The Complete Monterey Pop Festival - Criterion Collection

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The Monterey International Pop Festival, the three-day event staged in 1967 that has become one of rock music's most famous and in some ways greatest concerts, gets the royal treatment with this three-disc boxed set.

Material on two of the three discs has already been widely available. Monterey Pop, D.A. Pennebaker's 79-minute, 1968 film, effectively sets the scene for the festival, which took place during the fabled "Summer of Love," when the hippie ethos was in its fullest flower, especially on the West Coast. And while not all the featured performances are thrilling, those that are--principally by the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and the amazing Ravi Shankar--are worth the price of admission, especially in the high-definition digital transfer and new 5.1 mix seen and heard here. The same can be said for Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey, which appear in the boxed set on a separate disc and provide a much fuller look at Hendrix's and Otis Redding's incendiary sets (literally, in the former case).

Those two discs are also loaded with bonus features, including audio commentary by Pennebaker, festival producer Lou Adler (on Monterey Pop), and author Peter Guralnick (Shake!); audio-only remarks by some of the performers; photos; trailers; and other material. There's also a substantial booklet, filled with essays and photos. But it's the third disc, "The Outtake Performances," comprising some two hours of music that didn't make the final film edit, that will be of most interest to many viewers. The disc supplies a taste of some of the artists who didn't appear in Monterey Pop at all (the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Quicksilver Messenger Service), and a more complete look at some who did (the Who, Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas). A nice addition to an already very impressive DVD collection. --Sam Graham

Description

DISC ONE: "Monterey Pop" New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by D.A. Pennebaker. New 5.1 mix by legendary recording engineer Eddie Kramer, presented in Dolby Digital and DTS. Audio commentary by Festival producer Lou Adler and D.A. Pennebaker. New video interview with Lou Adler and D.A. Pennebaker. Audio interviews with Festival producer John Phillips, Festival publicist Derek Taylor, and performers Cass Elliot and David Crosby. Photo essay by photographer Elaine Mayes. Original theatrical trailer. Orginal theatrical radio spots. Monterey Pop scrapbook. Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition.

DISC TWO: "Jimi Plays Monterey" and "Shake! Otis at Monterey" New high-definition digital transfers, supervised by D.A. Pennebaker. New 5.1 mixes by legendary recording engineer Eddie Kramer, presented in Dolby Digital and DTS. Audio commentary on Jimi Plays Monterey by music critic and historian Charles Shaar Murray. Two audio commentaries on Shake! by music critic and historian Peter Guralnick: the first on Otis Redding's Monterey performance, song by song; the second on Redding before and after Monterey. Interview with Phil Walden, Otis Redding's manager from 1959 to 1967. Original theatrical trailer for Jimi Plays Monterey. Video excerpt: Pete Townshend on Monterey and Jimi Hendrix. Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

DISC THREE: "Monterey Pop -- The Outtake Performance" Two hours of performances not included in the original film, from the following artists: Buffalo Springfield performing "For What It's Worth, " The Association, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Blues Project, The Byrds, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Country Joe and the Fish, The Electric Flag, Jefferson Airplane, Al Kooper, The Mamas and the Papas, Laura Nyro, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Simon and Garfunkel, Tiny Tim, and The Who.

Customer Reviews:

4.5 Star... The Summer of Love happened 40 years ago this summer.......2007-08-03

Historical value: 5 stars; DVD collection: 4 stars

Let's start with the obvious: this collection is a vast improvement over the single DVD set of the movie previously available. DVD1 brings us that movie, in its original length (80 min.), and remains a fascinating time capsule of what happened that summer weekend 40 years ago. If you have the proper sound installation at home, you will enjoy the 5.1 mix of the performances to no end. Also quite interesting is the subsequent 40 min. interview of a couple of years ago with D.A. Pennebaker (the movie director--he of Bob Dylan fame) and Lou Adler (the festival producer), who in a nice little twist "interview" each other.

DVD2 collects "Jimi Plays Monterey" and "Shake! Otis at Monterey". The Hendrix piece is for me the more enjoyable one. Interestingly, prior to the footage of Jimi's actual performance of Monterey, there is a short introducory piece on him, including footage of Hendrix at a show in London, playing the title track of "Sgt. Pepper's Loneley Heart Club Band", which literally just had come out then. Fascinating!

DVD3 brings a two hour long hosh-posh of performances that were not included in the movie, and while it is enjoyable to watch this (such as Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, and more of the Who--including the mini-suite "A Quick One", the Mamas and the Papas, and Simon & Garfunkel, just to name those, I couldn't help but think to myself "I want more"! Surely there is tons of unused footage (I believe Pennbaker says at some point that they shot more than 500 hrs of footage, but don't quote me on that). One of the strangest MIA is of course the Grateful Dead. I caught about 2 seconds of their performance in the original theatrical trailer, which is included on DVD1, but otehr than that, there is absolutely nothing. How is this possible?

I watched DVD1 with my 17 yr. old daughter. Both of our jaws were on the floor watching (re-watching for me) the legendary "Ball & Chain" performance by Janis Joplin/BBHC, among others. It was fascinating and fun pointing out artists that she had heard of by name, but never actually seen perform. In summary, "The Complete Monterey Pop Festival: Criterion Collection" is far from complete, yet a must-have for any fan of rock music, and for any historian interested in looking what "the Summer of Love" looked like. That said, I can only hope that in due course more as of yet unseen performances from the festival will be released.

