PlatinumRead
Just so...so bad
Sexyloutak
Absolutely the worst movie.
Gutsycurene
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
brutusln
What's so fascinating about this film is how its music soars, despite the pot-fogged incidents that happen offstage, and despite poor concert production planning. Only great musicians of merit could survive this crap: An embarrassing mid-concert altercation between Steven Stills and a hostile audience member, all in full view and focus of the audience, after which Stills performs his set. Cringe-inducing interstitials of of wacked-out audience members-- from drug addict transient/philosophers with truant, abused, harmonica-chewing children, to poet wannabees with bad dentistry along Highway 1-turned-parking lot.Did it ever dawn on Crosby, Baez or Hendricks that they're wasting their time singing to the great unwashed? People who have smeared their faces with greasepaint, siphoned stolen gas by mouth and can't find their children? People who call attention to themselves at public concerts by running naked without having trimmed their pubic hair? Luckily these great musicians don't seem to let it get to them. (Except for Stills who walks into the crowd and mauls a psychotic loudmouth.)What becomes really clear is how naively the whole concert production was engineered. No parking. No rehearsal (as a bewildered Joan Baez looks about the stage for an ending after the 20th chorus of "Oh Happy Day".) No barrier between audience and performers-- anyone could jump in the downstage swimming pool and cause a ruckus at random. (The "swimming pool downstage" was a weed-fried concert promoter's whimsy-turned nightmare-- too odd to be believed, and would be unthinkable for today's uber-engineered concerts.) It's hilarious to watch a generation of brilliant, carefree artists step in their own crap because of faulty production design and engineering.This film is hideous and beautiful. Like a 1920's Montparnasse outdoor art show in a rainstorm. Or like an evening with David Crosby-- in a hot tub.
mike dewey
Yes, I have read some of the reviews of this docu-fest and some seem to try to make more out of this movie than they need to. The late '60's was a remarkably joyous time for me and millions of other quasi-hippies: people filled with idealistic dreams of a peaceful, environmentally sound world where we shared the wealth (and our pot!) with our brothers and sisters and disdained the corporate ladder syndrome and all its trappings! This movie is a microcosm of what was going on in '69, good or bad. Esalen was trying to do its own thing to try to help people make sense of the world and happened to throw a nice party by inviting the likes of Joni Collins, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash etc., the Combs Sisters, et al to perform. What ensues is somewhat less than spectacular camera work and some disjointed editing, but hey, it's a concert and all kinds of things are happening here that happen at 3-4 day gigs like this. This crew wasn't going for Academy Awards: they wanted to capture the festival not only in all its glory, but also in its shortcomings and inconsistencies.You see average Joe hippies ramble on at the mouth when interviewed, smoke pot, drink wine, frolic about in hot water spas and so on and so forth: much like any number of concerts in that era, whether in Denver/Boulder, Taos, Mt. Shasta, Vermont, etc. In my humble opinion, this particular concert film was a real delight. Crosby, Stills,etc. jamming on "Down by the River", uncut and turned loose was awesome; Joan Baez's endearing ballads with her wistfully vibrato vocal renderings were sheer delight. Other acts as well (like Joni Mitchell) were also a joy to watch.But the "creme de la creme" of the whole shindig was the glorious, climactic rendition of "Oh Happy Day". The initial collaboration between Joan Baez and the Combs Sisters group ultimately extended to every musician in the house getting onto the stage for one of the most naturally rousing and spiritually uplifting live performance I have ever seen. Everyone in a 3 mile radius seemed to be lifting up his/her voice to the gospel strains of this most joyous hymn. It was an admixture of all sorts of people and races: Carefully coiffed urban Soul Sisters; long-haired hippies, folk singers and whatever from rural and communal enclaves; straight-type promoters, producers, etc. from the business world. The spontaneous and uplifting music totally united this diverse and energetic group, kind of reminiscent of Ravi Shankar at Monterey in '67. For a short time, at least, peace was amongst us.
John Seal
The music isn't exactly my bag, but there's no denying the historical interest of this low budget film about a low budget festival that took place in 1969 at the Esalen Institute, one of the premier psychobabble headquarters of the day. If you enjoy footage of folks flying their freak flag high, this is for you. Fans of folk music will be in heaven, but others will find the sounds pretty thin gruel--and sometimes, especially in the case of Joni Mitchell's caterwauling, the musical equivalent of a high colonic. Neil Young looks and sounds cool, especially on an organ-heavy number early in the film, and the Edwin Hawkins Singers are excellent. The film has a grittiness that sets it apart from Woodstock, and the small nature of the crowd--and the fact that the 'stage' is one side of a swimming pool--make this a valuable record of what seems to have been a genuine communal experience.
MRT-7
This concert film -- a documentary of the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival -- pales in comparison to "Woodstock" production-wise, but nonetheless features powerful footage of a number of the '60s best, incl. Joan Baez ("Song for David", "Sweet Sir Galahad"), Joni Mitchell ("Woodstock") and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young" ("4 + 20", "Judy Blue Eyes"). Never released on video and sometimes hard to find (it's frequently shown on latenight TV) but well worth the effort.
