Woodstock – 3 Days of Peace & Music
Amazon.com essential video
The three-day Woodstock music festival in 1969 was the pivotal event of the 1960s peace movement, and this landmark concert film is the definitive record of that milestone of rock & roll history. It’s more than a chronicle of the hippie movement, however; this is a film of genuine historical and social importance, capturing the spirit of America in transition, when the Vietnam War was at its peak and antiwar protest was fully expressed through the liberating music of the time. With a brilliant crew at his disposal (including a young editor named Martin Scorsese), director Michael Wadleigh worked with over 300 hours of footage to create his original 225-minute director’s cut, which was cut by 40 minutes … More >>
Woodstock – 3 Days of Peace & Music
5 Responses to “Woodstock – 3 Days of Peace & Music”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
It’s “R” rated, and I’m no prude, but the “F” word was said about 15 times past the point of being an effective expletive.
Otherwise, I think the editing was rather poor and it didn’t keep my attention.
Rating: 1 / 5
October 29th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
The first thing to note is one of the greatest ironies of the 60′s: that Sha Na Na—the favorite whipping boys of 70′s bashers/60′s nostalgics (for all intents and purpouses one and same), y’know, one of the villians Eddie Vedder meant to invoke in his sentinous rant “Against The 70′s”—actually appeared in this festival o’ peace, love ‘n flowers (and, just to thrust the middle finger at all ya boomer chauavinists, did a pretty damm decent performance)! The second thing is something this commiepinko pro-feminist dude has just gotta ask: if this was supposed to be the zenith of countercultural comittment to peace, love, social justice, yaddayaddayadda—then WHERE WERE THE WOMEN? Answer—apart from Joan Baez and Janis Joplin the only women here were shown, tellingly enough in a section of side b of this 2-side DVD, AS “THE BODIES BEAUTIFUL.” As a feminist writer said shortly after Altamont: “Women at Woodstock, we were a service industry.”
That being said, there WERE actually SOME performances that lived up to all the “Woodstock Nation” hype. First off, there was the Joan Baez rendition of a song about labor union organizer Joe Hill (whose working-class activism most likely went over the heads of 90% of the upper middle-class WN citizens), the Who’s “See Me, Feel Me” and cover of “Summertime Blues,” Arlo Guthrie’s “Coming Into Los Angeles,” (only now, after having watched MIAMI VICE, do I understand what “keys” meant in his context—yup, it’s about a drug—probably pot—smuggeler), Country Joe & The Fish’s “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag,” a tune that has gained new realavence in George Dubya Shrub’s so-called “war on terrorism” (subistiute “Afghanistan” for “Vietnam” and you’ll see what I mean). Apart from that, however, the whole thing proves this—we may indeed have to get ourselves back to the garden, but (as Rapestock 99 so clearly proved) Woodstock didn’t cut it.
Rating: 3 / 5
October 29th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I was expecting a musical DVD, not a history of Woodstock.
This was advertised as featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival,
They were not on this film.
Rating: 1 / 5
October 29th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I watch Woodstock on my old VHS tape I recorded years ago. It is not the best quality but I love it. There is a beauty about how Woodstock was; a feel that cannot be recreated. It is sad to think people buying the dvds will be hearing ‘fixed’ Woodstock music. It will take away from the feeling of the way it was. Please leave it alone. It stands on its own as a masterpiece. Some things should not be changed.
Rating: 2 / 5
October 29th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Can’t wait to get this in the mail. Love the documentary and this looks like a great box set.
Rating: 5 / 5