The Grateful Dead Movie

Filmed during the Retirement Shows (Oct. 16-20 1974)

Shown at the Theatres 1977

Rereleased on DVD in 2004

Pros

-100 minutes of bonus tracks :)

-Several nice Easter Eggs

-Great mix by Jeffery Norman

-Fascinating audio commentary

Cons

-The same red and blue lights get VERY annoying after a while

-Never was a fan of the intro cartoon

-Too many deadheads shown dancing instead of the music

Overall:9/10 Get this today!

This DVD is flat out fantastic.

The first disc includes the entire movie, is the original mix, a 5.1 mix, a 2.0 mix, and an audio commentary. If you have a sound system, the 5.1 mix is the tops, if not , I reccomend listening to the 2.0 mix rather than the original. The audio commentary with Susan Crutcher and John Nutt, both editors of the film, gives you a great idea of what the expierence of editing with Jerry was like, but is really only necessary to hear one or two times.

The movie itself is terrific, if only for the fact that it's 1974 Dead! I was never a huge fan of the opening cartoon by Gary Gutierrez, but if you're in the right "mindset" it may seem better to you. The short tracks of the film, including U.S. Blues, One More Saturday Night, Casey Jones, and Johnny B. Goode are all well played, but the real highlights are the meatier cuts, including one of my favorite Eyes of the World and my second favorite Morning Dew every, (Cornell is tops). The bits in between and during the songs are enjoyable as well, such as one fan's thoughts on being exploited (in which he says "well this will never make it into the movie, but if it did..." which cracks me up everytime), a guy's quest in getting backstage to meet the band, and of course, tons of high dancing deadheads. The dancing deadheads definetly get old after a while, especially when they are focused on for even minutes at a time. Also, all the footage of the band seems to be in mostly red and blue, due to the lights that were shining of them. After a while, you get used to it, but it is kind of odd, rather than the later View from the Vaults which were much more colorful. However, these are minor complaints, as the movie as a whole is terrific.

The second disc is all bonus material, most of which is fantastic. David Lemuiex did a terrific job picking this material, as he really made sure to pick out the songs that were great in 1974. The major highlights include a sparkling China->Rider, bouncy Scarlet Begonias, and a mind melting The Other Obe->Spanish Jam->Mind Left Body Jam->The Other One. There are three documentaries. The first is more interview footage with Jerry, Billy and Bobby, which isn't bad, but isn't really eye-opening either. The documentary on the making of the cartoon isn't great, but I like the Making of the DVD documentary, which appeals to the deadhead geekness in me.

Original Movie: 9/10

Bonus Footage:9/10

Overall:9/10

This is one of my favorite musical documentaries, and was so well put together that this is a definite must for all deadheads out there!