I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I was really pumped to see this one, but as I sat through one hour and 45 minutes of "The Bill Graham Show", my mood slowly deflated. If you have a Bill Graham fetish or you love Bill Graham, you will love this movie. If not, well...The problems include way, way, way too much Bill Graham. Over 50% of this movie is him. More music and less Bill, please. Also, shot selection of the band's performances is horrendous. I don't know if they were intentionally trying to be artsy, or they were covering up terrible camera work. For example, during It's a Beautiful Day, we see unrelated cover shots instead of the gorgeous female lead singer. During Jefferson Airplane, we see exterior shots from an outdoor festival. During Santana, we see Carlos for about 1 minute out of 15 because they're too busy showing the keyboard player's hands for 5 minutes. Last, but not least, the two songs they chose for the Dead were the lamest two songs they did during this era - Casey Jones & Johnny Be Good. I love the Dead, but that just killed it for me.Bright spots include Hot Tuna (with Papa John Creach), Quicksilver, Elvin Bishop, and especially Santana. If you're a Santana fan, you should definitely watch this movie.

The movie could theoretically be released on DVD, if someone can be bothered to work out all the legalities of getting the footage of all the different bands cleared.But an "expanded" edition is impossible. In one of the Grateful Dead books I have, it's said that the director had filmed entire performances by the various bands, and had always intended to make a sequel, but could never get funding to do so. He carried this footage around with him, every time he moved, but eventually reached a point during the 80's when he could no longer afford to pay for the storage fees. So he was forced to junk all of his outtake footage.

Considering so few films exist of this era, this is a must see and I too indeed hope it makes it to DVD. I am at this point searching out a VHS copy. I have the vinyl soundtrack and I enjoy hearing many of the tracks often. Real footage of the workings of a Bill Graham presentation, with the Dead, Quicksilver, Santana, etc is a unique experience.And to see Bill Graham in action. Worth the experience. He was one in a billion. Attending this particular event, most would have died and gone to heaven to be within a bongs smoke cloud whisper of the Fillmore East on this 3 day event. The closing of the Fillmore East in NYC. Luckily here in the Bay Area the Fillmore West still goes on strong.Truth be told. I saw this as a young teenager when it came out and on PBS once a few years ago. I would love to see it again. The feeling of the era is there and the music stands up well against memory. The Hot Tuna alone is superb. All in all a long hairs dream come true and in the film Garcia, Jorma and Jack and Bill Graham all look forever young. To be there once again in film would do everyone a fine solid.

An excellent in your face documentary about 60's rock promoter Bill Graham that chronicles the last days of his Fillmore West which he closed in 1971 along with the Fillmore East a while later. FILLMORE gives us a no nonsense look at the music business after the nirvana of the 1960's had evaporated. The musical groups that flourished in the open San Francisco atmosphere and elsewhere during the mid to late 60's, became "authoritarian", corrupted by power bought with success and money. When love of music became secondary to egos and business interests, Graham decided to get out of the business. And so after watching the daily drudgery of Graham having to deal with prima Donnas, the threat of cancellations and broken agreements, it's easy to see why he wanted out. On the other hand, when talented musicians like Boz Scaggs, Carlos Santana, Elvin Bishop and Jerry Garcia take the stage to do their thing, it's easy to see why he got into the business in the first place.