brilliant actors, brilliant editing

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.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

In this concert Roy Orbison was surrounded by an aristocracy of stars in their own right from a younger generation. But almost completely self-effacing they were there to pay tribute to the master himself and to be present at the great occasion. And what an occasion it turned out to be. The world is familiar with Orbison's classic songs recorded from 1960 onwards and most remember how he then sang them. The surprise was that at this, what was to be his last, concert he brought enhanced interpretations to his established classics There was more expression, sometimes in places more power and real unexpected drama. The climax at the end of Running Scared was absolutely electrifying. All participants paid verbal tribute in their own ways to Orbison in pieces to camera at the end. k d lang said it best: Orbison didn't sing songs, he sang epics. Of all that younger generation she was perhaps best placed to make that judgement.

Not only is the music great but it is a real joy to see all these famous artist just having a great time playing together! No one who has even a mild interest in Roy will be disappointed and of course those who love him probably already mailed tons of money to their local public television station to get the DVD during their fund raising! If you find a copy of it for sale somewhere I'd go for it. I found Bruce Springsteen and James Burton jamming during the finale was awesome. Elvis Costello plays harmonic and guitar and seeing him on stage with Roy it's not too hard to see who may have been the inspiration for his large eye glassed oddball look! And where else could you see K.D Lang, Bonnie Raitt and Jennifer Warnes as back up singers?

Saw this was coming on HDTV and tried to watch it. It could have been pretty good had it not been for the constant reminder that there were many other contemporary musicians performing there also. The camera is constantly and clumsily panning to show these has-beens who are almost faking orgasm to show the audience just how much they are "grooving to the music". But even this I could have put up with had it not been for the ever-present image of Bruce Springsteen with his continuous trademark under bite smile. Springsteen is shown so much that one would have to wonder if the narcissistic New Yorker foots the bill for the event. Another thing I didn't care for was the poor editing. I thought at times I was watching a computer generated show with new video added to old.

I own this on DVD, but to this day whenever it shows up on PBS (roughly every 24 hours, where I live, lol!), I am compelled to watch it start to finish.There is a phenomenal array of musicians on stage, all there to play with one of the greatest talents in musical history. It's quite possible that a lot of people think Elvis and Chuck Berry when they think of the start of popular rock and roll music, but Orbison's writing, musicianship (and that voice!) tower over the others of that era. The presence of all the other names doesn't make one think of a 'star studded' VH1/MTV made-for-TV extravaganza, but more a group of able musicians both paying homage and participating in a real musical performance, in concert with each other, not taking star turns even as they step up to play a solo or sing with 'the master'.All the players are fantastic and are thrilled to be there, but Springsteen in particular looks like a little-league 11-year old getting to play ball with Mantle, Ruth, Robinson and Aaron. His awe and exuberance at being there mirrors what anyone has to feel watching this show.(and a P.S. - no audio problems on my disk or on the televised version.)