Oscar-winning musical chronicle that brilliantly captures the three-day rock concert and celebration of peace and love that became a capstone for the Sixties.
An intimate look at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival held in Bethel, New York in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000. This documentary features performances by rock bands and artists who were there, and a post-credits tribute to activists, performers and organizers who passed away since the original release.—Dan Hartung <[email protected]>
This definitive footage of 1960s hippie counterculture and its music is reprised and transcended once more via the medium of cinema. This documentary in a vibrant attitude of youth and rebellion and it also brings together super groups and artists such as The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, Jefferson Airplane, and many more over a three-day period of drugs, rain, peace and love. This film starts with the concert's conception and the first foundations laid to its finish and its inevitable dismantling. Entwined with interviews from the local townsfolk to hippie talk from the red-eyed flower people in this split-screen musical montage of some 300,000 laid-back, groovy star children.—Cinema_Fan
The film records the events of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, held for three days near Bethel, New York in August 1969. This features the participating performers and the reactions of residents of the community and of the 400,000 young people who attended. The recordings of the songs "Long Time Gone" and "Wooden Ships" by Crosby, Stills & Nash are heard as stagehands construct the platform on which the musicians will perform; meanwhile, the audience is seen arriving by the thousands. Festival promoter Michael Lang is interviewed, and rock promoter Bill Graham is seen giving advice on how to control the crowds. The performers appear in the following order: Richie Havens, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, The Who, Sha-Na-Na, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, Arlo Guthrie, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Ten Years After, Jefferson Airplane, John Sebastian, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Interspersed are interviews with members of the counterculture as well as nearby farmers, merchants, policemen, and other local people, some of whom do not appreciate the permission their neighbor Max Yasgur has given to have the concert on his farm. Other scenes include: a storm that drenches the audience, turning the field into mud; mud-sliding contests after the rain; the smoking of marijuana and use of strong drugs; the expression of anti-Vietnam War sentiment; brief shots of Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia; medical assistance and food being supplied by the Army; and the appearance before the audience of farmer Yasgur. The film concludes with a helicopter view of the massive festival crowd cheering.
