The Grateful Dead Movie

Infobox Film
name = The Grateful Dead Movie


image_size =
caption = "The Grateful Dead Movie" DVD cover
director = Jerry Garcia
Leon Gast
producer = Edward Washington
Ron Rakow
writer =
narrator =
starring = Jerry Garcia
Bob Weir
Phil Lesh
Bill Kreutzmann
Donna Godchaux
Keith Godchaux
Mickey Hart
music =
cinematography =
editing = Susan R. Crutcher
distributor =
released = June 1, 1977
runtime = 132 minutes
country = United States
language = English
budget = $600,000
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:20525
imdb_id = 0076104

"The Grateful Dead Movie", released in 1977 and directed by Jerry Garcia, is a film that captures performances from the Grateful Dead's October 1974 five-night stand at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. This end-of-tour run marked the beginning of an extended hiatus for the band, with no shows planned for 1975. The movie also faithfully portrays the burgeoning Deadhead scene. The film features the "Wall of Sound" concert sound system that the Dead used for all of 1974.

Documenting the Grateful Dead experience

"There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert" was a saying popular among Deadheads, as the loyal fans of the band are known. During their performances, the Dead valued musical improvisation, jamming extensively, and they changed their set lists nightly. As a result, their music was best appreciated at live concerts. But beyond that, Dead shows generally had a positive, happy atmosphere, as the band and the audience interacted with each other to create a special environment of musical celebration. Capturing this phenomenon on film is the admittedly paradoxical goal of "The Grateful Dead Movie".

To document the Grateful Dead experience, the film showcases the fans much more than is usual in a concert movie. Sometimes they are shown enjoying the show, and in other scenes they discuss the music and the band, and what it's like to be a Deadhead. The film also includes interviews with members of the Dead, and vintage footage from the early days of the band showing some of their colorful history. Also featured, especially at the beginning of the movie, are animated scenes of icons from Grateful Dead art such as the Uncle Sam skeleton. This psychedelic inspired animation was created by Gary Gutierrez, [McNally, p.499] using some techniques that he developed specifically for this project. All these elements combine to make "The Grateful Dead Movie" much more than just a concert film.

Cast

The lineup of the Grateful Dead at the time of "The Grateful Dead Movie" was: Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, Phil Lesh on bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, Keith Godchaux on keyboards, and Donna Godchaux on vocals.

At the beginning of the second set of the last show that was filmed for the movie, Mickey Hart joined the band on stage as a second drummer. Hart had previously been a member of the Dead from September 1967 to February 1971. No one knew it at the time, but this appearance on October 20, 1974, marked Hart's permanent return to the band.

At various times during these shows, the band were joined by keyboardist Ned Lagin. However, due to amplification problems, he is almost inaudible in the sound mix. Lagin can only be briefly seen in sihlouette during "Morning Dew" and "Johnny B. Goode", fulfilling a request he made to Jerry Garcia after estranging himself from the Grateful Dead in 1975.

VHS, DVD and CD

In 1981, "The Grateful Dead Movie" was released on VHS video tape. While welcomed by fans, this recording was made from a video backup copy of the movie, and the sound and visual quality were not quite up to the usual high standards of the Grateful Dead.

On November 9, 2004, "The Grateful Dead Movie" was released as a two disc DVD. The first disc is the movie itself. This version of the movie was carefully restored from the film negative, and is letterboxed to preserve the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It can be played with any of three different soundtracks — the original multi-channel theatrical mix, a new 5.1 multi-channel mix created for the DVD, or a new stereo mix. The second disc contains additional concert footage from the October 1974 Winterland shows, and several documentaries about the making of the movie and the DVD, including then-recent interviews with some former Grateful Dead members.

On March 15, 2005, the musical performances in the movie, the extra songs on the DVD, and other songs recorded during the same set of concerts were released as a five disc audio CD. Even though it contains much more musical material than the movie, it is called "The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack".

ong list

The concert footage shot on October 16 - 20, 1974 and included in "The Grateful Dead Movie" contains full or partial performances of the following songs.

*"U.S. Blues"
*"One More Saturday Night"
*"Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad"
*"Truckin'"
*"Eyes of the World"
*"Sugar Magnolia"
*"Playing in the Band"
*"Stella Blue"
*"Casey Jones"
*"He's Gone jam"
*"Morning Dew"
*"Johnny B. Goode"

Notes

References

*
* [http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/reviews/20041207/grateful_dead_movie.html Planer, Lindsay (2004). "Since It Costs A Lot To Win: The Saga of "The Grateful Dead Movie". Crutchfield Advisor.]
* [http://www.musicbox-online.com/sc-int.html Metzger, John (2004). "From Chaos to Beauty: The Transformation of "The Grateful Dead Movie". The Music Box, Volume 11, #12.]

External links

* [http://www.dead.net/ Official web site of the Grateful Dead]