THE LAST WALTZ

I felt bad that I didn't review a Thanksgiving movie, so here's my over due Thanksgiving movie review...



This is the film that most people say is the greatest Concert Documentary film of all time. You got "The Band" playing their last gig on Thanksgiving Day, special guest Musicians, Interviews of The members of "The Band" and performances of them playing on The MGM Soundstage. Even though the film sounds like a masterpiece a lot of people criticize this film for so many noticeable errors. Levon Helm (The Drummer) said The Last Waltz was "The biggest F--kin rip off that ever happened to The Band" because Robbie Robertson (The Guitarist) was close friends with the director and produced the film and received all the money and didn't give his fellow Band members a cent of the films release. Is the film truly a masterpiece or is it just an overrated film with thousands of mistakes and poor performances? On With The Review...

I'm going to divide the review in 3 Parts, lets start with what defines a documentary, The Interviews.

THE INTERVIEWS
 

Martin Scorsese interviews members of "The Band", Robbie Robertson (Guitarist), Rick Danko(Bass), Levon Helm (Drums), Richard Manuel(Piano) and Garth Hudson (Organ). Each of their Interviews talk about their life on the road; what inspired them to become a band; who helped bring them to the top; and why they call their selves "The Band".

I think my favorite story in their Interview has to be when they talk about meeting Blues player Sonny Boy Williamson, because it talks about how much they enjoy listening to him play Harmonica and noticing that he was dying when they met him. I just find it sad and effecting. I also enjoy the tour Rick Danko gives to Martin Scorsese of the studio of where he's recording his fourth Solo Album, and while he's talking you hear one of his the songs "A Sip Of Wine" playing. The stories that "The Band" gives are just fun and interesting to hear. What I also found amusing in the Interviews is that Garth Hudson was the Bands teacher and they each had to pay him 10$ a week. I also find some of the Interviews effecting not just the Sonny Boy Willaimson story, but also Garth Hudson's speech on Jazz, and Robbie Robertsons closing Interview for the film.

The Interviews are interesting, but the person who gets interviewed the most is Robbie Robertson. Why can't they give the Band a decent amount of interviews as Robertson? They're treated like sidekicks instead of a Band. It'd be like if John Lennon portrayed his self as the leader of "The Beatles" in a documentary and make the fab four look like extras, which together they're all stars. That's what "The Band" is, there's no leading member they're just as equal as "The Beatles" are. Most of the Interviews seemed rushed because we only get a minute or two of Interviews before cutting to a performance. It feels like the Interviews are just thrown in here to remind the audience that it's a documentary. Even some of The Band members look worn out and tired especially Garth Hudson because Martin Scorsese interviewed him at 6 AM unannounced.

The Interviews are nice I just wish they put a little more time into it instead of feeling like they're just a footnote.

THE MGM SOUNDSTAGE


"The Band" plays two songs in the Soundstage scenes, each performance has a special guest playing with them.



The first song is "The Band's" most well known song "The Weight" played with "The Stable Singers". I was kind of hoping to hear this song in the Concert scenes, but this makes a very good substitute. You get to see "The Band" in the studio play a classic song; Robbie Robertson plays the Double Guitar; "The Stable Singers" sing in great harmony; the lighting is nice; and the cinematography does great job showing everyone’s solos in the song. I just wish there were better shots of Manuel and Hudson; they're sort of hard to see in this number.




The second song is "Evangeline" played with Emmylou Harris. This has to be one of my favorite performances in the film because we get to see the multiple talents "The Band" has. We see Garth Hudson play The Accordion; Rick Danko is playing the Violin instead of The Bass; Levon Helm is playing The Mandolin instead of the drums; and taking his place on the drums is Richard Manuel. Emmylou Harris is playing the acoustic guitar and singing most of the song with a voice that suits the song. Once again the lighting and the smoke gives the stage its fantasy mysterious look, and the cinematography not only helps with the look but also gives each Band member a good amount of screen time.



THE LAST WALTZ

This is the main performance in the Documentary. "The Bands" final gig at "The Winterland Palace" called "The Last Waltz" with "The Band" playing their hit songs with a horn band and special guest Musicians who helped them in their career.

Let's start with talking about "The Bands" performance since they're the stars. "The Band" do a excellent job with their singing and playing. When the film begins, we see "The Band" play their Encore performance singing a cover on Marvin Gaye's song "Don't Do It" and for those who don't know "The Band" we get close up shots on each member and their name appears on the Opening Credits Knowing that this is there encore performance it feels like the opening performance.

