Word: waltzed
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...that he got out of bed as seldom as possible) a devotion to excellence. Given these factors and the group's immense popularity, (The Band's last concert, a gala Thanksgiving Day bash, was attended by 500 people at San Francisco's Winterland last year) this much-heralded "Last Waltz" gig would make a great concert film, right...
...Last Waltz has quite a few things going for it. It features not only The Band but a parade of rock stars the likes of which might only be found at an L.A. cabaret on a good night. With all that talent--most notably Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, and Neil Young--one might assume that it would take a king-hell bummer on the level of an indoor altamont to spoil this film. There is certainly no arguing over the quality of music in the film. Director Martin Scorsese's (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver) film...
...year career, this group produced some uncommonly rich music. Their best work demonstrates a literary appreciation of American myth and a ravenous affection for American pop songs; jazz, folk, hillbilly, soul and country music are all part of The Band's mix. In The Last Waltz, the group performs most of its best-known numbers. At times its members share Winterland's stage with such past associates and current cronies as Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Van Morrison and Emmylou Harris...
...Last Waltz concludes with Dylan, and Scorsese photographs him better than Dylan photographed himself in Renaldo and Clara. But the real star of the film is Band Guitarist Robbie Robertson, whose ability to project charm and sex on-camera can be matched by only a few movie stars. Robertson is so mesmerizing that one can almost forgive him a self-martyring speech in which he attempts to link himself with every rock star who has ever met a tragic death...
That speech occurs during one of the film's superficial interview sections, which probably should have been dispensed with altogether. The only other defect of the movie is the final sequence, which at tempts in vain to turn The Last Waltz into a statement about the end of the rock era. More crudely made concert movies, such as Woodstock and Gimme Shelter, needed sociological ballast to carry them, but this movie does not. In The Last Waltz, the music does...