Such a frustrating disappointment

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Purely Joyful Movie!

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The film is excellent, is uncensored, but with good breeding. That was the real life not only of the Rolling Stones, but of 90% of hippies in that period. In this film you can see the Glory of those golden years! Rolling Stones was not release this film officially, easy to figure out why! All rock stars are doing the same thing backstage, not only the Rolling Stones; When you're bored, Sex, drugs & Rock'N'Roll is the solution... The Rolling Stones had enough courage to put it on film! After seeing this movie, I've been thinking at "Fire and Loathing in Las Vegas" :) "Cocksucker Blues" was the title of a song Mick Jagger wrote to be the Stones' final single for Decca Records, as per their contract, but the track was refused by Decca and only released later on a West German compilation in 1983, although the compilation was discontinued and re-released without the song. You can find the lyrics of this track on the Internet, and you will see why Decca Records refused it... Of all the tours the Rolling Stones have made across North America, the 1972 tour is still remembered as the most outrageous, most provocative, most inventive musical outing the fab five from London ever performed. The film was shot cinéma vérité, with several cameras, making it a real masterpiece of those times. If you like real music, you must see this !

An "infamous" film, if you will - never released, but not exactly difficult to get your hands on if you are persistent.I eagerly anticipated all of the "controversial" moments, awaiting a festival of groupie abuse and substance indulgence. To my surprise, these bits proved to be dull and tiresome, the real gem in this film being the excellent live performances by The Stones.Years of such consistent, excellent music makes it all but impossible to refer to any Stones era as being "their prime", but the concert footage here shows them well and truly on form and, if you will, on song. It is almost criminal that performances with Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder have all but been buried and forgotten about owing to this film being buried.I hope one day that this gets a legal, cleaned up release. Edit out all the non-music stuff and just release the concert footage if nothing else, for the sake of all music lovers!

As an artifact of rock n' roll in the 70's this film is hard to beat. . The movie demystifies the band - Mick, Keith etc. seem extremely ordinary going about the day to day drudgery of being on tour. As far as the music goes this was the band at their peak both live and on record. I didn't realize what a good country/blues piano player Keith is. There are also a couple of interesting moments showing both Jagger and Richards composing. Visually, director Frank's purpose seems to be to re-create the pictorial equivalent of a heroin trip. The film is an at times almost unwatchable series of grainy images, disembodied voices muttering banalities, and freakish distorted faces. The in-famous sex/rape (?) of the groupies on the plane accompanied by the Stones playing cabalistic percussion says a lot about the attitude the group took to the various women who flocked to them. It is disgusting/haunting/ and comical all at the same time. Tough viewing but essential for any fan of rock music.

A couple of things at the start. The rating of five is purely because I can't accurately rate this movie. Enjoyment is based upon your love of the Stones. My feelings for the Stones is one of like not love. I do enjoy their music but I think that they are little more a money machine now with their interesting music coming out of the various side projects.This is the story of the Stones 1972 tour (sort of, director Robert Frank is interested in doing more than a straight documentary). Mostly its following the Stones from Hotel room to hotel room and performance to performance. Its the rich and famous interacting with the not so rich and far from famous, with everyone behaving badly. In its way its a sad story as Mick and the boys seem to drift aimlessly with in the confines of their cages. How they manged to survive it and, not go mad and continue on the road is probably a story that needs to be told. This story on the other hand is a bit dull and long at 90 minutes. It comes alive in fits and starts, mostly when we get to see one of the too few musical numbers (the Stevie Wonder/ Stones piece is amazing).This film is rarely screened since due to a lawsuit it can only be run once a year and only when the director is present. Its rather dumb if you ask me, but the Stones were unhappy with the result and how they are seen to be. Why this film is still restricted considering all thats passed in the 30 plus years since its filming is beyond me. At this point it couldn't hurt the boys at all, since all it does is give visualization to what we knew already.If you can manage to see this and you're a Stones fan do so. If you're not a fan you may want to give it a try, if for no other reason than its a unique and rare experience (due to the law suit that restricts its viewing).