Where is the rest or it?.......2007-07-31

I bought this supposed 3-disc set for my brother as a birthday present. He called me now a week later to tell me that not only is one of the discs missing, but that the other material on the discs is out of order according to the menus and box. So what the heck did I pay all this money for. Criterion is a highly respected company as far as I'm concerned... and they totally blew it. I hope at least Amazon will give me some sort of exchange!

The birthplace of 60s Rock Festivals.......2007-07-24

The eqipment used to make this movie was only fair. HOWEVER, for good reason this my favorite. The performances of The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, and more, are terrific. It is quite fun to see Mama Cass's reaction to Janis Joplin's "Ball and Chain." The ending of the festival is fantastic-- Ravi Shankar's group plays the longest and most wonderful raga, or whatever one would call it. Have you ever listened to some performer-- and the performance is so incredible that at the end you stand up applauding? The performance has literally pulled you out of your seat? Well Shankar's raga pulled everyone out of their seat-- even Micky Dolenz of the monkees. I have owned the video for 20 years or so, and it is by far the best 60s rock concert I have ever heard.-- Sam Yulish, author of WHERE HAVE ALL THE HIPPIES GONE and THE HESITANT PSYCHIC AND OTHER STRANGE STORIES.

A cultural icon.......2007-07-19

The Monterey Pop Festival, held over three days in mid-June of 1967, just seems like one of those defining definitive moments of the Sixties, one of the era's cultural icons. And though at the time, the hippie countercultural movement in California had been around for a couple of years. this festival was really the first time that people from outside of California had really had any interaction with hippies, heard this type of music, and began adopting the wardrobe and lifestyle for themselves. It's also nice how the shots of the crowd juxtapose the flower children with more status-quo individuals, such as cops and traditionally-dressed people. They were able to mingle peacefully, in striking contrast to how everything seemed to erupt in flames at the end of the decade. And just like how most people outside of the area had never been exposed to the hippie culture before, so too had most people never heard a lot of the artists on the bill.

The film itself does leave a bit to be desired, since only a handful of acts get more than one song, but it's more about what the festival represented than who was included over whom, and which songs were excluded. It was meant to be shown in theatres as a feature film, not an exhaustive documentary covering every single moment of the festival. It's more like giving the viewer a representative slice of what went on, although I will agree that some of the shooting seems to have been the result of amateurishness and/or acid, such as how a good portion of "Today" consists of the back of Grace Slick's head. Probably the best performances showcased on the film are from Ravi Shankar (who has a very long, but amazing, concluding performance), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Otis Redding. Bonus features include a trailer, audio commentary, interviews, and a gallery of photos and PR materials.

Disc two contains the films 'Shake! Otis at Monterey' and 'Jimi Plays Monterey,' giving us the full-length performances from these two respective artists. For both of them, Monterey really gave their careers a boost; most white audiences, in America at least, had never even heard Otis, let alone knew who he was, and while Jimi was a huge star in England, he wasn't yet very well-known in his native America. Both of them are just bursts of energy and professionalism. Prior to viewing this, I barely knew anything about Otis Redding, though after seeing his hugely energetic performance, I'm definitely interested in hearing some more of his music. And as on the first disc, the second disc also contains commentaries, interviews, and trailers.

Disc three contains about two hours worth of outtakes, some of them from artists who weren't represented in the film at all, such as The Association, Al Kooper, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Laura Nyro, The Byrds (whose performance includes a famously horrible rendition of "Hey Joe"), and Buffalo Springfield (introduced by Peter Tork). There are also additional performances from artists already represented in the film, to give a more complete view, such as Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and The Papas (whose entire closing set is included), and The Who (who didn't really become huge in America for another two years and who were still not yet the killer live act they were to become after 1969). Unfortunately, there are also four songs by the novelty performer Tiny Tim. The space given up to his bizarre and rather annoying Dr. Demento-type music could have been much-better served giving more extra performances to a group like Buffalo Springfield or Big Brother and the Holding Company. The bands showcased on the afternoon of day two, the blues bands, also only get one number apiece. While I'm not really a fan of blues, I would have far preferred hearing some more music from them over even one song from Tiny Tim! It's also a pity how some of the bands have minimal or no surviving footage, such as The Association, who only have one song, and The Grateful Dead, whose footage is supposedly lost.

Overall, it's a great snapshot of that hopeful era in time, when people cared about peace, love, and changing the world, when music really mattered, long before the artificial vapid noise on MTV today, when all kinds of people and all kinds of bands could unite in a three-day festival without coming to blows, when there really were people who wore flowers in their hair and psychedelic clothing. Besides being a great representation of what the Sixties were all about, it's also bound to introduce the viewer to at least a few acts s/he hasn't been exposed to before and to expand one's musical horizons.

Great Rental, Lousy Purchase.......2007-07-14

Great film and content, but needlessly spread out over three discs and $20-$30 too expensive. The Monterey Pop film, Otis and Jimi sets, and performance outtakes are all great, but the disc devoted to Otis and Jimi only has about an hour's worth of film which could have easily been fit on to the other two discs or could have included more content to justify the whole extra disc and price. Spreading this much material out over three discs seems like a ripoff to charge more money for an extra DVD that's more than half empty. I'd highly recommended watching these to any 60's rock fan, but I'd recommend renting now and don't buy it until it's available at a deep discount or secondhand.

