Review of The Last Waltz (1978) by Matt H — 27 Mar 2006

[b]Initially Written: October 2005[/b].

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]The Band, comprised of Robbie Robertson (lead guitar, vocal); Richard Manuel (piano, keyboards, drums, vocal); Garth Hudson (organ, accordion, saxophone, synthesizers); Rick Danko (bass guitar, violin, vocal); and Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, vocal), formed in 1959 but came to prominence in the mid 1960s when they backed up Bob Dylan on his highly praised [i]Basement Tapes[/i]. From there they went on to a brief but glorious career that culminated in a final concert in 1976, dubbed ?The Last Waltz.? As guest act after guest act signed on it became clear that this final hurrah was much more than a mere concert, it was a celebration of The Band?s music and of rock n? roll in general. With that in mind, Robertson approached acclaimed director Martin Scorsese to document the event, resulting in the 1978 film [i]The Last Waltz, [/i]regarded by many as the greatest rock documentary ever made. In [i]The Last Waltz [/i]Scorsese?s stylish melding of rock authenticity with carefully calculated artifice, and his intermixing of live performances with interviews, yields a work that serves as both an elegant celebration of The Band and their music, and as a thoughtful meditation upon rock n? roll and its associated lifestyle.[/size][/font].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]Stylistically speaking, [i]The Last Waltz [/i]stands distinctly apart from the other rock documentaries of its time. Such films were typically shot haphazardly with handheld Super 8mm or 16mm cameras, and were more concerned with documenting the events than with crafting a work of art. Scorsese?s film, by contrast, was elegantly shot with multiple 35mm cameras by esteemed cinematographers such as Michael Chapman, Vilmos Zsigmond, and Laszlo Kovacs. Likewise, the lavish set for the concert was an amalgam of the production design of [i]The Sound of Music[/i]?s Boris Leven, the San Francisco opera?s set for [i]La Traviata,[/i] and chandeliers from [i]Gone With the Wind[/i]. While such opulence would seem to run counter to the grass roots, counter-cultural nature of rock n? roll, here it served distinct purposes. On one level it created an elegant atmosphere appropriate to the title of both the event and the film ([i]The Last Waltz)[/i], but more importantly it also created a slight detachment between the tone of the concert and that of the film. This is important because while the concert was solely about celebrating The Band and their music, the film also takes time to contemplate the rock n? roll lifestyle, both the good and the bad. By stylistically separating itself from the culture of rock n? roll, [i]The Last Waltz [/i]is able to step back and comment upon it.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]This meditation on rock n? roll takes place primarily during the film?s interview segments. From the first interview with Robbie Robertson through to the final conversation with Robertson and Levon Helm, the members of the band display a tremendous depth of knowledge and admiration towards rock n? roll, both the music and the lifestyle. Robertson speaks of Tin Pan Alley, a place in New York City that spawned a tremendous number of great songwriters, and laments the fact that its day has passed. Helm describes the birth of rock n? roll from the musical melting pot that is Memphis Tennessee, and explains that at this location in the middle of America disparate musical influences such as country, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, and jazz came together and synthesized into rock n? roll. Rick Danko, while conducting a tour of The Band?s recording studio, seems deeply saddened to be leaving the world of rock n? roll behind him. Throughout these interviews this sense of The Band?s members? respect and passion for the music and the culture is palpable. It is in their hearts and souls, and always will be.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]Yet also emerging from these interview segments is the darker side of the life, the side that has caused The Band to call it quits while still at the very top of their game. During an interview with the entire band, Robertson tells the story of a tremendous blues harmonica player named Sonny Boy Williamson who apparently played himself to death. He was consumed by the life, and the implication hangs heavily in the air that this is the exact fate that the band members are seeking to avoid. Drug abuse is never discussed openly in the film, but its use is evident in the demeanour of each of the men. Robertson at one point describes the lifestyle as ?a terrible life,? and at another says that sixteen years was all he could handle and that twenty he could not live with. Often times the band members seem drained, and their faces show more creases than age alone could explain. The rock n? roll lifestyle takes its toll on everyone who lives it.