Review of Gimme Shelter (2013) by Brian M — 01 Oct 2008

This film documents The Stones 1969 American tour.

It also documents hippies acting like assholes, a tweaked out guy charging the stage while firing a gun and ultimately getting stabbed to death and it documents everyone trying to wash their hands of it; The Stones, The Stones management and the festival organizer (who was overheard by a Rolling Stone reporter as saying to the Angels "Fuck the crowd, keep them away from the stage and equipment").

The Hell's Angels had worked security at The Stones concert in Hyde Park earlier that year without incident. They were hired at Altamont as cheap security, but as the crowd turned into assholes the Angels reacted as you would expect the Hell's Angels to react.

This film was actually used in court to aquit the Angel who was accused of murdering Meredeth Hunter.

Meredeth Hunter's death was the fault of the festival organizer, Hunter himself and The Rolling Stones for going on-stage over an hour late, as much as the Angels who were really just trying to protect themselves and everyone on the stage. Of course their way of reacting to a tweaker with a gun may be more extreme than some, but they are Hell's Angels. What reaction would you expect if you were to charge at them firing a gun? In the slow motion footage you do actually see a prospect diving and knocking the gun down and in doing so probably saving Mick Jagger's life. Then Jagger shows his gratitude by claiming he had nothing to do with it or them.

Altamont aside the movie also contains some footage of a less than stellar performance in New York City and a mobile recording of "Country Honk" (a country version of "Honky Tonk Women") somewhere in the South.