Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter

UPC: 037429154526

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Drug Content]

Summary: This musical documentary concerns the Rolling Stones and their tragic free concert at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco in early December 1969. The event was all but destroyed by violence that marked the end of the peace and love euphoria of the 1960s. The night began smoothly, with the supercharged Flying Burrito Brothers opening up for the Rolling Stones and performing the truck-driving classic "Six Days on the Road" and Tina Turner giving a sensually charged performance. But on this particular evening, the Stones made the fateful (and disastrous) decision to hire the Oakland chapter of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang as bodyguards and bouncers. It was a foolhardy, careless choice that turned the night into an unmitigated disaster; halfway through the Stones' act, the Angels killed one black spectator, and injured several others who were present (including Jefferson Airplane's lead singer Marty Balin). In the film, we watch Mick Jagger -- ere an ebullient, charismatic performer of bisexual charm -- reduced to standing on stage like a frightened child with his finger in his mouth in wake of the violence. Unsurprisingly, the Grateful Dead refused to perform after the violence erupted; the picture ends on a despairing note, with the Stones repeatedly watching a film of the murder. Celebrated documentarians Albert and David Maysles directed and Haskell Wexler shot the film, with heightened instinct and control; as a result, this film is considered one of the greatest rock documentaries ever made. Stones songs performed include "Brown Sugar," "Under My Thumb," and "Sympathy for the Devil." ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Category: Culture & Society

Features: High-definition transfer of the uncensored 30th anniversary version, remastered and restored from the original
Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 Surround Sound mixes
Never-before-seen Rolling Stones 1969 performance at Madison Square Garden, including "Little Queenie," "Oh Carol," and "Prodigal Son," plus backstage outtakes
Audio commentary by directors Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, and collaborator Stanley Goldstein
Excerpts from KSAN radio's Altamont wrap-up, recorded December 7, 1969, with new introductions by DJ Stefan Ponek
Alamont stills gallery, featuring the work of photographers Bill Owens and Beth Sunflower
"The Rolling Stones, Altamont, and Gimme Shelter": A 44-page booklet with essays by Jagger's former assistant Georgia Bergman, music writers Michael Lydon and Stanley Booth, ex-Oakland Hell's Angels chapter head Sonny Barger, and film critics Amy Taubin and Godfrey Cheshire
Original and re-release theatrical trailers, plus trailers for Maysles Films' classics Grey Gardens and Salesman
Filmographies for Maysles Films and Charlotte Zwerin
Restoration demonstration

Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter

Format: DVD

Release Date: 11/14/2000

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 91 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1
0. Chapters
1. Opening credits [1:09]
2. "Welcome to the breakfast show" [4:20]
3. "Well done, Sonny" [4:33]
4. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" [5:39]
5. "Creating a microcosmic society" [3:32]
6. "You Gotta Move" [1:31]
7. "Wild Horses" [2:49]
8. "Brown Sugar" [1:55]
9. "Love in Vain" [4:29]
10. "It's like the lemmings of the sea" [3:35]
11. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" [3:27]
12. "Honky Tonk Woman" [4:13]
13. The show goes on [2:07]
14. "Street Fighting Man" [:02]
15. "They hit Mick" [3:41]
16. "Let it happen" [1:25]
17. The bummers begin [3:00]
18. "The greatest party of 1969" [4:54]
19. "The Other Side of This Life" [4:36]
20. "It doesn't seem right" [6:02]
21. "Sympathy for the Devil" [1:34]
22. "Everybody's got to cool out" [1:36]
23. "Why are we fighting?" [7:00]
24. "Under My Thumb" [2:26]
25. "He's gotta gun" [3:28]
26. "Gimme Shelter" [4:53]
27. End Credits [2:02]
0. Index
1. "more Than A Concert Film" [1:09]
2. The Stones Want A Film [4:20]
3. Capturing Their Reactions [4:33]
4. "special Qualities" [5:39]
5. Getting Releases [3:32]
6. Sartorial Influences [1:31]
7. "al Just Takes It!" [2:49]
8. "could It Be Good Enough?" [1:55]
9. "a Device To Get You Closer" [4:29]
10. "a Lawyer Is Needed" [3:35]
11. "remarkable Lady!" [3:27]
12. Synching Film In 1969 [4:13]
13. "the King Of The Torts" [2:07]
14. Al's Camera [:02]
15. "the Visual Turning Point" [3:41]
16. Technical Difficulties [1:25]
17. Editing Concerns [3:00]
18. "something To Live Through" [4:54]
19. Unofficial Honor Guard [4:36]
20. The Dead Elect Not To Go On [6:02]
21. "life Actors" [1:34]
22. The Critics Respond [1:36]
23. Distribution Problems [7:00]
24. "the Angel Way" [2:26]
25. "part Of The Film...inevitably" [3:28]
26. Mick's Biggest Criticism [4:53]
27. "the True Story The Woodstock Wasn't" [2:02]
0. Index
0. Local Color
0. "the Hell With You, Brother"
0. Kitty Genovese Stories
0. The Allure Of Celebrity
0. John Burkes, Rolling Stone Magazine
0. "what About The Media?"
0. Pete, San Francisco Hell's Angels
0. Sam Cutler, Road Manager
0. Sonny Barger, Oakland Hell's Angels
0. Photographer Jim Marshall
0. Emmett Grogan
0. Wrap-up
0. Bonus: The Rainbow Room

Michael Betzold

A dark counterpoint to the lovefest of the film Woodstock, this documentary about the Rolling Stones' 1969 American concert tour centers on the hallucinatory nightmare of the Altamont Music Festival. The free rock concert attracted 300,000 fans. The Stones hired members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang to conduct security, but the gang ended up implicated in a fan riot which left one person dead. Cinematographer Haskell Wexler's tremendous camera work captures the connections between the Stones' hypnotic and provocative music and the drug-addled frenzy of the crowd. Directors David Maysles and Al Maysles take a hands-off approach, and the result is a disturbing look at the hellish side of the 1960s rock & roll counterculture. Gimme Shelter is one of the most gripping concert films ever made, and one of the very few to examine the dangerous interplay between performers and live audiences. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Sonny Barger  Actor 
Jefferson Airplane  Actor 
Tina Turner  Actor 
Ike Turner  Actor 
The Rolling Stones  Actor 
Melvin Belli  Actor 
Albert Maysles  Director 
David Maysles  Director 
Charlotte Mitchell Zwerin  Director 

Country: USA