The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

GREAT Capture of BAD Vibes !
Pure insight at it's best
GREAT RESTORATION! GREAT DOCUMENTARY OF THE GREATEST BAND EVER!
Chilling, Thrilling, and Impossible to Forget
ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK N' ROLL MOVIES EVER MADE.

The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - Criterion Collection
Starring: Marty Balin , Sonny Barger , Melvin Belli , Dick Carter (II) , and Jack Casady
Director: Albert Maysles , David Maysles , and Charlotte Zwerin
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004YZFR
Release Date: 2000-11-14

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To cite Gimme Shelter as the greatest rock documentary ever filmed is to damn it with faint praise. This 1970 release benefits from a horrifying serendipity in the timing of the shoot, which brought filmmakers Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin aboard as the Rolling Stones' tumultuous 1969 American tour neared its end. By following the band to the Altamont Speedway near San Francisco for a fatally mismanaged free concert, the Maysles and Zwerin wound up shooting what's been accurately dubbed rock's equivalent to the Zapruder film. The cameras caught the ominous undercurrents of violence palpable even before the first chords were strummed, and were still rolling when a concertgoer was stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels that served as the festival's pool cue-wielding security force.

By the time Gimme Shelter reached theater screens, Altamont was a fixed symbol for the death of the 1960s' spirit of optimism. The Maysles and Zwerin used that knowledge to shape their film: their chronicle begins in the editing room as they cut footage of the Stones' Madison Square Garden performance of "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and from there moves toward Altamont with a kind of dreadful grace. The songs become prophecies and laments for broken faith ("Wild Horses"), misplaced devotion ("Love in Vain"), and social collapse ("Street Fighting Man" and, of course, "Sympathy for the Devil"). Along the way, we glimpse the folly of the machinations behind the festival, the insularity of life on the concert trail, and the superstars' own shell-shocked loss of innocence.

Gimme Shelter looks into an abyss, partly self-created, from which the Rolling Stones would retreat--but unlike its subject, the filmmakers don't blink. --Sam Sutherland

Description

Called "the greatest rock film ever made," this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When 300,000 members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hell's Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, direct cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin immortalized on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment.

Customer Reviews:

GREAT Capture of BAD Vibes !.......2007-09-08

There are two distinct parts to this great film, the first a standard rockumentary (and a good one at that) that focuses on the Rolling Stones and their recording and performing in the U.S in late 1969.

Fans of the Stones will love to see this band at the peak of their youth,influence and talent. Mick Taylor had just replaced the deceased Brian Jones bringing a far more professional guitar sound to the band. Taylor was a true musician, arguably the best axeman the Stones ever had. Mick Taylor's lead guitar runs brought so much to the band as their most acclaimed albums "Let it Bleed", "Sticky Fingers" and "Exile on Main Street" followed.The Stones are featured here live at Madison Square Garden with opening act Ike and (a very young and sexy) Tina Turner.

The second (and much more important) part of this film focuses on the Stones disasterous free concert at the Altamont Motor Speedway in Northern California. The real life crowd footage of this show is a fascinating look into the naivetee, the mind pollution of hard drugs and the loss of innocence and direction of the 60's Generation. The hippies at this show make "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" look like a Mensa festival- stoned on acid, irrational- these are the folks who think war machines can be stopped with peaceful vibes and flowers. And when minor situations erupt that could be handled more tactfully, the Hell's Angels security detail began to get rough with the overintoxicated and clueless concert goers.Very interesting is the interaction within the crowd as the mood starts to go bad.
Opening act the Flying Burrito Brothers attempt the old classic "6 Days on the Road" and have to deal with crowd violence. The Jefferson Airplane, also in their musical prime suffer the same fate.But headliners the Rolling Stones insist on going on with the show.

It's very interesting to see human weakness from all sides, the Hell's Angels clearly overreacting with fists and clubs to annoying stoned out fans is a lack of judgement with brutal consequence. More interesting is the impotence of the performers- a scared Keith Richard patting the back of the biggest nearby bodyguard, Paul Kantner shivering behind a microphone and attempting to use the crowd to shame the outlaw bikers, Mick Jagger trying to dance and ignore the mayhem around him while fans look on disgustedly. These are the ROCK STARS who thought they could preach peace and all would accept their gospel. To see these revered musicians appear so human and vulernable is worth the price of admission.The images that are captured are incredible, thousands of words cannot describe what cameras were lucky enough to catch.

There is debate on what happened to Meredith Hunter, an 18 year old who is seen with a handgun at the concert and then stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels. After watching fat naked hippies battered with pool cues, it is hard to defend anything the Angels did that day, but a jury acquitted several of the bikers of murder and YES unfortunately this young man did brandish a pistol at a rock concert, hardly a "peace and love" thing to do. The only thing undebatable is that this was a tragedy and a waste of life. Watch the movie and decide for yourself.

Great music, tense and chilling, It is sad that this was a real event but very fascinating viewing for most anyone, rock fans or those with historical interest for the era.

