Opening everywhere on Christmas Day:

I’ve long lived with the legend of how a baby-faced Bob Dylan with not much more than a guitar on his back, hitchhiked his way to New York to begin his revolutionary, controversial career so it was initially surreal to see this film so vividly bringing it all to life. It starts in early 1961 with a scruffy Timothée Chalamet as a 19-year old Dylan hitching a ride into New York City, where upon landing in Greenwich Village, he learns from folk singer Dave Von Ronk (Michael Chernus) that his idol, Woody Guthrie, is in Greystone Hospital in New Jersey.

Chalamet’s Dylan catches a cab to Greystone where he meets another notable folk icon, Pete Seeger, greatly portrayed with gentle gravitas by Edward Norton, at the bedside of an ailing, non verbal Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). After some introductions, and banter in which Guthrie gives Dylan a card that reads, ‘I AIN’T DEAD YET,’ Seeger asks Dylan to play a song, and the shy kid bursts into a riveting rendition of one of the singer/songwriter’s first original compositions that would  grace his first album, “Song to Woody.”

It’s a beautiful, lovingly executed opening sequence that got me completely into the narrative’s conceit, but there’s a lot to unpack here because as any Dylan fan worth their salt would tell you, it didn’t really happen that way. It’s highly unlikely that Dylan encountered Van Ronk immediately after coming onto the scene, he definitely didn’t meet Seeger for the first time in Guthrie’s hospital room, and “Song to Woody” was written a bit after the budding artist’s first meeting with Guthrie (funnily enough, the card he gives to Dylan was true). 

Thing is, though, none of these details matter in the big picture that is James Mangold’s A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, which was masterfully written by the director and frequent Martin Scorsese collaborator (and a favorite former film critic of mine) Jay Cocks, who rework the facts from Elijah Wood’s excellent book, Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties into a grand fable, full of amazing music, and presenting its themes of sacred tradition versus progress like an epic thriller. 

It’s a film for the ages that transcends the tropes of musical biopics so effectively that it sets a new standard for the form – I mean, the makers of the Springsteen Nebraska drama starring Jeremey Allen White should really take note.

For his part as the mysterious curly-haired troubadour, Chalamet deserves to win *ALL* the awards. The NY-born actor, who grew up a hip hop kid loving Kid Cudi, was originally supposed to take on the role back in 2019, but the project was delayed by the pandemic and the SAG strike, so he was given five years in which, between DUNE installments, to learn to play guitar, blow the harmonica, and, most importantly, how to hone the most famously distinctive voice in all of pop culture. 

The momentum of the movie comes from Dylan’s rise from the folk clubs, where he was revered for such iconic songs as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” to when he outraged the folk purists by plugging in and setting his lyrics to electrified blues, and rock and roll, which, he had long been a fan of – he was as much a disciple of Howlin’ Wolf, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley as he was Guthrie, Seeger, and Leadbelly. So it all comes down to whether or not the newly anointed acoustic protest king was going to go electric with a full band at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1965, essentially giving to the finger to the folk community.

The heavy scenario is intertwined with his romances with Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, both also coming to a head that fateful day. Fanning’s Slyvie is based on Dylan’s early ‘60s girlfriend Suze Rotolo – the name was changed by Dylan himself (he’s an excutive producer on the film, and consulted on the screenplay), apparently still protective of their relationship – and their courtship is charming, with Fanning putting in heart-string pulling work as she’s alternately infatuated and confused by the gestating genius. Fanning really makes her mark, which is touching as she’s the one non-musical lead in this tune-filled tale.

Norton is also awards-worthy as Dylan’s friend/mentor who is a bit taken aback by the singer’s fast rise into rock stardom. The quiet wisdom of Norton’s Seeger clashes in Dylan’s mind with another older brother type, Johnny Cash, as played by Boyd Holbrook, also bringing his own newly acquired musical chops to the table. It’s a considerably different interpretation of Cash than what Joaquin Phoenix brought to Mangold’s WALK THE LINE (2005), but it’s one that kills in this scenario as it’s this movie’s Man in Black that inspires Dylan to “track some mud on the carpet.”

In a recent promotional interview with MTV’s Josh Horowitz, Chalamet said ‘if we can be like a little humble asterisk on the legacy, of, or on the artist that is Bob Dylan, we did a good job.’ Mangold’s A COMPLETE UNKNOWN is more than just a good job, it’s the best movie of 2024. It’s a wonderful, emotional experience that personally has served as a cure for post-election depression, and a reminder that movies and music, when mixed beautifully together, can take us to a place where all feels right in the world. 