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The meditation on the vices and virtues of rock n? roll adds depth and complexity to [i]The Last Waltz[/i], but the film?s primary goal remains to join in with the concert?s celebration of The Band and their music. The concert itself dominates the majority of the screen time, and the energy and celebratory exuberance of it permeates the film as a whole. The band members clearly still love rock music, if not the lifestyle, and they seem to be basking in this final concert experience, knowing that it will be their last. Sometimes they play alone and sometimes they have guest musicians on stage with them, but whether it is just them performing ?Up On Cripple Creek,? or if Robertson is engaged in a fiery duel of guitar solos with Eric Clapton in ?Further On Up The Road,? in either case their passion is on constant display. The spirit of the event becomes imprinted upon the film, making [i]The Last Waltz [/i]into a joyous documentation of the quintessence of rock n? roll.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The style and structure of [i]The Last Waltz[/i] adds to its overall effect. It is important to note that while the majority of the film feels natural, it is actually the result of elaborate artifice. Robertson provided Scorsese with all of the necessary information so that the film could be scripted from start to finish. They knew ahead of time who would be performing and when, allowing Scorsese to plan out all of his camera positions and shooting strategies. This scripting allowed Scorsese and his directors of photography to get the best possible shots whenever an important vocal or instrumental solo occurred. It was as a result of this planning that they were able to endow [i]The Last Waltz [/i]with an elegance lacking from other rock documentaries.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]Also relevant to the effect of [i]The Last Waltz [/i]is the manner in which it is structured. The film begins quite literally at the end, with The Band emerging from the dressing room after the concert to play their final encore, their last concert performance. Scorsese begins at the end to reinforce the fact that this is the last waltz, the end of the road. From here it moves on to an alternation between chronologically ordered scenes of the concert, and interview segments. This alternation allows both of the thematic lines, the dominant celebration, and the secondary meditation, to run through the entire film.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]Scorsese?s handprint is perhaps most visible in this film during the portions that were fabricated entirely for the movie. These include live performances with guest musicians that were shot after the concert since adequate coverage of them was not attained during the event. These performances, one of ?The Weight? with The Staples, and the other of ?Evangeline? with Emmylou Harris, were deemed important by The Band because they were with artists that were major influences upon their own music. Scorsese takes advantage of these staged performances to implement his style most fully. While the camerawork in the concert itself was excellent by rock documentary standards, it was still limited by the fact that the cameras had to remain unobtrusive. In these staged segments Scorsese is able to implement a gracefully moving camera, shooting the performance in the most beautiful manner possible, and imbuing the film with the elegance he sought.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The other scenes shot specifically for the film were the introduction and conclusion. During each of these segments the song ?The Last Waltz,? written by Robbie Robertson specifically for the movie, plays over the images. The introduction sets the scene by showing footage of the city of San Francisco, where the concert occurred. It then moves onto the most clearly fabricated sequence in the film where the opening credits roll over footage of people in a ballroom, waltzing. This evocation of the waltz has the obvious effect of referencing the title of the event and film, but it also establishes the film?s elegance from the get go, serving notice that this is no ordinary rock documentary. [/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The conclusion of [i]The Last Waltz[/i] is perhaps the film?s most remarkable single aspect. It is a single 3-minute shot, beginning on the image of The Band?s pipe organ and then gracefully moving to reveal, one by one, each of the band members as they play ?The Last Waltz? alone on stage. After a series of stunning compositions, the camera moves gradually to frame the entire band from the front, and then slowly retreats until finally the closing credits appear. All the while the haunting beauty of the song flows forth, and the overall effect is difficult to nail down. It is a rather melancholic scene, perhaps a lament for the end of The Band. And yet this final scene also captures the elegant beauty that has typified the film, and thus ends up evoking a sense of both the celebratory and meditative aspects of the picture as a whole.[/font][/size].

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The Band?s 1976 farewell concert has become a landmark moment in music history, and no less can be said about the place of the film that documented it in the history of documentaries. [i]The Last Waltz [/i]went against the conventions of its rock documentary contemporaries and ended up becoming an artful and elegant celebration of, and meditation upon, rock n? roll. Its style, structure, and content work together to allow the film to not only reflect the joyous spirit of the concert itself, but to also step back and ponder the nature of the music and the lifestyle. The result is a rich, moving, entertaining, and informative exploration of one of America?s most significant cultural and artistic phenomena, rock n? roll. [/font][/size].