Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

sodbuster-3 It was a great experience. I was 18 and hitch hiked to Monterey with a girl and her Doberman. One ride all the way. As soon as we got dropped at the fairgrounds, some people asked if we had a place to stay, took us to their pad, let us shower, and made breakfast. That was a good sign. I had no desire to go to Livestock; nothing could ever compare to those three days in Monterey. You see all the people with coats and blankets because it was cold at night and early morning. For weeks before we had been hearing the ads on the radio (KRLA)about all the performers and they kept saying the Jimi Hendrix Experience. We had no idea who this guy was; we were going to see and hear everyone we could. But that night, after The Who had tried to demolish the stage and Lou Adler and John Philips were scrambling to regain order, the stage went dark and a lone figure walked to the mike at center stage. When the spotlight came on we could see it was Brian Jones. He introduced Jimi Hendrix and when I saw, and heard, the most amazing things ever done or played on a Stratocaster (on any guitar for that matter)life wasn't the same. Hendrix took music to an alien world and came back with sounds and style that were beyond my imagination. This film is not the greatest quality and certainly--in a technical sense--pales in comparison to contemporary concert movies and videos; however, it was the first true rock festival, and if you were there you know what I mean. But if you let go of the need for cinematic purity and enormous production values, what you'll enjoy is an island of (not corny) peace, love, and incredible music.

AudioFileZ A most excellent time capsule of a period. No questions. If you want to see what the sixties were like...Then watch. This really does put in a time capsule more of the generation than anything I've seen. You can feel the shift happening via the music. I vote this is infinitely more important than Woodstock because the movement was already in full swing at that point. Witness the birth of so much of what we still are listening to today. This is the real unadulterated thing. Kudos to the "Criterion Collection"! If only Otis Redding would have lived longer?There is no telling the musical legacy he was going to leave? Based on the incendiary performance here it would have been formidable. This is a must see for anyone interested in the procession of rock through all the permutations of soul and blues. Not to be missed.

mike dewey 1967 was the year many of us sort of metamorphosed from being "mod" to the initial stages of "hippiedom", whatever that encompasses. Anti-war protests, love-ins and "flower power" were becoming much more prominent in the American social fabric. As evidenced by this film, the hair wasn't all that long yet, faces were scrubbed clean and most of the people looked pretty much upper middle class in origin, especially evident from the hearty smiles that revealed attentive dental work that lower class kids could not afford! Either that, or the cameras merely focused on the attractive people and eschewed the more slovenly types. It is reminiscent of a loose congregation of 1967 northern California college kids and hip professor types intent on soaking up a vast variety of current musical trends, from the likes of the Mamas and the Papas, to Otis Redding, to Janis Joplin and others, and to the rousing finale by Ravi Shankar.This film, more innocent, peaceful (except for guitar blazing on two separate acts) and soulful than most of its successors, captures the artists and the audiences in simultaneous enjoyment of their mutual celebration. This film is not for those who insist on digitally remastered and edited sound quality, but for those who feel the raw power of the music in its innocent purity and its true to form, unencumbered passion and fervor. The 20 minute or so musical excursion by the aforementioned Ravi Shankar stands to this day as one of the most compelling and spiritually uplifting musical pieces captured on film. Rarely do you see and feel a crowd become totally enraptured and united by an awesome piece of music.In short, this film is a most enjoyable 79 minute trip down memory lane, to an era of unrelenting hope for a more peaceful world. So go ahead and soak in all the "flower power" you can on this film because some concerts in later years didn't pan out quite so peacefully as this one.

johno-21 I've seen various run times listed for this film. IMDb lists it at 78 minutes which is probably it's runtime for it theatrical release in January of 1969. When it premiered at New York's Lincoln Center in late December of 1968 it's runtime was a mere 72 minutes. 18 of which is Ravi Shankar from his 3 hour set that was only attended by 7,000 concert goers on the afternoon of the final day. That's a lot of time devoted to a film that covered a concert that featured 33 acts. Originally in late 1968 when the film was complete it's run time was 138 minutes which at 2 hours and 18 minutes the film makers decided was too long and it was cut to 98 minutes. For some reason this still was reduced further. Making the films final cut are Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, The Mama's and the Papa's, Eric Burdon, Hugh Masekela, Otis Redding, Canned Heat, Scott Mckenzie, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Ravi Shankar. Director D.A. Pennebaker in collaboration with filmmakers Richard Leacock and Albert Maysles were originally hired by ABC to film the Montery Pop Festival in June of 1967 for a televised special which the network decided not to go ahead with so the footage was released as a documentary film. Dunhill record founder Lou Adler and Mama's and Papa's founder John Phillips and Beatles publicist Derek Taylor were the organizers of the festival and Adler and Phillips are the film's producers. Along with Pennebaker, Leacock and Maysles additional photography was filmed by James Desmond, Barry Feinstein, Roger Murphy and Nick Proferes who used 16mm cameras to film the event. Nina Schulman is the principal editor which must have been a monumental job. Pennebaker spent most of his film career producing music/concert themed documentaries. He gained attention for his 1967 documentary Don't Look Back about Bob Dylan's 1965 British tour. More of the Monterey film shot by Pennebaker, he would release as two other documentaries Jimi Plays Monterey and Otis at Monterey. These three documentaries on Monterey along with additional footage of acts cut from the original film called Monterey Pop The Outake Performances have been released as a four hour 3 disc DVD set called the Criterion Collection. I have not seen that yet and can only limit my comments here to the original Monterey film that I did not see in it's theatrical release but have seen many times on television. It is not the cinematic achievement of Woodstock but it is of historical significance. I would have rather it remained that original directors cut of 138 minutes. 18 minutes of Shankar would have played in better context. I would give this an 8.0 out of 10.