Pure insight at it's best.......2007-08-31

If you are a Rolling Stones fan and want to see them in concert footage at the absolute peak of their powers AND want to know what it must of been like to attend a free concert given by them in the late sixties with Hells Angels as concert security then this film/documentary is a must for any serious collector. Brilliantly captured in all it's raw power it encapsulates the end of the sixties a time that will never be repeated in music history. Great quality remastering of the original product together with 5.1 and DTS sound mixes makes it the perfect music time capsule.

GREAT RESTORATION! GREAT DOCUMENTARY OF THE GREATEST BAND EVER!.......2007-06-29

This documentary movie is legendary, but now that Criterion has performed a complete restoration of visuals and audio, it is really amazing! I still prefer some live versions of songs on this DVD then any other live versions released! This is the Stones in their prime! Watching this restored film on my 10 foot screen is like going back in a time machine to this raw and powerful concert. The Stones are in great form for the most part and there are some interesting extras. If you are a fan and do not own this.....BUY IT NOW!

Chilling, Thrilling, and Impossible to Forget.......2007-05-29

This is not merely one great rock documentary -- it is one of the finest pieces of documentary filmmaking I have ever seen. The directors and cinematographer have truly captured the wildness, the drugs, the sense of abandon, hope, mystery, fear, violence, and joy -- all of it wrapped in a remarkable rock music event marred by the Hells Angels' tragic violence.

The sense of foreboding as the filmmakers capture the haphazard planning for this free Altamont concert is palpable -- I love the way the Stones' lawyer, Melvin Belli (wearing a very wide tie), attempts to negotiate a last minute concert site. There are so many impossible to forget images -- the Stones' listening to a play back of "Wild Horses" at Muscle Shoals studio; the stoned-out kids moving from amazement to horror as the violence unfolds; the boys listening to Sonny Barger call in to a radio station and justify the violence because the fans were "messing with our bikes."

There is great onstage concert footage too -- the Flying Burrito Brothers kick it off in fine fashion, then Tina Turner turns in a sexy performance, practically deep-throating the microphone, but by the time Jefferson Airplane gets on stage you just know something is about to go very, very wrong.

As the violence unfolds, to the onstage antics of "Sympathy for the Devil," things get very weird. Mick, onstage, calling for cool. Fans crying, mouthing to Mick "why?" silently, Keith and the boys still riffing as the beatings mount -- all captured brilliantly by the filmmakers.

The final piece -- Mick and the boys watching the concert footage in the studio -- is equally priceless and equally revealing.

Bravuro filmmaking!

ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK N' ROLL MOVIES EVER MADE. .......2007-05-29

I will be writing a review on the legendary historic Rock n' Roll concert movie entitled "GIMME SHELTER" by the band that millions of fans and critics the world over call THE GREATEST ROCK N' ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD. I give you England's second most favorite sons and one of Britain's pride and joy's, T-H-E R-O-L-L-I-N-G S-T-O-N-E-S! "GIMME SHELTER" is a Maysles Films Inc. Production which was originally released in 1970 and directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin. As always, if I hear any new additional information concerning this legendary historic film or the artist, I will edit this review immediately so that you the consumer will get the overall best informative and most accurate review possible.

THE ROLLING STONES will forever go down in Rock n' Roll history and be remembered for composing and recording some of Rock's most sacred classic anthems of all-time. THE STONES have also delivered some of Rock's all-time greatest live performances ever. THE STONES 1969 World Tour is considered by many Rock critics to be one of the all-time greatest tours ever. THE STONES 1969 World Tour was a complete triumph for the band. However, in the end, THE STONES 1969 World Tour would also prove to be one of the most disastrous, tragic and most fatal tours in the history of Rock n' Roll.

Altamont 1969 was the last choice to hold a free concert just outside the Bay area. The first choice was Golden Gate Park, than Sears Point Raceway before finally settling on Altamont Speedway. Seeing the movie, in my opinion, this free concert was doomed from the beginning. When you have lawyers and legal B.S. to deal with, you will have nothing but chaos in the end as the movie will attest.

Mr. Ralph "Sonny" Barger is and always will be the President of the Oakland Chapter of the Hells Angels. He may not remember me but I met him years ago through a mutual friend while living in California in the 1980's. Our mutual friend is a member of either the Sacramento Chapter or the San Jose Chapter of the Hells Angels. Mr. Ralph "Sonny Barger now resides in the Phoenix, Arizona area and is now currently a member of the Cave Creek Chapter of the Hells Angels. Sonny describes the hell that went on at Altamont not only in the film but in his book. His descriptions make you feel like you were actually there and at the same time, make you wish that you were never there. To actually capture someone on film being stabbed to death in front of the stage during THE STONES concert before our very eyes is beyond disbelief.

THE ROLLING STONES, on the other hand, were cocky and arrogant, and for a very good reason. The band was on cloud nine, victorious from the success of the 1969 World Tour. Who wouldn't be cocky and arrogant knowing that their band was the greatest show on earth at that very moment. However, by the time December 1969 rolled around the corner, the band was unorganized and many of THE STONES entourage and personnel were making decisions without THE STONES consent or approval. When you see the film closely, you will notice right off the bat that many decisions were being made without THE STONES knowledge. Again, when you have many people involved such as law enforcement, lawyers and numerous personnel within THE STONES organization, there's bound to be a mess up somewhere along the way. As the saying goes, "IN 1969, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN. ONE NIGHT AT ALTAMONT, IT DID!