However, Chalamet is right, it’s a little humble asterisk on the large legend of Dylan, but it’s also a gateway for millions who don’t know the man to really give him a listen. And with the looming threat of darkness coming down, this is when people could most benefit from seeing, and hearing someone stand their ground, follow their muse, and be unafraid of the reaction. Despite all the imminent signs of doom, those kind of ideals AIN’T DEAD YET.

More later...

That’s right, the rock supergroup made up of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty (Roy Orbison was a member, but passed after their first record’s release) lifted a line (and twisted it), from Mike Nichols’ 1988 Melanie Griffith comedy WORKING GIRL, and it’s a doozy.

At a party scene, Griffith’s ambitious Tess McGill schmoozes with a colleague she’s just met, played by Harrison Ford at his ‘80s prime, and says (after a few tequila shots):

“I’ve got a head for business, and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Cut to the first single off of the Travelling Wilburys second album in 1990, jokingly entitled Vol. 3, “She’s My Baby,” featuring this couplet that comically reverses the line:

“She’s got a body for business, got a head for sin/She knocks me over like a bowling pin”

The line is sung by George Harrison on the single (the same version of which kicks off the record), but there is a demo of the song that has Dylan singing the entire song so it’s safe to assume that he’s the one that had the idea to co-opt Griffith’s line, which came from WORKING GIRL screenwriter Kevin Wade. 

Lynne said in a Rolling Stone interview at the time of Vol. 3, the band heavily relied on Dylan for their lyrics: “We all throw in ideas and words, but when you’ve got a lyricist like Bob Dylan — well, what are you gonna do?” So it’s highly likely that it was Dylan, who has a history of quoting without credit from movies, Civil War-era poetry, and even an episode of Star Trek, that thought it was a line worth stealing, and toying with.

Dylan didn’t have to have seen the movie either to have been exposed to the dialogue; it was featured in the trailer, and in TV spots that ran throughout the film’s successful release in late December 1988 through the next year, in which it was nominated for six Oscars (it only won one, Carly Simon for her song “Let the River Run”).

So I’ll again quote His Bobness, “Steal a little and they throw you in jail/steal a lot and they make you king,” and leave you with the rousing video from the song in question - “She’s My Baby”:

I love the original, and was anxious to see the new material, but the problem was that nobody wanted to go with me. I even had a friend say, “You’re going to see APOCALYPSE NOW on your Birthday?!!?” I called a woman I had dated a few times, but she sounded hungover and wasn’t up to going to see the film. I didn’t tell her it was my Birthday as I thought it might come off as a manipulative way to guilt her into joining me so I said something like “Okay, see you soon,” and accepted that I was going alone to the bloody picture show. (Years later she told me that I should’ve told her it was my Birthday, but que será, será)

I went to see the movie at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Chapel Hill, with a small audience of 20 people or so. It was my first time seeing APOCALYPSE NOW on the big screen, and I enjoyed the hypnotic spell it conjured, the swirling sound mix, and the intense performances by Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Robert Duvall, and Larry Fishburne (that’s right, Lawrence went by Larry back then).

Now, this Vietnam helicopter encounter doesn’t have anything to do with 9/11, but I still wanted to begin with it as it was what kicked off my week. That experience alone would’ve been pretty memorable, especially as it happened on my Birthday, but it was obviously overshadowed a couple of days later.

 

The next day, September 10th, I was working at Borders in the evening. Many of the kids (20somethings mostly) I worked with would often watch The Simpsons in the break room during their dinner breaks. The episode (The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, S9E1) that night featured Homer dealing with his car being illegally parked at the bottom of the World Trade Center. That’s right. One of the jokes in this scenario was that Homer needed to go to the bathroom, but the tower he went to had a “Out of order – please use next tower” (I know, as if there aren’t a zillion restrooms at the WTC).

Less than a day later, this episode of The Simpsons was yanked out of syndication, and didn’t air for years after. It joined a lot of TV shows, movies, and songs that were temporarily banned for obvious reasons.

 

But let’s get to the tragic day itself. I was scheduled to work at 10am on the 11^th, and I didn’t watch any news, or listen to any radio on my way to work. September 11 was only supposed to be the release date of Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft (Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was originally scheduled to come out that day too but that’s another story). So I listened to Dylan’s latest (I had an advance copy) right up to my parking in the Borders lot.

