The music that thrilled the world...and the killing that stunned it!
Features: DVD, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1), Additional Footage, Commentary
Called “the greatest rock film ever made,” this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour and features definitive live performances of “Satisfaction” and eight other Stones classics. When 300,000 members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hell’s Angels at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway, direct cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin immortalized on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade’s dreams into disillusionment. The Criterion Collection and Home Vision Cinema are proud to present the 30th Anniversary restored version of Gimme Shelter on DVD.
Gimme Shelter will include never-before-seen footage from the 1969 tour of the Rolling Stones performing “Oh Carol”, “Little Queenie” live, studio mix session, and “Prodigal Son”.
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Editor's Note
This documentary of the Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour has become a legendary, harrowing symbol of the tragic demise of the "Peace and Love" era. After a successful tour across the United States, the Rolling Stones gave a free December concert at Altamont Speedway in California with the Grateful Dead (not seen performing), Ike and Tina Turner, Jefferson Airplane, and the Flying Burrito Brothers (all seen performing one song each). The poorly planned show was fraught with problems from its inception. The band unwisely selected the Hells Angels motorcycle club to provide security, and after the pre-existing chaos was fueled by very visible alcohol and drug abuse, the bikers resorted to violence to keep the stoned, restless, and often naked crowd in line. The result: dozens of injuries and the on-screen stabbing of a young African-American man (during "Sympathy for the Devil," no less) by one of the concert's "staff security." In a manipulative but effective move, the Maysles brothers and Charlotte Zwerin filmed Mick Jagger in the editing room witnessing the on-camera murder for the first time. But aside from that unexpected drama, the film also works as a rock-and-roll document, capturing the band at their most relaxed, intoxicating, and electrifying.
Plot Summary
The Maysles brothers unwittingly captured the end of the 1960s as they documented the Rolling Stones' tragic 1970 free concert at Altamont, California. The backstage antics and the logistics that go into planning an event that was to be attended by 300,000 people pales as the Hells Angels fatally stab an audience member to death while Jagger helplessly performs "Sympathy for the Devil." Terrifying and electrifying filmmaking.
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Entertainment Reviews
 | Gimme Shelter - DVD Review By: Jeremiah Kipp - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 11/20/2009 6:42 PM | |
Prancing about onstage like some giggling, underdeveloped girl, Mick Jagger can barely control his audience with an ineffectual plea: "Brothers, sisters - we don't want this. We all want to have a good time. So let's settle down now or…or…or we just won't play anymore." While the Rolling Stones preen onstage and Jagger fiddles with his endless mane of bangs, the leather biker boys who comprise the Hell's Angels control the 300,000 hippies in the audience clamoring for attention and Jagger's skinny bod. This concert footage is intercut with scenes of the Rolling Stones' lawyer, bespectacled fussbudget Melvin Belli, as he organizes their free concert in California....read the full review |
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