When THE STONES took the stage at Altamont on that dark and dangerous December night in 1969, little did they know that it would be one of the most horrific nights in the band's lives. I'm sure that THE STONES must have wondered if they would ever get out of there alive. I know that I would have.

When bands such as THE GRATEFUL DEAD, THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, SANTANA and THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS took the stage, the atmosphere was extremely violent resulting in fights and beatings taking place everywhere on site. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE'S own Marty Balin was beaten up as he jumped in the audience to break up a fight in front of the stage.

It was clearly obvious that the violent atmosphere was going to get worse as time rolled on. Rather than talk further concerning this legendary film, I would definitely hope that all of you readers out there will purchase this DVD movie and watch it for yourself in case you do not believe it. Believe me when I tell you that everything I am saying to you in this review REALLY happened. This film is by far, one of the greatest Rock n' Roll films ever made. When you watch it, you will see what I mean.

Thanks for reading my review and I truly hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have truly enjoyed writing it for your reading pleasure. I also deeply hope that all of you will read all of my other reviews in the near future when time permits. LONG LIVE THE ROLLING STONES! R.I.P. BRIAN JONES. Long Live Rock n' Roll. Rock out always and take it easy. Forever in Rock, John L.

All That Heaven Allows - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

TIMELESS
Pardon my highly symbolic deer
WONDERFUL FANTASTIC AND A CLASSIC
Still relevant after all these years.
What can one say

All That Heaven Allows - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jane Wyman , Rock Hudson , Agnes Moorehead , Conrad Nagel , and Virginia Grey
Director: Douglas Sirk
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005BH23
Release Date: 2001-06-19

Amazon.com

Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman were so successful in Douglas Sirk's Magnificent Obsession that they reteamed for this, his first melodrama masterpiece. Young hunk Rock is a strapping son of mother nature, a gardener who woos middle-aged, middle class widow Wyman to the snooty disapproval of her conservative social circle and embarrassment of her self-centered children. Wyman discovers a new life with his open-armed friends and back-to-nature lifestyle, but struggles with life-changing decisions in the face of social pressure and vicious gossip. Living the Henry Thoreau dream, Rock inhabits his personal Walden in a rustic country cabin by a bubbling brook, a dream house lit by a giant picture window overlooking an idyllic countryside where deer pose just outside the window. Wyman's elegant but sterile suburban home transforms into a tomb when she sacrifices her love for the "good name" of her children, and the lonely widow sees her future in the pale, colorless reflection of her TV screen. But don't despair just yet: Sirk's heroines are dynamic and resourceful and no Sirk melodrama ends without a heart-tugging, over-the-top twist. German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who championed Sirk as a master and a mentor, remade the film as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul decades later. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Jane Wyman is a repressed wealthy widow and Rock Hudson is the hunky Thoreau-following gardener who loves her in Douglas Sirk's heartbreakingly beautiful indictment of 1950s small-town America. Sirk utilizes expressionist colors, reflective surfaces, and frames-within-frames to convey the loneliness and isolation of a matriarch trapped by the snobbery of her children and the gossip of her social-climbing country club chums. Criterion is proud to present this subversive Hollywood tearjerker in a new Special Edition.

Customer Reviews:

TIMELESS.......2007-09-14

A beautifully written and acted story that is truly timeless. The DVD is expensive but worth having in your collection. Cuddle up with someone you love and a box of kleenex.

Pardon my highly symbolic deer.......2007-06-09

All That Heaven Allows is a melodrama by Douglas Sirk, and I had SO meant to watch a Douglas Sirk film ever since seeing Far From Heaven, so I was happy with my purchase. Turns out I couldn't have done better, as Far From Heaven seems to be almost entirely based on this movie. But we'll get back to that.

The deal here is that Jane Wyman [who most will remember from Falcon Crest], back when she was in her early middle age and quite vulnerable and charming, is Carrie, a widow with a son and daughter [constantly spouting Freud-lite] away at college. She's in one of those picturesque New England towns that has a rigid social order that it's hard for us to imagine now. Everyone expects her to marry Harvey, who it is said right off the bat will NOT want to have sex, and doesn't have more than one drink a night. So Harvey is obviously snoresville, and Jane wants more for her life, and though the movie doesn't outright say it, she is not ready to settle into a sexless existence.

So one day she has a short conversation with Rock Hudson, as Ron, who comes by every now and then to tend to her trees. He says he's super into trees, which she likes [not to mention that he's big, virile, strapping, and Rock Hudson]. The next time he comes over he invites her to join in and his friends at a dinner. She meets all his New England intellectual friends who read Walden [I'd say bolt at that point, but no] and speak Spanish, and there is discussion that Ron is their de facto leader, a man who is so self-confident and centered that they can all only work to be more like him. Carrie, bored to tears with her lifeless suburban existence [symbolized by the TV everyone wants her to get, so she'll "never be alone"], is suitably intrigued.

