked about the troubled tour where most fans spent their time booing the electric set. This documentary certainly isn't going to be for everyone but I think die-hard Dylan fans are going to enjoy seeing this footage, which includes some stuff with Dylan on the stage but more interestingly is the stuff between the shows where Dylan and the band are just hanging out at various locations. We get to see footage from Australia, Denmark, Sweden, London and Paris just to name a few. Jones does a very good job at talking about the tour and we even get to hear his thoughts about all the booing that was going on. Not only does he discuss the 1966 tour but he also talks about working with Johnny Rivers, introducing Otis Redding to Dylan and opening for The Beatles in Paris. We even get some footage of The Beatles on stage pre-U.S. visit. Overall, 1966 WORLD TOUR isn't the greatest thing put together but it's entertaining for fans of Dylan or those who just want to know a little more about this legendary tour.

As a fan of Bob Dylan and the documentary of Don't Look Back, this film was a let down. Instead of presenting the footage and letting the viewer watch it and listen to it, it is Mickey Jones and someone else talking over the entire presentation of the footage. When there were shots of Dylan playing acoustic, you could not hear him play or sing, you could only hear Mickey Jones and the interviewer talking about how neat these sets were.

There are some interesting stories and photos, but I think this would have been much more enjoyable if there was not a constant commentary over top of all the footage. It would have been better to offer the option of a commentary to turn on or off instead of it being more like an extended interview with Mickey Jones with some clips in the background.