Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
To cite Gimme Shelter as the greatest rock documentary ever filmed is to damn it with faint praise. This 1970 release benefits from a horrifying serendipity in the timing of the shoot, which brought filmmakers Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin aboard as the Rolling Stones' tumultuous 1969 American tour neared its end. By following the band to the Altamont Speedway near San Francisco for a fatally mismanaged free concert, the Maysles and Zwerin wound up shooting what's been accurately dubbed rock's equivalent to the Zapruder film. The cameras caught the ominous undercurrents of violence palpable even before the first chords were strummed, and were still rolling when a concertgoer was stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels that served as the festival's pool cue-wielding security force. By the time Gimme Shelter reached theater screens, Altamont was a fixed symbol for the death of the 1960s' spirit of optimism. The Maysles and Zwerin used that knowledge to shape their film: their chronicle begins in the editing room as they cut footage of the Stones' Madison Square Garden performance of "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and from there moves toward Altamont with a kind of dreadful grace. The songs become prophecies and laments for broken faith ("Wild Horses"), misplaced devotion ("Love in Vain"), and social collapse ("Street Fighting Man" and, of course, "Sympathy for the Devil"). Along the way, we glimpse the folly of the machinations behind the festival, the insularity of life on the concert trail, and the superstars' own shell-shocked loss of innocence. Gimme Shelter looks into an abyss, partly self-created, from which the Rolling Stones would retreat--but unlike its subject, the filmmakers don't blink. --Sam Sutherland
DVD Description
Gimme Shelter is the landmark documentary about the tragicallyill-fated Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. Only four months earlier, Woodstock defined the Love Generation; now it lay in ruins on a desolate racetrack six miles outside of San Francisco. Before an estimated crowd of 300,000 people, the Stones headlined a free concert featuring Tina Turner, The Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers and others. Concerned about security, members of outlaw biker gang The Hell's Angels were asked to help maintain order. Instead, an atmosphere of fear and dread arose, leading ultimately to the stabbing death of a fan. What began as a flower-power love-in had degenerated into a near riot; frightened, confused faces wondering how the Love Generation could, in one swift, cold-blooded slash, became a generation of disillusionment and disappointment.
Gimme Shelter has received a full restoration of visuals and audio, and ispackaged alongside an exclusive 36 page booklet containing snapshots and essays detailing the events at Altamont and the end of the Rolling Stones US tour in 1969.
Gimme Shelter has received a full restoration of visuals and audio, and ispackaged alongside an exclusive 36 page booklet containing snapshots and essays detailing the events at Altamont and the end of the Rolling Stones US tour in 1969.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a shockingly fantastic film. It was meant to start out as a filmed document of the Stones live comeback of '69 and instead, mostly, turned into a document of the Altamont Free Concert disaster. Indeed a young man was stabbed, Hunter Meredith was only 18.
I do object to Amazons review of this DVD stating, "the on-screen stabbing of a young African-American man (during 'Sympathy for the Devil,' no less)" In fact the song permormed at the time was 'Under My Thumb.' This sort of proves that Amazons reviewers don't actually watch the DVD's before reviewing them.
Still a fantastic film no less. The look on Jaggers face at the end, when he asks the film editor to rewind the section of film where Meredith Hunter is stabbed, shows total shock and empathy. And a short great scene I like where the camera pans across the studio to find Keith lying on his back behind the amps (for some reason) is quite amusing.
This film captures the Stones at the start of their live performances as we know them today. After a two and a half year absence from the stage they returned to a different musical world to the one they'd left. No longer did concerts last 30 minutes (although in the '69 tour they only played around 80 minutes a show, unlike other bands at the time clocking 2 hour concerts). The stage presences, the glam, Jaggers strutt all starts here.
I do object to Amazons review of this DVD stating, "the on-screen stabbing of a young African-American man (during 'Sympathy for the Devil,' no less)" In fact the song permormed at the time was 'Under My Thumb.' This sort of proves that Amazons reviewers don't actually watch the DVD's before reviewing them.
Still a fantastic film no less. The look on Jaggers face at the end, when he asks the film editor to rewind the section of film where Meredith Hunter is stabbed, shows total shock and empathy. And a short great scene I like where the camera pans across the studio to find Keith lying on his back behind the amps (for some reason) is quite amusing.