Robbie Robertson does a great job playing the guitar. I mean, he really rocks out every solo he's given. However, just like the Interviews, Robertson gets way too much screen time, which really ticks me off. Notice that he doesn't lead any of the songs it's usually the other band members that sing the songs, he just sings the back up vocals and introduces the next guest. By the way, did I mention his microphone was off the whole time? I guess since he's the Producer he can get away with anything including make himself look superior then the other band members and that isn't fair.

Rick Danko next to Levon Helm sings most of the songs when "The Band" is performing and I have to say he sings up a storm. When I hear him sing "It Makes No Difference" I get a bit emotional, when he sings "Stage Fright" he rocks the house. His voice is very powerful.

Levon Helm sings out his heart when he performs. He sings the opening song to the concert "Up On Cripple Creek", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Ophelia" all at the same time as he plays the drums. Just look at how hard he beats those drums and manages to sing and not look tired or out of breath. Now that’s a great drummer. In his book "This Wheels On Fire" it said the film was mostly dubbed by The Band members and special guest musicians and he was the only one who kept his actual concert performing voice in. If it's true that most of the concert was dubbed then I most honestly say they did a pretty good job because I wouldn't know the difference because they actually sound live. Plus that doesn't stop me from enjoying their performance because they sound awesome dubbed or not.

Richard Manuel sadly has less screen time then most of the other Band members. You'll see shots of him every once and awhile in a song but mostly he's hard to see. The only time when he leads a song is when he sings "The Shape I'm In". In the final song to the film he has a solo and sings beautifully, but we can't see him and we the audience can tell the cameras are looking for him.

Garth Hudson is like the wizard of "The Band" in this film. Most of the time in the film you just see his face and his back as he plays the piano keyboard. The sounds he makes on the keyboard are amazing and sounds like something from another world. He literally stole the show with his solo when "The Band" performed "Genetic Method/Chest Fever" and I get Goosebumps every time I hear his Saxophone solo in the song "It Makes No Difference".

Now lets talk about the special guests.

The first Special guest is Ronnie Hawkins one of the first people to help "The Band" with their career. He sings a cover on a Bo Diddley song called "Who Do You Love?". He's a lot of fun to watch and before he sings the song he sings a little bit of one of Bo Diddley's trademark songs "Hey Bo Diddley". Throughout his performance he looks like he's having fun; acting hyper; screaming like an animal; changing some of the lyrics to the song by adding "The Band" members names; and just singing the song his way.

Next guest is Michael McClure who reads a poem for 44 seconds and that's it. Why did he show up; what the hell is he saying; and why did they put that in the film? Well after that out of no where moment, the next Musical guest is Dr.John who walks in wearing his shades and flashy clothing and sings "Such A Night". Dr.John's voice sounds so cool as he sings the song; he plays the piano with a mean Jazzy tune; has a sweet Piano solo; and "The Bands" back up vocals to the song is catchy and makes you want to sing along.

Neil Young shows up singing "Helpless". Neil Young looks like he's stoned out of his mind and as he sings he stumbles on a few words; sings late; and had cocaine dripping out of his left nostril, which Martin Scorsese had to edit out during Post Production. It's not noticeable in the film, but if you look carefully you will see at least something dripping from his nose. Looking at Neil Youngs performances it's pretty clear that Drugs are a big part in the concert. Even though he was stoned as heck, he still managed to do a fine performance. He sung good and played the Harmonica beautifully. "The Band" did a great job once again with the back up vocals and Joni Mitchell (Off Stage) in the shadows sings with a haunting voice of the girl in the song.

The next performer is Neil Diamond singing "Dry Your Eyes". A lot of people say Neil Diamonds performance seemed out of place because his style didn't seem to fit the show and he himself kind of looks confused thinking why he's playing with them at such a big event .To be honest I didn't think he did a bad job. He was  at the concert because Robertson was producing Neils album at the time and since he's the Producer of the film he wanted to promote Neil. In the CD before Neil went on he said "I'm gonna do one song, but I'm gonna do it good".  He didn't do it good, he did it great. Once he starts playing, he literally becomes the center of attention making us the audience forget for a few minutes that "The Band" is playing the background music. 

It's now Joni Mitchell turn to sing and she sings the song "Coyote". This another performance a lot of people dismiss because her performance only slows things down and is not as good as the other performances. One of my favorite critic Roger Ebert doesn't even understand what she's singing about. I do kind of agree, her performance does seem to slow things down, but she didn't suck. She actually did fine.

