“BYE-BYE TO THE BAND”

By Raymond Benson

One of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed rock concert films is Martin Scorsese’s documentary, The Last Waltz, which was unleashed in the spring of 1978. The movie documents the final concert performed by The Band, the legendary session group for Bob Dylan and others that became a recording and touring entity in their own right in the late 1960s and early 70s.

The Band, hailing from Canada, got their start as The Hawks, the backup band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. By the mid-sixties, they were working for Dylan with the name change to The Band, and also started recording on their own (Music from Big Pink was their debut in 1968). At the time of their breakup, the group consisted of Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals), Rick Danko (bass, guitar, fiddle, vocals), Richard Manuel (keyboards, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboards, sax), Levon Helm (drums, guitar, vocals), and unofficial sixth member John Simon, who was their record producer and occasional musician.

By late 1976, Robertson had become weary of touring and wanted to do a final concert (and ultimately leave the group). The rest of The Band went along with it, even though they didn’t particularly want to end their partnership. Robertson enlisted the help of concert impresario Bill Graham, and they secured the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco for a “celebration” on Thanksgiving Day (November 25), 1976, that even included a turkey dinner for attendees. Both Bob Dylan and Ronnie Hawkins were invited to perform, but as the event was being planned, more guest stars were added, culminating in a who’s who roster of top musicians, including Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Muddy Waters, and others. Even more guests were filmed in studio settings later. (Not widely known is that Stephen Stills was supposed to join the concert, but he arrived late toward the end of the evening, only to participate in a group jam that was deleted from the final film. This can be seen as a bonus supplement outtake on home video versions of the movie.)

A mere six weeks prior to the concert, it was decided that the event should be documented on film, and so Robertson, impressed with what he’d seen of Martin Scorsese’s work and knowing that the man had been assistant director and co-editor of Woodstock (1970), called the filmmaker. Scorsese, busy with New York, New York (1977), somehow found the time to fit the shoot into his schedule. With minimum preparation, Scorsese hired such cinematographers as Michael Chapman, Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács, and others to strategize and film the complicated live show in which anything could happen.

They got the job done, and the result is indeed remarkable.

Scorsese and Robertson (also acting as co-producer) decided to intersperse the concert footage with backstage interviews, a tour of The Band’s recording studio and HQ, and a couple of extra performances shot on a sound stage with Emmylou Harris and the Staple Singers.

Indeed, The Last Waltz is a wonderful concert film—the photography and sound is exceptional and the performances are fun and enjoyable. However, this reviewer has always had a minor quibble with the movie—and concert films like it—when the flow of the concert is broken up by inserting backstage interviews. When compared to something like Stop Making Sense (1984), which is a Talking Heads concert from start to finish without interruptions, The Last Waltz feels choppy. Aside from that, The Last Waltz deservedly belongs on the list of four or five greatest rock concert documentaries.

The Criterion Collection’s new re-issue comes in two flavors—4K Ultra + Blu-ray Combo (2 disks), or the single Blu-ray only package. The movie is a new 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by Scorsese, and it looks beautiful. The 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio is supervised and approved by Robertson. There are two alternate soundtracks—the original 1978 2.0 surround mix, and an uncompressed stereo mix from 2001.

Two previously issued audio commentaries accompany the movie. Both feature Scorsese and Robertson and/or other members of The Band, the production crew, and performers Dr. John, Ronnie Hawkins, and Mavis Staples.

Most of the supplements are ported over from the previous 2002 “special edition” DVD, including the aforementioned “Jam 2” outtake, a TV interview from 1978 with Scorsese and Robertson and a featurette, “Revisiting The Last Waltz.” New to the Criterion edition is a recent half-hour conversation between Scorsese and Rolling Stone writer David Fear as they discuss rock concert movies in general, Scorsese’s history with rock music, and The Band’s legacy. The trailer completes the package, along with an essay by critic Amanda Petrusich in the booklet.

The Last Waltz is a must-have for fans of rock concert movies, The Band, Martin Scorsese’s filmography, and pretty much any of the guest performers who appear in picture (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton, etc.). The film documents what truly was, as Scorsese claims, “the end of an era.”

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