This film captures the Stones at the start of their live performances as we know them today. After a two and a half year absence from the stage they returned to a different musical world to the one they'd left. No longer did concerts last 30 minutes (although in the '69 tour they only played around 80 minutes a show, unlike other bands at the time clocking 2 hour concerts). The stage presences, the glam, Jaggers strutt all starts here.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
After years of reading about this infamous concert in various Stones bio's/ magazine articles etc. to finally get the chance to see it was an exciting moment. What can I say!? It's every bit as unsettling and brutal as I'd been led to believe. The idea of the film was to show the Stones on their tour of America at the end of 1969, culminating in a free concert, Woodstock-style, at a suitable venue, which eventually became the Altamont Speedway when no suitable venue would give them permission. What started as a triumphant tour as witnessed in the early footage at Madison Square Garden quickly degenerated into chaos. The film is of course, notorious for showing an audience member (18 year old Meredith Hunter) being stabbed to death near the stage while the Stones are performing. The film-makers didn't know at the time that they'd caught a murder on camera. To them it was just another of several unsavoury scuffles that had been raging throughout the day. Watching Jaggers face as he's shown the fatal blows in an editing room is chilling. Several other scenes leave an indelible impression. The hideous faces of tripping, scruffy looking, hippies (God, these people are ugly!), the explosive bursts of violence from the Hell's Angels, the argument between Jack Cassady of the Jefferson Airplane and an Angel when the bands singer Marty Balin has been beaten up for questioning the Angels heavy-handedness. In fact, you can almost feel the nasty vibe coming through into the room as you're watching. I'm not someone who is easily shocked but I was left in a daze when the film had finished. To see an actual murder on film, rather than seeing one in a work of fiction, is a totally different experience and I couldn't get the scene out of my head for nearly 24 hours. Altamont signalled the end of the 60's dream in the most brutal way possible and Gimme Shelter captures this superbly. So, not an easy watch then but utterly essential viewing.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
If you're a fan of the Sixties or the Rolling Stones, you simply have to have this video. This is the Stones at their best before it all went tragically wrong at Altamont when 18 year old Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death in front of the stage by Hell's Angels. For many, this free concert by the Stones at Altamont at the end of 1969 spelt the end of the Sixties and the flower power era. For that reason alone, this is compulsive viewing for devotees of the genre.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Novelist Christian Simpson
LOST YOUTH VOLUME 2 LONDON
"The most talked about true life novel of 2012 has arrived : Every Cambridge student is taking this novel underground to share with the masses... Read more
"The most talked about true life novel of 2012 has arrived : Every Cambridge student is taking this novel underground to share with the masses... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Geoff McDonald
Looking back at the notorous Altamont Rollings Stones gig
Great movie with cutting edge footing of the infamous gig. Amazing witnesses, crowds and music and Mick and Keith look the coolest pair in rock history even in the face of total... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Corinne
No shelter
A lot has been written about this event but for me somehow inconclusive, so I bought this DVD. It's a documentary, so the music is not the main focus. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Iain
Gimme Shelter
If your a Stones fan then this is a must to your collection. Brilliant DVD, you can feel the strange atmosphere, enjoyed every minute of it.
Published 10 months ago by Liz Spiteri
A Fascinating Insight Into Music History
"Welcome to the breakfast show", says Mick Jagger, in the performance that kicks off Gimme Shelter. Or maybe it was the one after. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Cookie0024
Increible documento
Espectacular documental que nos aporta una vision increible sobre lo que supone una gira de los Stones, y mas concretamente, la gira de 1969 y encima lo que paso en Altamont, todo... Read more
Published 17 months ago by JackCross
Gimme Shelter
Like a time capsule from the lost world of the 1960's. How on earth could anyone take themselves so seriously? "We're going to show the world how to behave". Great film though. Read more
Published 19 months ago by DJS
The end of open air freedom caught on film...
I've studied the reports & photos of this terrible episode in rock (& social) history but there's nothing like going there & this stark document of a December '69 free rock... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Tyrone
BE WARNED. THIS BLU RAY DISC WILL NOT WORK IN THE UK
This disc is region protected and will not work with any UK Blu Ray player.
Under the trades descriptions act I'm not sure if it's offer for sale in the UK is even... Read more
Under the trades descriptions act I'm not sure if it's offer for sale in the UK is even... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Paul Mitchell
Sad, but also compelling
For some Stones fans (including, it has to be said, me) this would be worth the money just for the shot of Keith Richard tapping his snakeskin boots in the Muscle Shoals mixing... Read more
Published on 1 April 2010 by Graham R. Hill
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
