Review of The Last Waltz (1978) by Todd S — 15 Aug 2007

"The Last Waltz" features so many great musicians (Dylan, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell) and is directed by arguably the greatest filmmaker of our time (Martin Scorsese).

So why is this such a piece of shit? The problem is the Band, and in particular, Robbie Robertson. During the interview portions, Scorsese focuses almost entirely on Robertson, who cynically describes his "16 years traveling the country" and refers ominously to "casualties of the road" like Hendrix, Joplin, and Elvis (?) when it was common knowledge that the primary motivation for this film was to drum up more drug money for the Band.

The others are mostly reticent, though Scorsese's question about groupies elicits some hearty guffaws from all of the members (Richard Manuel: "I like the music too, but..."). The performances are imaginatively shot (save the ridiculous waltz sequence), but the band's playing is so leaden that almost all of the songs sound completely lifeless.

Dylan shows up for the last few minutes of the film with a perfunctory rendition of "Baby Let Me Follow You Down", as if to say "This is your film. I'm not going to make it good.".