 

When I walked in to the store, one of my co-workers asked if I had heard the news. After nodding no, the guy (I think whose name is Chris) told me what happened. I didn’t believe him. I thought he had been watching an action movie like TRUE LIES on a monitor in the video section. But it wasn’t long before I realized he was serious. I was now one of millions that was shocked by this attack and couldn’t wrap our minds around.

 

A good deal of the morning dealt with finding out if all the people who worked at a Borders at the bottom of one of the towers were safe. Before this, I didn’t even know there was a Borders there. Happily, all of the staff had gotten out in time. I don’t remember much about the rest of the day except that the store closed early, and I went to my brother’s house, which wasn’t far away in Raleigh.

The rest of the week felt incredibly surreal. It’s a cliché, but it really did feel like time had stopped. Like many, I was scared of another attack. I kept worrying that we wouldn’t get out of 2001 alive. I listened to the Dylan album a lot, which was oddly one of his most comical works, but it did have the line “Sky full of fire, pain pourin’ down.” I also played the hell out of a bootleg copy of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” which had a number of lines that felt like they had been written for the occasion, particularly “Tall buildings shake, voices escape singing sad, sad songs.” Of course, neither of these albums were based on 9/11 as they had been conceived way before the date.

 

So these are things I think of every year at this time. It’s very difficult to believe it was 20 years ago as I bet most can relate. But no matter how long ago it is, when looking back at those tragic times, it will never not seem surreal.

More later...

Now playing at select theaters, virtual cinemas, and premiering on home video on October 2nd::

This documentary, which explores how Jimmy Carter’s love of music affected his life, campaign, and his term in office as the 39th President of the United States, is a sheer delight. It’s a jubilous experience to hear Carter discuss rock, soul, jazz, country, funk, blues, and classical music, and to see him jam to his favorites including The Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Dizzy Gillespie, Shirley Caesar, and many others – a veritable who’s who of ‘70s popular music.

The film begins with a clip of Carter quoting Bob Dylan – “He not busy being born is busy dying” – as he often did on the campaign trail, and Dylan’s influence is a dominant theme throughout the doc with Carter saying that his music helped him get closer to his sons, and that he was one of his best friends. Dylan, who appears in newly shot interview segments, is highly complementary of Carter as well saying that “There’s many sides to him - he’s a nuclear engineer, wood-working carpenter,  he's also a poet, he’s a dirt farmer  if you told me he was a race car driver, I wouldn't be surprised.”

But it was Carter’s friendship with The Allman Brothers, particularly Greg Allman and Chuck Leavell, that had the biggest impact on Carter’s political career as they performed at fundraisers that helped him greatly when his campaign had run out of money. Their endorsement of Carter meant that many of their fans were swayed to vote for him as well. Other artists such as The Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, and Jimmy Buffett followed suit.

“There’s some people who didn’t like my being deeply involved with Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan, and disreputable rock and rollers, but I didn’t care about that because I was doing what I really believed, and the response I think from the followers of those musicians was much more influential than a few people who thought that being associated with rock and roll and radical people was inappropriate for a President.” - Jimmy Carter

Then there’s the neat device of having musicians such as Nile Rodgers, Roseanne Cash, Bono, Willie Nelson read aloud Carter’s poems such as “Plains,” “I Wanted to Share My Father’s World,” and “Itinerant Songsters Visit Our Village.”

The film’s last half hour is concerned with the politics of Carter’s one term - i.e. the Chinese peace negotiations, the horrible Iranian hostage crisis, mounting inflation, etc. – but it still keeps coming back to the music as Carter retreats to a room alone in the White House, where Truman had his office, to listen to Willie Nelson, and think about his problems and make prayers.

While a great roster of interviewees including Carter’s son Chip, Greg Allman, Rolling Stone Co-founder Jann Wenner, Madeline Albright, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Larry Gatlin, add insights aplenty to the narrative, it’s Carter’s own recollections that are the meat of the matter.

Although it only clocks in at just a little over an hour and a half, the pleasures of this portrait of a peanut farmer that came to be the first President to embrace rock and roll are infinite. I could go on and on about them, but I’ll just leave you with this – if you like Jimmy Carter going in, you’re going to like him 10 times more at the end.

More later...