It's Just a Shot Away
I'm not normally a fan of rock docs. Shaky footage of a concert I never attended doesn't grab my attention. There are exceptions, of course. One of them, I discovered last night, is Gimme Shelter, which is playing at the Belcourt through Thursday.
I realize that most (all?) of the people who read this blog are already huge music fans, and that recommending such a famous rock film is like someone walking up to a Memphian and saying, "Have you ever heard of Elvis Presley?" But I'm going to do it anyway.
Charlotte Zwerin and David and Albert Maysles were shooting a documentary about the Rolling Stones and witnessed the infamous Altamont Speedway concert in which the Hell's Angels, the hired security force, killed a man. Obviously, the finished film became almost exclusively about the incident. Featured briefly in the movie is prominent 1960s Angel, Sonny Barger, who also makes frequent appearances in Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga.
Through the Zwerin and the Maysles brothers, the end of the 60s was caught on film. The idealized hippie culture of Woodstock and Haight Ashbury here looks sad and pathetic. These are not innocent, peace-loving flower children, just a bunch of people in weird clothes and unkempt hair. A guy wacked out on drugs harasses one of the cameramen. A white woman asks for donations to the Black Panther party and then wonders aloud why the government is trying to kill off the group when "they're just a bunch of Negros." When the scuffles start, Jefferson Airplane lead singer Marty Balin is knocked unconscious. The Angels beat people with pool cues. Two people die in a hit-and-run (not on film) and the film ends with video footage of 18-year-old Meredith Hunter stabbed to death. In the center of all of this is Mick Jagger, unsure of his responsibility and completely unable to control the situation.
It's almost like a home movie, really. A very well edited, poignant home movie that captures your family's deep, dark secrets. You see close-ups of Keith Richards' acne, Charlie Watts' uneasiness around the camera, Mick Jagger's uncertainty about how and when to play the rock icon role. In one scene, the Stones start dancing to their own music in a hotel room. In another, Jagger criticizes his responses in a press conference. Later he hits his head on the doorframe when he exists a trailer to sign autographs. The Stones are still cool in the film, but Gimme Shelter is not edited to highlight their sexiness and cool factor. In fact, the movie is less about the Stones and more about the end of an era.
So go see it at the Belcourt.
Comments
Any time you hire Hell's Angels as crowd control, make sure you pay them with beer.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 11:58:57 AMThis movie should be watched back to back with "Message to Love", the documentary about the Isle of Wight Festival. That way you can watch the whole hippie dream crumble in under four hours.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 12:09:40 PMI like the scene at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio where Keith has the Minnie Pearl's Fried Chicken. And the rotten teeth.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 12:22:53 PMGimme Shelter is nice, but I keep hoping that the Belcourt will land one of the once a year showings of Cocksucker Blues.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 12:37:41 PMOh man, those teeth were awful. Keith Richards really lives up to the British stereotype.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 12:50:21 PMI really wish The Belcourt would have a showing of "The Return of Spinal Tap".
Posted 01/31/2007 at 12:58:09 PMOr "Help!" - the less famous, not as good, but infinitely sillier counterpart to "A Hard Days Night."
Posted 01/31/2007 at 01:01:26 PMWow, Claire! You really know your stuff!
Posted 01/31/2007 at 01:21:49 PMAre you kidding? I have about 1% of the music knowledge of most posters on here. But thanks!
Posted 01/31/2007 at 01:43:59 PMWhat about Caveman, the cinematic masterpiece featuring Ringo Starr? I'd say it's better than Hard Days Night and Help! combined.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 02:53:33 PMWhat about Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the movie. Now that's a real piece of work.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 03:24:36 PMwhile we're talking about movies from the rock and roll stone age, rolling stones rock and roll cirus is pretty entertaining too. and it's on dvd!
Posted 01/31/2007 at 03:51:07 PMoh, except for the eric clapton parts of the show, because you know he sucks.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 03:51:52 PMWhen the hell are they going to re-release "Let It Be" on DVD?
Posted 01/31/2007 at 04:18:25 PMThe Belcourt should show Hated, the GG Allin doc.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 04:21:53 PMAnd man oh man that Sgt Pepper's movie is bad.
Sgt. Pepper's the movie is an improvement over the album in every way. John Lennon is an OK singer, but he's no George Burns.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 04:23:40 PMGood call Matt. They should show Hated back to back at the Belcourt with Live and Pissed. And they should hand out free bananas.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 04:26:53 PMOh oh, what about Magic Christian, also starring Ringo? Or How I Won the War, starring Lennon? Or Backbeat, starring Stephen Dorf as Stu Sutcliff?
Posted 01/31/2007 at 04:29:59 PMIt's no Caveman that's fer sure...
Posted 01/31/2007 at 05:45:28 PMFuck all that, they should just show That Thing You Do, the best rock and roll movie EVER!
Posted 01/31/2007 at 07:56:55 PMSpeaking of Let It Be, I've got my eyes on THIS.
Posted 01/31/2007 at 08:08:36 PMresponse to post: i am a big fan of rock docs, and gimme shelter is numero uno. awesome band+fucked up circumstances+maysles=celluloid brilliance. thanks for the belcourt tip-off. pox on every other film mentioned.
Posted 02/01/2007 at 12:07:15 AMthis film is incredible, and if you haven't seen other mayles brothers films go see them!!!!!. keith richards wears some cool alligator boots too.
Posted 02/01/2007 at 10:46:40 AM12 comments removed.
Posted 02/01/2007 at 11:31:09 AM