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I finally saw The Last Waltz


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You know, for The Greatest Rock Movie of All Time, it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.

 

Don't get me wrong, I liked it. It was good. But not the life-changing experience that I had hoped for. Maybe nothing could live up to that kind of hype. Still...

Neil fucking Diamond?!?!?!

 

And also, is there a reason that Robbie Robertson had to be in every damn shot? I know that he and Scorsese were buddies and all, but he coulda been a bit more judicious. I wanted to see a lot more Levon. And a lot more Garth -- who looked to be the most amusing guy in the film outside of Ronnie Hawkins.

 

Some amazing scenes and performances, but just too much Robbie. Too much of his ramblings and too much of his thin-sounding guitar.

 

Good movie, but underwhelming after all the build-up.

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You know, for The Greatest Rock Movie of All Time, it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.

 

Don't get me wrong, I liked it. It was good. But not the life-changing experience that I had hoped for. Maybe nothing could live up to that kind of hype. Still...

Neil fucking Diamond?!?!?!

 

And also, is there a reason that Robbie Robertson had to be in every damn shot? I know that he and Scorsese were buddies and all, but he coulda been a bit more judicious. I wanted to see a lot more Levon. And a lot more Garth -- who looked to be the most amusing guy in the film outside of Ronnie Hawkins.

 

Some amazing scenes and performances, but just too much Robbie. Too much of his ramblings and too much of his thin-sounding guitar.

 

Good movie, but underwhelming after all the build-up.

 

his guitar sound is one of my faves ever. especially the solo on 'it makes no difference'

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his guitar sound is one of my faves ever. especially the solo on 'it makes no difference'

 

He's a great guitar player, to be sure. But the thin tone, combined with all those pick squeals in every other measure got real tiring.

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There's an awful lot of nose wiping with the hands in that film. Sniff, sniff, wipe...sniff, wipe.

If you google 'cocaine' and 'last waltz' you'll find out way more than you ever wanted to know about the making of that film. After I read about it, the editing to erase the coke hanging out of Neil Young's nose during, what? Helpless? and his jaw going like he was grinding wheat, I just saw it a bit differently.

 

Not to take away from still being able to see all of those performers at that point in history. Man, I do love that.

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I am pretty sure that some of the music was rerecorded later in a studio. This kind of dampened my appreciation for the film, and many parts were edited out, including two jam sessions. Two jam sessions with the people who where there would have been amazing.

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I am pretty sure that some of the music was rerecorded later in a studio. This kind of dampened my appreciation for the film, and many parts were edited out, including two jam sessions. Two jam sessions with the people who where there would have been amazing.

 

We have talked about that before - it's probably mentioned in at least one of the threads below:

 

A thread about The Band

Yet another Last Waltz thread

And still yet - another Last Waltz thread

 

It depends on who you believe - Levon or Robbie I guess.

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Two jam sessions with the people who where there would have been amazing.
The two jam sessions are pretty uneventful and sort of mediocre. I am sure they would have brought the movie to a complete halt (not unlike the Neil Diamond footage.) There are great performances in the Last Waltz including Van the Man and Muddy Waters....

 

LouieB

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As you say:

 

Two loose jam sessions then formed. "Jam #1" featured The Band minus Richard Manuel playing with Neil Young, Ronnie Wood and Eric Clapton on guitar, Dr. John on piano, Paul Butterfield on harmonica and Ringo Starr on drums. It was followed by "Jam #2" with the same personnel minus Robertson and Danko. Stephen Stills, who showed up late, took a guitar solo and Carl Radle joined on bass.

 

The DVD features a commentary track by Robertson and Scorsese, a featurette, Revisiting The Last Waltz, and a gallery of images from the concert, the studio filming and the film premiere. A bonus scene is footage of "Jam #2", which is cut short due to the fact that they had run out of replacement sound sychronizers for the cameras after ten hours of continuous filming
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Wasn't Dylan's appearance at the end awesome though? The way he came in and changed things up. The smile on Danko's face throughout is worth the watch. What a voice he had. It Makes No Difference just might be the best broken hearted song.

 

Richard Manuel is the trippiest - talking about how they'd go the the store with the overcoats...you know coming from Canada and all. Way too much! Another amazing talent gone too soon.

 

Matty

 

www.myspace.com/mattylyons1

www.myspace.com/breezygrass

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It depends on who you believe - Levon or Robbie I guess.

 

Well some may recall a year or two ago a bootleg from that concert called the "Lost Waltz" surfaced, and I was lucky enough to find pieces of it online. I distinctly recall watching the an unedited version of "Acadian Driftwood" with the bass being out of tune and the vocal harmonies being particularly off on the chorus. I'm sure that wasn't the only one, I'm sure some of the songs that made it on to the film also suffered from similar maladies.

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I love the movie, but my favorite music film

Festival_express.jpgis......oh, and my man Danko is wonderful in it.

 

The scene with Danko, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Janis jamming is great. I've never seen anyone as messed up as Danko was in that scene.

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Wasn't Dylan's appearance at the end awesome though? The way he came in and changed things up. The smile on Danko's face throughout is worth the watch. What a voice he had. It Makes No Difference just might be the best broken hearted song.

 

the dylan footage & it makes no difference are hands down the highlights for me. i wish the original had included hazel though. dylan in his rock star phase is the tops

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The scene with Danko, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Janis jamming is great. I've never seen anyone as messed up as Danko was in that scene.
Messed up is an understatement. It was downright distrurbing....he looks like death warmed over...

 

LouieB

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Well some may recall a year or two ago a bootleg from that concert called the "Lost Waltz" surfaced, and I was lucky enough to find pieces of it online. I distinctly recall watching the an unedited version of "Acadian Driftwood" with the bass being out of tune and the vocal harmonies being particularly off on the chorus. I'm sure that wasn't the only one, I'm sure some of the songs that made it on to the film also suffered from similar maladies.

I remember reading the film editors had a hard time with Stage Fright and It Makes No Difference because they didn't want it to look like the tracks were overdubbed. That's why they're a lot of those great shots from behind Danko when he's singing.

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