So soon they're falling into each other's arms [there is some extreme makeover: old mill edition action as well], and you can tell that they're having sex inside because we see a deer bolting across a field. Maybe he saw the copy of Walden. Anyway, NO ONE in Carrie's circle can believe that she's going to marry this GARDENER, and gossip shoots into the red zone. It's a little difficult for a modern audience to really understand what the big problem is, but apparently the pressure to marry within one's socioeconomic group was much bigger then, and much harder to resist. It's also a bit jarring to see Carrie branded as a sexually wanton woman, because the ONLY reason she could possibly like this tree guy is for his body. Even her children turn on her, throwing a fit about her leaving the family home, and her daughter's boyfriend dumps her because her mother is such a loose woman. It's hard for us to believe these people are really THAT superficial, and also that they CARE so much what other people think, but I guess they didn't have SELF Magazine back then.

Anyway, I'll let you discover the rest on your own, should you choose to do so. A lot of it goes exactly as you might expect, though there are a few things that are effective in spite of that [as my friend Dan says: "I like things that are really obvious, yet still WORK"], and I must admit that I was surprised by the ending, which I totally expected to go a different way, but remember, whenever you see a deer, nature and vitality are on the march. You might also keep an eye out for any earthenware you see that may or may not symbolize suburban domesticity.

So, obviously lots of people love this movie, and it is in the Criterion Collection [ahem, Armageddon], and I could admire it, but I didn't have too much of a feeling for it. Maybe it's just that this type of movie just seems way to predictable [though as I said, I was surprised by several things], and the psychology too strange, the characters too weak-minded. So for me, the primary point of interest to this movie was as an adjunct to Far From Heaven.

They share several familiar elements; most notably the love interest of the gardener, who even wears similar clothes [in fact, all the clothes here obviously inspired those in Far From Heaven], the best friend who probably isn't really there for you when the chips are down, the town gossip, the visit to the gardener's greenhouse and a special place where he goes, etc. It goes on and on. But, whereas Far From Heaven took it upon itself to bring all the repressed sexuality and repressive society from the background to the forefront, this movie is really just an expression of its time. It's beautifully made and controlled, but it's just not so much my thing, so for me this movie's primary importance is as an excellent point of contrast with Far From Heaven.

WONDERFUL FANTASTIC AND A CLASSIC.......2007-05-14

ROCK HUDSON AND JANE WYMAN ARE JUST GREAT TOGETHER IN THIS.I LOVE IT .

Still relevant after all these years........2007-05-12

All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955)

If you get a bunch of assorted critics and film snobs into a room and start them talking about the work of Douglas Sirk, the conversation will eventually devolve into the topic it always does: which of the two films Sirk made that are universally regarded as his best was better, All That Heaven Allows or Imitation of Life? (The debate is generally so close that even in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?'s survey of 1,360 professional film critics of the thousand best movies of all time, Imitation came in at 244, All that Heaven Allows at 245.) Well, I've now seen both of them, and I have to say I liked Imitation of Life more. But All That Heaven Allows is still a pretty fine movie, both for the stylistic quirks that make it such a critical favorite and for the satire on sanitized fifties life that it presents.

Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is an upperclass widow whose friends are encouraging her to get out a bit more. They even contrive to get her into the same place as often as possible with the town's most eligible bachelor. Cary, however, finds herself attracted to rough, blue-collar tree farmer Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), who'd done some gardening work for her. Romance blooms between the older woman and the younger man. While Ron's friends are warm and accepting, Cary's friends-- and her children-- are scandalized.

Sirk is sometimes guilty of making his characters shallower than they should be in order to get his point across more clearly, but at least he recognizes the importance of couching that point in a good story, unlike so many other seemingly-dissident filmmakers, and that makes all the difference. What I find most interesting is that Sirk's pastiche of effects here, most notably the expressionist color scheme and the famous framing shots, put me very much in mind of Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. (Betcha no one's ever made THAT comparison before!) Because of that, I think they may have had less of an effect on me than on most folks seeing the film for the first time; after all, I'm already used to them, and used to them in the capacity of attacking societal mores. But still, the story itself is still solid. A bit melodramatic, but then, Sirk was the King of the Weepies, no? ****

What can one say.......2007-03-13

Magnificent. I have 3 of the Douglas Sirk "spectaculars' just missing Magnificent Obsession.I have longed to own all of his melodramas from the 1950's. (I saw them the first time around) My only criticism is of Rock Hudson, (but I forgive him).Jane Wyman as usual was wonderful. He was always rather wooden, but for all of that I thoroughly enjoyed "All that Heaven Allows". The colour, scenery and story "WOW" real tear making stuff. I did see the Todd Haynes version titled "All This and Heaven Too" preferred the original. All the small mindedness of small towns.....on the whole thought it great, and can recommend it to other "melodramatic" film fans. A great tear jerker!

Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

So whatcha whatcha whatcha want?
If you like MTV vids and remix beats...
Almost perfect
Where are the Licensed To Ill Songs?
This is the best music DVD I've ever seen. Tons of fun.

Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology - Criterion Collection
Starring: Beastie Boys , Mario Caldato Jr. , Zoe R. Cassavetes , Sofia Coppola , and Eric Correa
Director: Adam Yauch , Evan Bernard , Adam Bernstein , Tamra Davis , and Spike Jonze
Manufacturer: Capitol
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004YZGR
Release Date: 2000-11-21

Amazon.com

Beastie Boys fans with a firm command of DVD angle and subtitle features will find the Criterion Collection's version of the group's Video Anthology a must. Augmenting 18 videos with more than 100 camera angles and remixes old and new, the 2-disc set brings Criterion's attention to detail and quality to bear on some of the most hilarious and visually creative music clips ever. In addition to hits such as "So What'cha Want," "Intergalactic," and "Shake Your Rump," the set also includes such lesser-known cuts as "Ricky's Theme" and "Netty's Girl." Finally, director comments, a mock talk-show appearance by "the cast of Sabotage" (the Beasties' spoof of '70s cop shows), and behind-the-scenes mastermind Nathanial Hörnblowér's "The Robot vs. the Octopus Monster Saga" lend further insight into the Beasties' creative process with their collaborators. Long may they tape. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

So whatcha whatcha whatcha want?.......2007-09-06

Way too cool!
I had no idea the Beasties had so many sweet videos! I'm no die hard fan or anything, but this is worth picking up just for the cool beats and amazing production.
I love Criterion, this is the only DVD of music videos in the collection that I know of. It offers some cool extra stuff to the songs as well, like alternate angles, remixes, storyboards, info, and more.
My faves have got to be Intergalactic and Sabotage, those are awesome. The Beastie Boys have fun rapping, they don't try to act gangsta or degrade women, which has became the norm nowadays. They left out their early hits though, like Brass Monkey, No Sleep til Brooklyn, and Fight for your Right to Party. Not sure why, oh well...
2 Discs, 18 videos, a fun time!

If you like MTV vids and remix beats..........2007-01-15

Basically you get a good selection of videos that you could have seen in from 1989 to 1998 or so on MTV or VH1. There's other goofy camera things to look at while you listen to the same songs. Then you can listen to the same songs over and over again with a different beat. It's 2 discs and each disc runs normally about 30 minutes a piece. I guess it's worth the money if that's what you want but it's kind of boring after watching it once. I think the original beats with the original videos are the most entertaining. When I bought it I thought it would be longer or just better because of all the hyped up talk on here about it.

Almost perfect.......2006-12-10

Great sound and video quality, amost every all yoy need for the perfect collection of beastie video, my only "down" was the exclution of geanial videos like jimmy james, time for living, root down (live in tibetean freedom concert", so wacha want (assassings mix).

I expect a re-edition with the new videos and "all" of the videos.

Where are the Licensed To Ill Songs?.......2006-03-24

There is absolutely no reason for leaving "Fight For Your Right", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn", "Brass Monkey" or other BB hits off this. What's next? A Prince anthology with nothing off "Purple Rain"? A Madonna boxset that leaves out "Like A Virgin"? Paul McCartney renouncing "Yesterday"?

Criterion does movie releases so well (OK they had to re-release "Charade" because the first version wasn't anamorphic) that one has to wonder what the heck happened here. It's insane to think someone actually approved the final version of this product - who cares about 45 different versions of "Shadrach" if the LTI songs are MIA? Get Solid Gold Hits instead - that CD/DVD set has the stuff that made the Beasties famous.

This is the best music DVD I've ever seen. Tons of fun........2006-02-25

The Beastie Boys are true superstars and this DVD proves how on top they really are. This anthology offers hours of play with multiple, exclusive audio tracks offered by a wide variety of different DJ's. It also has cool multiple angles and alternate video themes on the most popular tracks. Some stand-out mixes are the 'Webb 1' and 'Prisoners of Technology' remix of 'Intergalactic' and the 'Shawn J. Period' remix of 'Body Movin'. The 'Count Bass D' remix of 'Hey Ladies' is so funny and every mix of 'Sure Shot' is great. Be sure to watch and hear the remixes of 'Looking Down the Barrell of a Gun'. And; of course, there is 'Something's Got To Give', which is especially intense and thought provoking these days. I could go on forever about this incredible anthology; as many reviewers have, but I'll just be blunt. This is a must have for any ligit hip-hop fan. If you haven't seen and heard this yet you're missing out. Well worth the money to buy your own copy, but you can rent it online too. "So won't you listen!"

Average customer rating:

4.5 Star... The Summer of Love happened 40 years ago this summer
Where is the rest or it?
The birthplace of 60s Rock Festivals
A cultural icon
Great Rental, Lousy Purchase

Monterey Pop - Criterion Collection
Starring: Scott McKenzie , 'Mama' Cass Elliot , John Phillips (II) , Michelle Phillips , and Denny Doherty
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000E5LEWE
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Amazon.com essential video

The first great rock concert documentary by the filmmaker who invented the form. D.A. Pennebaker (who teamed up with Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, and other filmmakers here), fresh off his Bob Dylan documentary, Don't Look Back, captured the music and scene of the first real rock & roll festival. The Monterey Pop Festival of 1967, which laid the groundwork for Woodstock two years later, offered an amazing array of talent that was absolutely of that moment. And, as the intervening years have shown, this music stood the test of time: from the young Janis Joplin blowing the crowd away with "Ball and Chain" to an instrument-smashing performance by the Who to the surprisingly soul-stirring showing by Otis Redding. One particular highlight: the American debut of a little-known rock trio called the Jimi Hendrix Experience, which knocked the crowd out of its seats with a guitar sound that had never been heard before--and culminated with Hendrix setting his guitar ablaze and worshipping the flaming feedback. --Marshall Fine

Description

On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love, the first and only Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade's spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll. Monterey would launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast that included Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar. With his characteristic vérité style, D. A. Pennebaker got it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend destroying his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this timeless document of a landmark event.

