Woodstock - 3 Days of Peace & Music (1970)

BUY THE VHS - not the DVD

Read the other reviews.

I bought the VHS to see if it was better than the DVD. It is! Better video AND sound quality. Warner Home Video did a poor job on the DVD version. It is NOT truly widescreen (as you will see if you buy the VHS). It is more pan-and-scan full screen. You WILL get a better movie by buying the VHS and copying it to DVD.
July 7, 2008

Woodstock "Raw" Three day event

They say that Woodstock is coming out on blue-ray in 2009, Fitting I since it will be the 40th Anniversary. But I do have a question for Warner Bros who own the outakes to the footage of the 1969 concert.

If there's a DVD worth of Jimi Hendrix performances not used in the original documentary but were edited and released to the public, Imagine what other performances exist of bands who performed at the concert.

If you read up on the making of the film, they say original runtime of the "first cut" of the film was 14 hours. I'd have to guess that there are more performances sitting in the vault waiting for them to be transfered and conformed to HD and mixed. It would be nice if they were available for download or it would be great if we could get them on DVD or blu-ray. There are other considerations that need to be considered. The artists, the producers of the film, as well as Woodstock Ventures would need to be compensated and that is probably the sticking point for all parties involved including Warners Brothers.

Come on Warners, hire a guy to oversee the release of these outake performances!

July 6, 2008

Greatest Concert Film Ever So Why No Reissue?

A great film, and would be a five star review based on content, but this is the same exact DVD released at the start of the DVD era, and there's no excuse for that. This would be one of the few films I'd actually watch the entire special features dvd, and with 296 hours of unused footage, there's bound to be some great deleted material in there, not to mention the chance to do "where are they now" interviews with not only the performers and event planners, but they might also be able to track down some of the audience members who gave interviews. It would be interesting to see how responsibility and parenthood affected their outlooks on life, and how many were able to retain the youthful optimism that made the event one of a kind. June 19, 2008

At heart,It's not really about the music

Well,

this film is something of a 'curate's egg'.... As a reminder of the hippy scene of the late 60's it delivers. [Although looking back now, the 'scene' seems hilariously self-absorbed and frankly cringe inducing in places].As a social documentary,I'd give it 4 stars at least


But as a concert film it is dull, too 'chopped up' and not really worth buying for repeat viewing. For example,the butchered set of Hendrix was played over footage of all the rubbish being cleared up....hmm


So if you're primarily a music lover,in particular if you like full un-interrupted song footage,I suggest you rent this and buy something else instead

All together now- 'no rain,no rain,no rain....'!




June 17, 2008

A Director's Cut Gone Wrong: Buy The CD Instead

As a non-drug user who remembers the concert, saw the theatrical version of the film in 1970, and has worn out records and tapes of the music, I was hoping to relive the visual experiences of the concert when I purchased this dvd. Unfortunately, the Director's Cut has butchered the original film. Scenes and performances have been altered, all for the worse. This dvd will sit on the shelf, and I will continue to listen to the cd. The Director's cut is revisionist at best.

Update--1 July 2008: If this review was not helpful to you, I would appreciate learning the reason(s) so I can improve my reviews. My goal is to provide help to potential buyers, not get into any arguments. So, if you only disagree with my opinion, could you please say so in the comments and not indicate that the review was not helpful. Thanks. April 4, 2008

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