Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

sfride67 I give this film a 10 out of 10 because it is exactly as billed--both a behind-the-scenes and in-the-audience look at three music festivals and the train rides between them and the artists who performed and the promoters who put the whole thing together. The two-disc offering is very generous, the movie and several additional concert performances on disc one and interviews and a short about the production of the movie and more on disc two. Anyone who is a fan of these artists in particular, or of the music scene of that era in general, should not miss this ride across Canada with the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, the Band, and..as they always say.."more."

Woodyanders A five day roving rock concert travels across the country via train and performs live wherever they stop. This fantastic documentary covers the festival's Canadian leg of the tour, with the train making stops at Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgery. You can't beat the stellar line-up of first-rate musicians: the one and only Janis Joplin (her fiery performances of both "Cry Baby" and "Tell Mama" are absolutely electrifying show-stoppers), The Band (they hit it out of the ballpark with the rousing "Slippin' & Slidin'" and a potent rendition of "The Weight"), The Grateful Dead (in fine bluesy form with "Don't Ease Me In" and "New Speedway Boogie"), Sha Na Na (they do a spirited performance of "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay"), The Flying Burrito Brothers (their smooth-rolling rendition of "Lazy Day" really hits the soulful spot), and the Buddy Guy Blues Band (who burn it up with an incendiary cover of "Money"). Director Bob Smeaton keeps the pace hurtling along at the same constant speedy clip as the train and astutely nails a certain infectiously lowdown cool, breezy and mellow groovy vibe. All the musicians on the train put their individual egos aside, completely pour their hearts and souls into the giving the audiences their money's worth (the on-stage performances all seriously smoke, with Joplin in particular displaying a positively magnetic stage presence), and jam like crazy to the point where hardly anybody got any sleep and all the booze was drunk (the train had to make a special pit stop in Saskatoon to get more hooch). The cinematography by Peter Biziou, Bob Fiore and Clacke Mackey gives the film an appropriately rough'n'grainy look and makes neat frequent use of split screen. Best of all, there's a wonderfully warm and open communal spirit evident throughout which in turn makes this picture a true joy to watch. This spirit shines brightest when various musicians from different groups get together on stage to perform a marvelously sexy rendition of "C.C. Rider." While the concert itself had its fair share of problems (for example, people protested about having to buy tickets and demanded that they see the concert for free), the movie itself rates highly as one of the greatest rock documentaries to ever grace celluloid.

Michael_Elliott Festival Express (2003) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Highly entertaining and interesting documentary covering the Festival Express Tour of 1970. Basically the concert promoter got the bright idea to get various major acts to do a three show tour in Canada with the only hitch that they'd travel by train. With that in mind, the musical jams on the train were often times better than what showed up on stage. The Grateful Dead, The Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, Sha Na Na and various others were on the bill and they all get plenty of screen time here. The documentary does a nice job at telling us what this festival was all about while at the same time delivering some wonderful musical performances including Joplin's show stealing Cry Baby. It's also interesting to hear why the concerts flopped. Why would this lineup lose money? Because of hippie protesters who started riots because the tickets were $14 and not free.

nobbytatoes In 1970, The Festival Express was the given name to a train that carried bands and a film crew across the Canadian landscape for three festivals, starting at Toronto, to Winnipeg and ending in Calgary; heading west in the traditional sense. The bands that called this train home included Janis Joplin, The Band, The Grateful Dead, Sha Na Na, The Flying Burrito Bros and many more. The train was a living hybrid, that never slept the entire trip. Constantly awake on alcohol and drugs accompanied by many jam sessions. It was a never ending party; with an emergency stop in Saskatoon for more alcohol. The festivals while attracting many fans, sparked protests. People protested in the streets demanding the festival be free admission, which the musicians couldn't afford. The protest followed them from each town, people storming the gates and attacking the countless police; the power of music or scroungy bums? The footage of The Festival Express was lost when the production company holding this footage went under. On its discovery, the film you see is what you get. The footage is so beautiful, holding the warmth the bands shared with one another. The sound design is so crisp it penetrates your mind, resonating and haunting, craftily creating the illusion of being in the presence of the musicians. The shows are captivating to watch. Absolutely mesmerising is Janis Joplin, singing her heart out on Cry Baby. There is this rawness captured in the performances. All the bands were there to perform and give the best show possible they could conjure from within themselves every time. With modern day interviews of band members and organisers, with their reminiscent of their times spent with all the bands, the conflicts from the protesters and the hard fact that this will never happen again. There is onus that you either know the bands or you don't. If your unfamiliar with any of the bands, you are left in the dark on who they are. While information about who these people are would help the uninformed, the music and the shows are the real point, not the lives of the bands.Must see viewing for all lovers of this music, The Festival Express is a runaway train of great music and mind blowing performances.