Customer Reviews:

4.5 Star... The Summer of Love happened 40 years ago this summer.......2007-08-03

Where is the rest or it?.......2007-07-31

The birthplace of 60s Rock Festivals.......2007-07-24

A cultural icon.......2007-07-19

Great Rental, Lousy Purchase.......2007-07-14

Average customer rating:

Good Action
The Rock, rocks!!
The Rock starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage
unbelievable
5 stars for one line

The Rock - Criterion Collection
Starring: Sean Connery , Nicolas Cage , Ed Harris , John Spencer , and David Morse
Director: Michael Bay
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000059TPN
Release Date: 2001-03-13

Amazon.com

Between his high-octane debut, Bad Boys, and 1998's wannabe blockbuster Armageddon, hotshot director Michael Bay forged his dubious reputation with this crowd-pleasing action extravaganza. In it a psychotically disgruntled war hero (Ed Harris) seizes the island prison of Alcatraz and threatens to wage chemical warfare against nearby San Francisco unless the government publicly recognizes the men who were killed under Harris's top-secret command. Nicolas Cage plays the biochemist who teams up with the only man ever to have escaped from Alcatraz (Sean Connery) in an attempt to foil Harris's terrorist scheme. As one might expect, what follows is an action-packed barrage of bullets, bodies, and climactic confrontations, replete with enough plot contrivances to give even the most jaded action fan cause for alarm. It's a load of hooey, but the cast is obviously having a grand old time, and there's enough wit to make the recycled action sequences tolerable. If you're ordering this movie on DVD, be careful with the volume knobs on your home-theater sound systems, because The Rock could cause partial hearing loss and structural damage to your home. --Jeff Shannon

Description

A highly decorated, retired U.S. Marine general (Ed Harris) seizes a stockpile of chemical weapons and takes over Alcatraz, with 81 tourists as hostages on the San Francisco Bay isle. His demand: Restitution to families of soldiers who died in covert operations. The response: An elite Navy SEAL team, with support from an FBI chemical-warfare expert (Nicolas Cage) and a former Alcatraz escapee (Sean Connery), is assembled to penetrate the terrorists' defenses on the island and neutralize the threat before time runs out. The result: A fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller with a first-rate cast, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry bruckheimer.

Customer Reviews:

Good Action.......2007-08-26

Good action movie, very entertaining. However the story is not believable.

Corey Cotta, Author of All of Yesterdays Tomorrows.

The Rock, rocks!!.......2007-08-01

I love this movie! It came as a suprise to me because I'm not normally a big fan of the action genre. The story itself has levels deeper than the special effects and explosions. You care about the characters and what has and will happen in their lives. Okay, completely believeable, not so much, but that's the fun of the action genre!

The Rock starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.......2007-07-30

Fast action and non stop drama takes a viewer inside the haunting hauls of an old Prison and a former life spent there. Sean Connery plays a man who the Government wanted to forget...in this fictional setting he is deemed as the only man to have escaped from Alcatraz. Now a group of angry serviceman, distraught over the treatment of men left behind on special ops missions, has hatched a plan to launch biological weapons from the newly acquired prison and attack the Bay area. Ed Harris plays the leader of this rogue group and the only thing the U.S. government can do to stop it is to get back into the prison...somehow, someway and with a lot of help from the top bio-chemist named Stanley Goodspeed, who is played by Nicolas Cage.

Exciting military style thriller with lots of action and many heart stopping moments, The Rock is great and should perhaps be deemed a classic when compared to other action movies of this kind. It never seems unrealistic and With Connery, Harris and Cage it has a great cast.

unbelievable.......2007-07-08

I read all these reviews about how good this move is, and I am told that this was so good and I finally watched it. I must say that it is horrible. Whether it be the horrid plot, the over acting, or the ungodly car chase with the camera that couldnt stay focused on one thing for more than half a second, there wasn't one thing good about this movie. I think it's about time for Sean Connery to find something else to do. Because he sure didn't add anything to this movie. The only movie I've seen hokier than this was the new Die Hard, but at least that had some good acting.

5 stars for one line.......2007-07-02

I don't like Nicholas cage at all. He is one of the most annoying obnoxious people of all time. I cannot stand his voice or anything else. so I am not talking about the follow up line to the coolest line in this movie or in many other movies.

Do you remember when the man Sean Connery said the following line : "Losers complain Winners Go %&$# the prom queen." That was the best line I have heard in a while. That was great. As far as cage's follow up line who cares. Sean Connery is the man.

I know that wasn't much of a reveiw but that was great.

Jimi Plays Monterey/Shake! Otis at Monterey - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

The ultimate rock performance - Jimi plays Monterey
Muted?
Great cleaned-up version!!!
A GREAT MOMENT IN ROCK N' ROLL HISTORY!
The career perfornances of 2 legandary artists

Jimi Plays Monterey/Shake! Otis at Monterey - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jimi Hendrix , Noel Redding , Mitch Mitchell (II) , John Phillips (II) , and Janis Joplin
Director: D.A. Pennebaker , and Chris Hegedus
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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