Levon Helm sings "Mystery Train" with blues Harmonica master Paul Butterfield. Levon has that blues voice that fits the song and still doesn't look tired of singing and playing at the same time. Paul Butterfield has the energy of a train with his harmonica by giving the song it's blues feel and it's pace. His Harmonica playin almost does sound like a fast movin Train.

The Blues playin doesn't stop yet, not without Muddy Waters. Two days before the show "The Band" was thinking of not having him in the show. Levon Helm threatened not to play if they don't have him in the concert. Muddy Waters got to perform in the concert and let me tell you he's one of the highlights of the concert. He sings his best known song "Mannish Boy"; you got Paul Butterfield playin the classic Harmonica tune; and if you look at Levon Helm he looks happy to have him in the concert. Martin Scorsese doesn't use too much fancy camera work, it's mostly just zoom in and zoom out of Muddy Waters face, which I have to admit is nice camera work because the spotlight is immediately on him and that’s all you need.

Robbie Robertson is about to be in an epic guitar duet with one of the greatest guitar players ever, Eric Clapton. The two of them perform the song "Further Up On The Road". Eric Clapton sings the song and once again plays a mean guitar solo. Robbie Robertson had a big part in the performance because Eric's guitar strap was loose and Robbie Robertson took over immediately while he was fixing his strap plus towards the middle of the song Robbie Robertson completely upstages Eric Clapton with a killer Guitar Solo. If this was a guitar duel the winner would be Robbie Robertson.

This next performer had costume trouble and didn't want to be on stage at the last minute. They said his name, but he still refused to go on, but his manager literally kicked him on the stage. This performer is Van Morrison aka Van the Man performing "Caravan". Van Morrison (wearing his flashy purple suit) sings out his heart despite what happened to him backstage and brought the house down with his energy, kicksteps, and  fast exit, making Audiences go wild. He hadn't performed live in a few years and this was his ultimate come back.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti appears on the stage giving the audience a "Loud Prayer". Unfortunately he doesn't look like he has spirit and is just as pointless as Michael McClures Poem. Again, what’s the point in putting this scene on here? The final guest is legendary musician Bob Dylan. 15 minutes before he went on, he didn't want to be filmed because he was in the film "Renaldo and Clara" that was competing with this film. During an Intermission there was big negation going on with Dylan. Robbie Robertson told him his film can come out before this film and promoter Bill Graham convinced Bob Dylan to play. Bob Dylan agreed to be filmed, but only his last 2 songs can be filmed. Martin Scorsese wanted to shoot more performances of Bob Dylan, but he couldn't. His last two songs were "Forever Young" and "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" and I'll tell you his performance was one of the best performances in the whole concert. I really do wish there was more footage of him, but this will do. The final number of the concert is the song "I Shall Be Released" sung by "The Band" and their friends.  Bob Dylan was also nice enough to be filmed for this number. "The Band" and their friends also got help to do this song with Ronnie Wood from "The Rolling Stones" and Ringo Starr from "The Beatles". What a beautiful way to close the concert.

On the DVD there's a deleted performance of "The Band" performing. After the "I Shall Be Released" performance and before "The Bands" encore "Don't Do It". There was a Jam session with Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood and Carl Radle. This is something I suggest you check out after seeing the film because seeing all these musicians jamin together is epic; we see more of Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood; we get to see Garth Hudson play up closer then we did in the film; and get to see musicians who didn't perform in the film.

The Theme to "The Last Waltz" is music to my ears. It's a beautiful instrumental composed by "The Band" and is heard in the opening credits and closing credits. In the opening credits after the encore we hear the music as we pass people in front of The Winterland Theater and inside we see a couple Waltzing and then the empty room is filled with people Waltzing. In the end credits we see "The Band" on an empty stage playing different instruments and as their playing, the picture moves back away from "The Band" to a dark room with lights in a row.

"The Last Waltz" Rocks! Sure the film has it's noticeable flaws and Robbie Robertson takes all the spotlight, but it's still a great concert documentary film. Not the greatest one ever made, but it is one of the great ones, it's up there with the film"Woodstock". The Interviews are interesting; the music’s great;  the choices of the musicians is excellent; and the cinematography is amazing. I never heard of "The Band" till I saw this film and I'm proud to say I'm glad I was introduced to them this way, while also being one of the many events that inspired me to listen to this type of music.

RATING 4/5