$20 Gets You One of the Greatest Rock Music Movies Ever Made

I was lucky enough to see the re-release of The Grateful Dead Movie on the big screen back on April 20, 2011 at the Century Regency on Smith Ranch Road in San Rafael. 

Shout! Factory has just issued the movie in Blu-Ray format to the general public.  First released theatrically in 1977, it took three years to complete after it was filmed (getting the sound just right, picking and choosing from all the great footage, putting it all together into one seamless, entertaining entity). 

Jerry Garcia was there the entire way – from planning to post-production, and his fingerprints are all over this. Jerry was actually in the production editing suite, getting his band’s music and the images he wanted just right.  He and the band were paying their own money to film and create the movie, which allowed them to take their time and do it just right.  And got it just right they did!

Filmed in October of 1974 at Winterland in San Francisco, it is a snapshot in time of San Francisco, its longest standing home-grown rock band and their fans, the deadheads. The band had been around for about nine years when this was filmed, and was heading into a self-imposed hiatus to rest and recharge after several grueling years.  These shows were to be their last for who knew how long, so the energy was just crackling for everyone involved, crowd included.  The band knew this to be the case, and hired the cameras prior to the shows to document something which may have been an end to an era. 

The movie begins with an animation sequence which took months of full-time work to get right.  This was in an era prior to computer animation – when each shot was done by hand, painstakingly, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month.  It is a pure visual joy, and truly a piece of amazing art.

We then segue into US Blues, the first Dead live footage of the movie.  The Blu-ray provides a new DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, which was the same mix used on the big screen re-release we all saw back on April 20, 2011, and this is the first time you can hear it outside of the theater.  You can also choose a DTS standard definition 5.1 Surround Sound mix or a PCM 2.0 Stereo mix; each of which was taken from the original master tapes of the shows.  All the sound mixes are great. At the moment I like this new mix, as it adds some cool crowd noise and other neat little things through my rear speakers that sounds excellent!

And the picture, in Blu-ray high definition, is just beautiful.  The difference is fairly subtle to my eye compared to the regular DVD release, but there is a difference, nonetheless; where I especially notice it is on the band shots on stage and the close-ups. 

As incredible as this Blu-ray of the movie is, this new release comes with a second bonus DVD (which is regular format, not Blu-ray) of extra songs that for one reason or another didn’t make it to the final movie, including Uncle John’s Band, Sugaree, The Other One, Spanish Jam, Mind Left Body Jam, The Other One, Scarlet Begonias, China Cat Sunflower, I Know You Rider, Dark Star and Weather Report Suite.  There are also various other odds and ends on the bonus DVD that really make it a worthwhile addition to the entire package.

So in a nutshell, this is a must-own purchase if you are fan of the Grateful Dead and have a Blu-ray player.   And who knows?  If you don’t know the Grateful Dead, maybe this movie will be the key to unlocking a whole new world of music to enrich your life.  At the very least, I think anyone can still enjoy this as a brief snapshot of San Francisco rock cultural history. 

Epilogue:  When I first screened this, I watched both the movie and the bonus DVD, back to back.  132 minutes and 175 minutes, respectively.  That’s 307 minutes, 5.11 hours, or in my case, 9pm Saturday night to 2:11am Sunday morning.  And I wasn’t even tired when I was done.

Track Listing (Disc 1 – Blu ray format):

1. Animation
2. U.S. Blues
3. One More Saturday Night
4. Bill Graham’s Crew Introduction (remember Bill Graham?)
5. Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad
6. Soundcheck (fun Phil Lesh scene here!)
7. Truckin’
8. Eyes Of The World
9. Ripped Off Fan
10. Sugar Magnolia
11. It’s Like A Continuous Trip
12. Intermission (refreshment break!)
13. Playing In The Band
14. Levy Gets In
15. Stella Blue (my favorite part of the movie)
16. Casey Jones
17. The Om People (Great example of the new DTS-HD 5.1 sound mix here)
18. Weirdness From He’s Gone
19. Morning Dew
20. Encore Break (who moved Bobby’s guitar case?)
21. Johnny B. Goode
22. It Must Have Been The Roses/End Credits

Disc 2 – (regular format)

• More than 95 minutes of bonus concert footage, including: Uncle John’s Band • Sugaree • The Other One -- Spanish Jam -- Mind Left Body Jam -- The Other One -- Scarlet Begonias • China Cat Sunflower -- I Know You Rider • Dark Star • Weather Report Suite
• Bonus songs transferred from the 16mm camera-original film negative
• Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix on all bonus songs, mixed from the master multitrack tapes
• Dolby Digital 2.0 audio mix on all bonus songs, mixed from the master multitrack tapes
• Visible Lyrics Option on all bonus songs
• “A Look Back” documentary film
• “Making of the Animated Sequence” documentary film
• “Making of the DVD” documentary film
• Television commercial for Mars Hotel album from 1974
• Multicamera and multitrack audio demonstration
• Extensive photo gallery of production notes, photos, film stills and other historical items from the Movie’s production