Called the greatest rock film ever made, this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway, Direct Cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin were there to immortalize on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade’s dreams into disillusionment.
Cast
Mick Jagger
Keith Richards
Mick Taylor
Charlie Watts
Bill Wyman
Disc Features
New high-definition digital transfer of the uncensored thirtieth-anniversary version (with exclusive Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround sound mixes, and DTS-HD Master Audio surround and stereo mixes on the Blu-ray)
Audio commentary featuring directors Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin and collaborator Stanley Goldstein
Performances by the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden in 1969, including “Oh Carol” and “Prodigal Son," plus backstage outtakes and footage of the band mixing “Little Queenie"
Audio excerpts from KSAN Radio’s Altamont wrap-up, recorded December 7, 1969, with introductions by then DJ Stefan Ponek
Altamont stills gallery, featuring the work of renowned photographers Bill Owens and Beth Sunflower
Original and rerelease theatrical trailers
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film critic Amy Taubin, music writer Stanley Booth, Jagger’s former assistant Georgia Bergman, music writer Michael Lydon, ex-Oakland Hell’s Angels chapter head Sonny Barger, and film critic Godfrey Cheshire (NOTE: Barger’s piece does not appear on the Blu-ray edition)
Jun 25, 2009 Robert Koehler takes a long “second look” at Death of a Cyclist in the summer 2009 issue of Cineaste, sizing up Juan Antonio Bardem’s 1955 political melodrama in terms of Spain’s national identity and the legacy of neorealism. Check it out on the magazine’s http://www.cineaste...
by Michael Lydon Nov 13, 2000 In the fall of 1969, I landed the coolest possible writing gig: touring with the Rolling Stones on assignment from The New York Times (the Times rejected the 100-page piece I turned in, but radical Ramparts printed it). The tour across America was a wild...
by Amy Taubin Nov 13, 2000 Gimme Shelter documents the last ten days of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 North American tour, from the band’s ecstatic appearances at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving weekend to the disastrous free concert on December 6th at the Altamont Speedway near San Francisco. An estimated...
by Stanley Booth Nov 13, 2000 The first words we hear are Sam Cutler’s: “Everybody seems to be ready, are we ready?” We were nowhere near ready for what was to come, there at the bitter end of the ’60s. I remember that rainy day so well, when the opening scene of Gimme Shelter was filmed. We drove...
by Georgia Bergman Nov 13, 2000 By the end of the summer of 1969 my life with the Rolling Stones had taken on a fairytale quality. The Stones were the Lost Boys and I was Wendy. True, Brian Jones...
by Godfrey Cheshire Nov 13, 2000 Gimme Shelter is the film I've seen more than any other. I guess you could say I was obsessed with it for a spell, back when. I saw it first during its premiere New York run, in late 1970. Back home in North Carolina shortly thereafter, I followed it through the celluloid food chain...
by Ralph "Sonny" Barger Nov 13, 2000 All the opening bands had finished playing, and it was time for the Stones to come out. The sun was still out and there was plenty of daylight left. The crowd had waited all day to see the Stones perform, and they were sitting in their trailers acting like prima donnas. The crowd was getting angry;...