On this day in 1941, one of the most important figures in rock and roll history was born.
Bob Dylan is as ubiquitous as The Beatles of Elvis Presley, but he’s always been less comfortable with it than any of those five guys.
His earth-shaking music changed everything. And it really wasn’t just pop music that was changed. He also managed to make us change the way we see the world.
Not only is he an amazing songwriter and musician, but he has quite a few great films circling his legend. Documentaries, narratives, weird concert films that were just barely officially released…it’s all at least interesting.
Let’s check out the five best.
DON’T LOOK BACK (1967)
Directed by DA Pennebaker
This is the one that started it all. It’s sort of an embarrassment to Dylan now because it shows him being kind of a jackhole. (Check out the scene with Donovan being crushed under the weight of Dylan’s talent for proof of that.) But it also chronicles the man at the height of his power. This was filmed during Dylan’s first electric tour of England in 1965, making him persona non grata to many folk purists, but a sudden pop hero to the rest of the world. He was bigger than he would ever be again. Then, before the movie came out, everything would come crashing down when he nearly died in a motorcycle wreck that would put him out of the spotlight for about a year.
Don’t Look Back, while not being the Dylan that everyone hoped for, showed the Dylan that they needed: cocky, brash, outlandish, funny and, above all, more talented than you.
DA Pennebaker has gone on to make many, many great rock docs including Monterey Pop, Down From The Mountain and Only The Strong Survive. If his name is on it, you know it’s most likely good.
NO DIRECTION HOME (2005)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
If you want to know even more about the man pre-motorcycle crash, check out this nearly four hour documentary by Dylan-fan extraordinaire, Martin Scorsese. It covers Dylan’s life basically from birth (although it really gets going around 1961) until his healing period after the crash. One word comes to mind when thinking about this movie: exhaustive.
Another word comes to mind, too: Engrossing. Even if you’re not a huge Dylan fan, you will be after seeing this. If there’s one person who can get you excited about something that you know nothing about, it’s Martin Scorsese…and his eyebrows. (Although, they don’t make an appearance in this film. Check out A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies.)
Scorsese has always had a hand on the pulse of pop music, but since the release of this film (and the Blues series just before it), he has started a second career as a rock doc director. Shine A Light (Rolling Stones) and Living In A Material World (George Harrison) seem to be just the tip of the iceberg for Marty. I can’t wait to see what else he decided to document.
Actually, I want him to continue the story of Dylan. I would LOVE to see the explanation for those Christian albums.
I’M NOT THERE (2007)
Directed by Todd Haynes
Written by Todd Haynes/Oren Moverman
Todd Haynes has never been one to just tell a story using words and pictures. He likes to use the form as part of the storytelling. Check out Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story if you can. He tells the story of the anorexic singer using Barbie dolls…and it’s amazing. (So amazing that Karen’s family blocked its release. It is now only available to view if you are teaching it.)
When Haynes decided to make a movie about Dylan, he took the man’s ability to change his identity to an extreme. The film has six different stories going at the same time with six different actors playing Dylan at different stages in his life. From his childhood/teenage years chasing after Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin) to the beyond popular years of the 60s (Cate Blanchett), from the break up of his marriage in the 70s (Heath Ledger) to the Christian years (Christian Bale), from a press conference (Ben Whshaw) to his old age (Richard Gere), every facet of the man is here.
The amazing thing is that the film isn’t completely disjointed. The viewer may actually get a better idea of what Dylan really is than the reader of his autobiography, Chronicles, Volume One. You also get a great soundtrack with the likes of Jim James, Calexico, Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus, Roger McGuinn, Willie Nelson and many more. Not only that, but there’s the first official release of the title track, which was The Great Missing Track from the Basement Tapes. That, in itself, is cause for celebration.
BOUND FOR GLORY (1976)
Directed by Hal Ashby
Written by Robert Getchell
Based on a book by Woody Guthrie
Ok, so this one isn’t in any way about Bob Dylan, but it’s about the man that he patterned his career after and even went to New York City specifically to meet at the hospital just before he died. I think Dylan would be ok with its inclusion on this list.
Bound For Glory is, of course, the story of Woody Guthrie. David Carridine plays the American folk legend with understatement and dignity as he moves from place to place during the Dust Bowl and the Depression, writing songs about what he saw and the path that America is taking.
Hal Ashby is one of those directors that I will always rise up to make people remember. He directed a handful of masterpieces in the 70s (including Harold And Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo and Being There), but he just kind of faded out throughout the 80s, making only the occasional crappy b-movie before dying relatively young in 1988. He’s kind of a pet cause of mine, so I’ll include his films on any list I can.
Watch Bound For Glory and see an unsung director at the height of his career. (The movie was nominated for Best Picture in the same year as Rocky, Network, All The President’s Men and Taxi Driver).
PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (1973)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Written by Rudy Wurlitzer
Sam Peckinpah is pretty much the king of the latter-day Western. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid is the last Western that he made and it’s not his best by any means. It’s still a VERY interesting film about Sam’s favorite subject: the end of The Old West.
Just don’t look to it for historical accuracy.
The movie also marks the film debut of one Mr. Bob Dylan. Bob plays Alias, a young bartender who ends up joining Billy’s (Kris Kristofferson) gang almost at the behest of Pat Garrett (James Coburn).
He doesn’t have a lot of lines and he’s INCREDIBLY awkward, but it kind of works. For the first part of the movie he’s constantly looking at the camera. Luckily, Peckinpah used this and made sure that Bob was supposed to look into the camera. The scene where Alias is forced to read the contents of a pantry is classic. The look on his face after the inevitable happens at the end of the film is heartbreaking.
The true Dylan connection here, though, is the score that he wrote. Like so few other films, the lyrics of his songs comment on what is going on in the film and the recur throughout. And the acoustic score is perfect. It helps that Dylan wrote one of his best songs for the soundtrack, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. It makes Slim Pickens that much more tragic.
It may not be one of the Great Films, but it’s sure worth a look or two. And the presence of Bob Dylan certainly helps. Thanks go out to Kristofferson for getting him involved in the film.
