| | | "A Film by D.A. Pennebaker with Joan Baez, Alan Price, Albert Grossman, and Donovan!"
Features: DVD
When acclaimed documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, The War Room) filmed Bob Dylan during a three-week concert tour of England in the Spring of 1965, he had no idea he was about to create one of the most intimate glimpses of the rock legend ever put on film. Wanting make more than just a concert film, Pennebaker decided to seek out both the public and private Bob Dylan. With unobtrusive equipment and unlimited access, Pennebaker achieved an unprecedented, fly-on-the-wall glimpse of one of music's most influential figures--and redefined filmmaking along the way.Hailed as one of the best films about a performing artist ever created, Don't Look Back is more than a view into an extraordinary concert tour--Dylan's last as an acoustic performer. It is a window into the spirit of the 60s, and one of the poet-musicians whose words and songs defined it.
"Portrait of the young Dylan tearing the pop world apart!" Mikal Gilmore, L.A. Herald Examiner
"An endlessly fascinating film." NewsWeek
"One of the top 10 rock films of all time." Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
A raucous and intimate road movie of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, DON'T LOOK BACK may be the most influential rock star documentary of all time. D.A. Pennebaker's trademark cinema verité approach, with its comprehensive perspective, captures the paradoxical Dylan in alternating moments of confrontational belligerence and contemplative repose, all within the framework of the pop culture hurricane of one of the most publicized concert tours of the mid-1960s. Mobbed by frenzied fans and stalked by confounded journalists and music critics unable to penetrate his carefully evasive yet antagonistic persona, Dylan takes refuge with Joan Baez, his folk contemporary, and Albert Grossman, his juggernaut manager. As the tour progresses, a pattern emerges from Dylan's modes of expression, offering a glimpse of what would come to be a constant in his career: his perpetual redefinition of himself. Displaying the enigmatic performer's roles as both folk artist heir apparent to the Woody Guthrie throne and electric guitar rock pioneer who turned the Beatles on to pot, DON'T LOOK BACK preserves not only Dylan's musical genius but his inimitable, vital, and profound defiance of definition.
Plot Summary
The rock and roll documentary that launched a thousand imitations, D.A. Pennebaker's loose shooting style and focused interviewing paved the way for films of this nature; it details Dylan's celebrated 1965 tour of England and features appearances by Joan Baez and Dylan's manager Albert Grossman. The film also includes one-of-a-kind performances of "The Times, They Are a Changin'," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," and "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
| Features | Alternate Version Of The Subterranean Homesick Blues Cue Card Sequence | | Audio Commentary By D.A. Pennebaker & Tour Manager Bob Neuwirth | | Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo | | Bob Dylan Discography | | Cast & Crew Biographies | | D.A. Pennebaker Filmography | | Five Original Uncut Audio Tracks: It Ain't Me, Babe, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, & To Ramona | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Access | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: New Video Group |
| Release Date: 2/27/2007 |
| Running Time: 96 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1967 | | Catalog ID: 9875 | | UPC: 00767685987537 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: B&W |
| Cast & Crew | Alan Price - Featuring | | Albert Grossman - Featuring | | Albert Grossman - Producer | | Allen Ginsberg - Featuring | | Bob Dylan - Featuring | | Bob Neuwirth - Featuring | | D.A. Pennebaker - Editor | | D.A. Pennebaker - Director | | D.A. Pennebaker - Writer | | Donovan - Featuring | | Howard Alk, et. al. - Cinematographer | | Joan Baez - Featuring | | John Court - Producer | | Marianne Faithfull - Featuring |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"...Spiffy [video transfer]..." -- Rating: A 01/21/2000 p.111Chicago Sun-Times
"...A time capsule..." 05/01/1998 p.37 Rolling Stone
"Bob Dylan on the road in England, 1965...all hostile glamour and wired rock & roll charisma..." 11/27/2003 p.79 Mojo
"[Dylan's] restlessness to move beyond his folk troubadour phase is responsible for much of this film's crackling musical tension." 12/01/2004 p.62 Uncut
5 stars out of 5 -- "Watching it now is to see pop culture being born. It was Pennebaker's good fortune to be in the room at a moment of great significance." 03/01/2007 Entertainment Weekly
"[S]hot in black and white, with Dylan frequently in black moods and nearly always exhibiting white-hot creative power....[The documentary] remains a mesmerizing document." -- Grade: B 03/02/2007 p.55 Sight and Sound
"Unflinchingly real where other 1960s rock films dealt in fantasy, DON'T LOOK BACK is about more than music....The most objective portrait of Bob Dylan we've ever had..." 07/01/2007 p.88 Reel.com 10 of 10
What Pennebaker captures is the magic of the times and the magic of Dylan, as well as the rhythms of being on the road with musicians. Dylan and his fellow musicians - Joan Baez, the Animals' Alan Price, Donovan, folksinger Derroll Adams, and Dylan pal Bobby Neuwirth - are apt to break into song at almost any moment...What concert footage there is in Don't Look Back remains thrilling 35 years later. Performing songs that have evolved into classics, including "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," and "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," Dylan, at the top of his form, holds his audience at rapt attention. This final acoustic tour was, in some ways, the end of Dylan's halcyon days. The film climaxes with a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall. - Pam Grady
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"Don't Look Back" is a fascinating exercise in self-revelation carried out by Bob Dylan and friends. The portrait that emerges is not a pretty one...Indeed, those who consider Dylan a lone, ethical figure standing up against the phonies will discover, after seeing this film, that they have lost their hero. Dylan reveals himself, alas, to have clay feet like all the rest of us. He is immature, petty, vindictive, lacking a sense of humor, overly impressed with his own importance and not very bright...Dylan's songs give a deeper, more honest impression of their author. And I don't think this movie should detract from them. When Dylan sings, he has hold of something precious. It is only his pathetic private life, as he has revealed it in this film, that should be dismissed or regretted. - Roger Ebert
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