Truly Dreadful Film

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

In 1970, while a freshman in college, I purchased "Workingman's Dead", a studio album that was a snapshot of The Dead in that moment. Only recently did I learn that the album's sound was heavily influenced by CS&N. It's a great album, but it does little to help one understand the phenomenon that was The Grateful Dead.If we go back to "the garden", Woodstock in 1969--their live performance that was uninspired but natural--it is a good starting point for understanding the Experience that became the band's trademark. Woodstock had a freewheelin' energy and it reflected the anarchistic vibe of the counterculture. Unfortunately, that performance was also a portent of the consequences that befall those who abandon reason for the sake of experimentation or pleasure; and the LSD-inspired sloppiness of their Woodstock set was indicative of the drug-fueled illnesses that would end Jerry Garcia's life in his fifties."The Grateful Dead" does a good job of making this a documentary by showing backstage scenes, the group interacting with fans inside and outside the venue (Winterland), the crews setting up and tearing down, etc. But this film is about the legacy of a countercultural institution. And the live performances that were edited for this film shot in 1974 feel unself-conscious, organic and true to The Dead's oeuvre and style.Their music is a blend of folk country and psychedelia, reflecting Garcia's many musical influences, his personal style, and perhaps even his early use of the banjo. As is to be expected in their concerts, extended solos and jams are de rigueur.The film would get average marks if that was all it showed. But the fans, the Deadheads, were as much a part of the experience as the group they followed, so it is in showing the audiences that the film rises to more than a concert documentary. Shots of their lyrically dancing fans, and those possessed by frenetic intensity, are an integral part of the film. And they demonstrate how their performances were like a moveable Woodstock that continued for decades.Each performance was a celebration of the Deadicated for whom concertgoing was a way of life, a calling. Other bands had their groupies, but The Dead inspired legions of faithful attendees. Fortunately, this film does a fairly solid job of depicting the obsessive and transformational commitment of their followers, the Deadheads. We see the nearly religious devotion that was a gift, not deserved, in exchange for the gift of the band's preservation of an eclectic ideal.The photography is average, though comprehensive, but the sound is-- fortunately--quite good. Near the end, we see a banner proclaiming "Dead Don't Die". It's a prayer, perhaps, that flies in the face of reality, but it somehow helps quantify the spirit of the group and this film.

Hadn't watched it in 15 years. When it came out on Blu-Ray I had to get it - marvelous transfer. Wish I could say that I had seen them during this time period around '77. I was part of the crowd that jumped on the Dead bandwagon in the mid '80s. I was sixteen in '86 when 'In the Dark Came out'. The Dead were really popular at the high schools that I went to (Bullis, then George C. Marshall, VA) so I had been listening to bootlegs during the '84-'85 period when Jerry was in a coma and the band wasn't touring. Man, the day that the Dead were on the cover of Rolling Stone in '86 and they announced the Spring tour was one of the most exciting moments of my young life. I saw them probably 15 times over the next few years..

Simply put, if you weren't there, you'll have more fun reading Sister Carrie. As Jerry said, "God we make sh***y albums." You really had to have seen and done it for it to be of any interest (and that's what is strange about the Dead legacy. It will be forever gone when the last person to have ever been to a show finally passes on). This was the last show at Winterland before the Dead broke up (the first time) and before Garcia started using hard drugs. It really captures the weirdness though. I don't know, people keep telling me they went to shows for the music and to see Jerry Garcia, but for me those extravaganzas were like a nice, evening stroll through a Turkish bazaar on Mars. Stone cold, unadulterated, pure weirdness. It was pure weirdness in all its form, weirdness as a force of nature and not something trivial and silly. When the Dead rolled through town, the real weirdos came out of the woodwork for a giant celebration of strangeness. "When the going gets weird..."

They were the ONLY ones who did what they did.I think for people that don't know anything about The Grateful Dead (or but think they do, but their entire knowledge of the band consists of the songs they've heard on Classic Rock Radio, and that stoner kid in one of their classes) the hardest thing for them to grasp as they're watching this movie is that it Actually Happened.This is not Fiction, and it ain't CGI. All of those speakers are not Props. None of those people are Extras.The best part is - none of it was Planned. NOBODY in the Organization ever would have thought in 1965 that someday they would be as big as they were in 1974. At the time this movie was filmed, they (the Organization) were wildly out of control, and were needing to just STOP.These concerts were the last ones before the band took a badly needed year and a half hiatus from touring. When they came back to the road in 1976, they assumed the form they would pretty much take until 1995. Up to October, 1974 - they were in a continual state of flux. This film documents one of their peaks, even it it is on the down-side of it.What people who still believe in Corporate Media (older-type folks) and MTV (kids - most of whom believe the world MTV portrays is real) will never understand is that The Grateful Dead were so much bigger than all of that.Forget 'Casey Jones' (although the version on this film is Smokin') and 'Touch of Grey'. If you want a peak into the most important social phenomenon of the Twentieth Century - this is a good place to start.I've tailored this review towards people who don't know anything about the Dead, because those that do have already seen this film. I've watched this movie at least two hundred times since 1990. It hasn't bored me yet. It's a different film each time I watch it - much like the concerts I went to.Last advice - if you don't have a good sound system, don't bother. Wait until you can watch the movie at your buddy's house with the killer system. Watching this movie with the sound coming out of a TV set speaker is like having sex without a partner.TURN IT ON, TURN IT UP - and most importantly - RELAX! The worst thing that can happen to you is that two hours and twenty minutes after you push Play is that you'll like the Grateful Dead! (Imagine what your friends will think!) PEACE!