Superb stuff. The Maysles brothers develop a unique, bold filmmaking style that's fascinating to watch and builds tension as it progresses; it starts out with an awesome performance of 'Jumping Jack Flash' and it only gets better from there. One of the best musical documentaries out there, a daring, outstanding film.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7274829.stm

I love the Stones, and the performances here are great fun, but you almost feel guilty enjoying the show because you know the tragedy still to come. I've read quite a bit on how this movie captures the end of the 60s, and I really felt this while watching it; there's an interesting duality at work here - in the MSG footage, the band is drunk with power, with frequent interruption from female fans, but at Altamont, the band comes face to face with what the Love generation is really capable of.

Meh.

Interesting documentary but an unfortunate, yet inevitable ending.

662

A provocative look at an out-of-control situation.

The cinematography told this brilliant story. Every scene and reaction was timed perfectly and fit the flow of this documentary. It ultimately unveils what a terrible idea this show was from the very start even though everyone had the best intentions in mind.

Boob deodorant

This is a documentary. This stuff actually happened. As much as I am indifferent to the Stones' music, definitely had swagger.

Not a huge Stones fan, but this was incredible.

I didn't find the first half of the film very compelling, it has some good concert footage but since I didn't like the band it was a little tedious. Once it gets to the infamous Altamont Free Concert things get really interesting. There's a lot of great footage of the enormous crowd, everything that went wrong during the event and some of the aftermath. I think the depiction of the final concert makes this movie well worth watching even for people who don't care about The Rolling Stones at all.

The apparently arduous set-up of a free concert, inter-cut with great performances of classic songs, keeps us anticipating the notorious Altamont show. It's an effective build-up to some amazing footage. What begins as a fun and celebratory party starts to show undercurrents of discontent, then all hell breaks loose as the swinging 60s give way to the sobering 70s.

Uniquely structured and throughout you feel as you're watching a train wreck with more and more train cars piling up behind it. Maddening and scary real.

The first half is a little shaky. While the performances are nice, the phone conversations are not, but I did like hearing the Brown Sugar demo. When the Altamont concert begins, this becomes a great film. And the very end, where we see the stabbing...gives me chills, man.

The Maysles brothers couldn't have had any clue what they were getting into when the Rolling Stones allowed them to film their tour. But they didn't just have luck - they had talent too. Showing the Stone's reaction to the footage as we see it ourselves is an inspired move, and truly drives through that Altamont signaled the end of 60s optimism. At the end Jagger is left defeated, realizing that things can and do go wrong.

Hippies, hippies everywhere. The entire knife slaying scene really makes this movie memorable and I actually said "holy shit" when they showed the replay of the footage. The performances aren't bad but compared to what the Stones are doing now they look like masterpieces.

#706

It's over...

It's amazing how well this doc was presented. The film uses much of its pre-Altamont footage to portray The Rolling Stones as irresponsible, secluded jokers and the meat of the film is the multitude of small mistakes that bred in the Altamont disaster. The framing device of the Stones watching the footage and seeing the events from the audience's POV is brilliant, and you can't help but feel for Jagger at the end as his jovial persona is stripped away, leaving a pair of sad, defeated eyes.

The day the music died indeed. The film chronicles the rolling stones as they watch the footage of them performing at the infamous Altomont. What's really fascinating is that even though there were so many reasons why there shouldn't have been a concert, they went and did anyway. The film shows the exact time when the sixties died - and that's really the films strength - that it works like a time capsule; displaying recorded history as it happens.

This is an important film, not only because it was used as key evidence in an actual homicide case. But it feels like you're witnessing the end of an era. The peace and love decade is turning in to violence and madness before your eyes. Altamont was an amazing contrast to Woodstock. The first half is very dull, but it pays off big time.

# 760

Some parts were quite fascinating. Others put me to sleep. The concert footage itself is something to see.

The first half is a bit of a yawner, but once the money-men get the go-ahead for the free Altamont show, it's absolutely fascinating...the concert scenes resonate with tension and danger and the filmmakers did a GREAT job of conveying that.

Nice and raspy. The scene at the end of Mick Jagger walking out of the producer's film looking numb with shock and devastated says it all. A companion piece to The Isle of Wight Concert film; a double death-knell to the '60's.

You see a guy get stabbed, and then Mick Jagger pretending to care. The concert footage surprisingly isn't that great. I think the Stones are more of a studio band.

this is where free love died.

This is not only a great concert film and not only a great documentary, but also a great thriller. The violence and threat of more violence keeps building until Mick Jagger comes face to face with a potential catastrophe. Jagger's shocked reaction while watching the film shows us he has just realized what we all now know, that this film documents the moment of death for the "peace and love" '60s.

One of the most terrifying films (Documentary or otherwise) I've ever seen.

A fascinating document and an interesting situation to ponder. The Stones' performances are a bit disappointing... very sloppy, and not in any kind of endearing way. Mick's swagger and strut are alternately captivating and ridiculous. I would have liked to see more of the other acts, as well.

A fascinating document of my all-time favorite musical act and the buildup to the explosive and notorious Altamont Free Concert. If there's any frontman in the history of rock who is perfectly suited as a charismatic leading man, it's Mick Jagger - his on-stage behavior is simultaneously ridiculous and electrifying, and the movie runs with it, devoting most of the camera's attention to him. The concert at the end is truly harrowing to witness.

Surprisingly not engaging for a movie with an on-camera knife slaying (yes, it's real)

The Altamont concert is definitely the most interesting part of the film, and it knows it.

Almost great, but diminished by the Maysles' perceived need to use arbitrary footage from the NY concert as padding for the first half of the movie.

The Maysles' discreetly noncommittal coverage of the Rolling Stones tour that culminated in a fatal stabbing at the Altamont free concert. The moviemakers adopt the safe, aloof role of johnny-on-the-spot reporters, and refuse to implicate themselves in the events beyond that. In doing so, they haven't exactly put all their cards on the table. Their cameras never catch as much as you'd like to see, but they catch enough to qualify this as a worthwhile, if sketchy, cultural document on the Stones

Interseting documentary about a good idea gone horribly wrong & ending in a murder caught on film;Oh bye the way it's all true;good 60's music in particular if you're a Rolling Stones fan

More effective as a slow-burn thriller or horror movie than a concert film, even when you know what's coming. The MSG footage is absolutely necessary to give this any sense of narrative -- showing the charismatic, larger-than-life Jagger captivating the audience, in perfect contrast to the lost young man at the end of the film staring hopelessly into a sea of humanity, weakly pleading with the Altamont crowd to "get it together."

The performances by the Stones themselves are fascinating enough to watch (and an incredible song by Tina Turner doesn't hurt either!). Building to Altamont, the fans are depicted as genuinely ridiculous; and by the end, as you watch the hippies leave Altamont, you genuinely believe you are seeing the end of the era of the Flower People. A slice in time, as a good doc should be.

769

Fear and loathing of documentary cinema. I love that there are no voice-over explanations and notes. Absolute classic. In the last couple of minutes, the age of Aquarius dies ...

Magnificent. *The Maysles brothers and Charlotte Zwerin did a true masterpiece. Not only is this a captivating concert film but also the growing terror at the Altamont concert holds you enthralled.

Terrible concert audio but shows some of the early, and much younger, Rolling Stones in action. Very Scary at the end.