Starring: Bob Dylan, Albert Grossman, Bob Neuwirth, Joan Baez, Alan Price Directed By: D.A. Pennebaker Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: Docurama Number of Discs: 1 Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 04, 2000 Running Time: 96 minutes Theatrical Release Date: May 17, 1967
Description: When acclaimed documentary filmmaker D A Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, The War Room) filmed Bob Dylan during a three week concert tour of England in the Spring of 1965, he had no idea he was about to create one of teh most intimate glimpses of the rock legend
Amazon.com essential video: Both a classic documentary and a vital pop-cultural artifact, D.A. Pennebaker's portrait of Bob Dylan captures the seminal singer-songwriter on the cusp of his transformation from folk prophet to rock trendsetter. Shot during Dylan's 1965 British concert tour, Don't Look Back employs an edgy vérité style that was, and is, a snug fit with the artist's own consciously rough-hewn persona. Its handheld black-and-white images and often-gritty London backdrops suggest cinematic extensions of the archetypal monochrome portraits that graced Dylan's career-making early-'60s album jackets.
Pennebaker's access to the legendarily private troubadour enables us to witness Dylan's shifting moods as he performs, relaxes with his entourage (including then lover Joan Baez, road manager Bob Neuwirth, and poker-faced manager Albert Grossman), and jousts with other musicians (notably Animals alumnus Alan Price and Scottish folksinger Donovan), fans, and press. It's a measurement of the filmmaker's acuity that the conversations are often as gripping as Dylan's solo performances. Grossman's machinations with British promoters, Baez's hip serenity, a grizzled British journalist's surrender to the fact of Dylan's artistry, and the artist's own taunting dismissal of a clueless sycophant are all absorbing.
With the exception of the studio recording of "Subterranean Homesick Blues," the live performances (including five newly restored, complete audio tracks excised from the original film but included on the DVD version) are constrained by crude audio gear. Their urgency, however, is timeless, as is Pennebaker's film, a legitimate cornerstone for any serious rock video collection. --Sam Sutherland
Bob Reality Get to know the beginning of a monumental career, and the musician who created it, in this insightful and direct telling of a bit of Bob Dylan's early tour life. This is great!
Must have DVD for Dylan fans Absolutly a great DVD. This concert tour was the last before he went on his "electrial" tour. Both DVDs are excellent. This flim puts you right in the middle of the tour in England. If you enjoy the music of Bob Dylan, especially his early years, this is a DVD set you will play over and over.
the best one If you have to bye only one Bob Dylan DVD, please choose DON'T LOOK BACK DeLUXE EDITION,simply because it's wonderful. You can see an artist in his best performance who tries not to look cool because he is the quintessece of cool. Dylan in the 60's is the wish of any artist to be......... an unforgetable DVD, from the GREATEST AMERICAN ARTIST OF THE 20TH CENTURY..........
Dylan being Dylan This gives you a different view into Dylan showing both the positive and negative. Honest.
OK film let down by Dylan playing up to the camera and terrible sound and picture quality "Don't Look Back" is OK but not the masterpiece many other reviews would lead you to believe. Sound and picture quality are very poor, concert performances are attenuated (oh so frustrating!), and the verbal jousting of Dylan with reporters and fans becomes tiresome especially when we can see it's obviously just a put-on for the cameras.
Still it does capture some of the energy of Dylan at this time - just before he went electric - and the seediness of the touring life.
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