I’m a self-described “Band-aficionado,” which means I thoroughly enjoy everything The Band ever recorded. To be perfectly honest, I can’t get enough of their music.
A quintet consisting of four Canadians and one American, The Band broke onto the music scene as the backing group for rockabilly sensation Ronnie Hawkins. The group became world famous during Bob Dylan’s 1965 world tour. Then in 1968 went solo with “Music From Big Pink.” The Band took one last dance on Thanksgiving Day 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland. The concert and ensuing movie, “The Last Waltz,” cemented the group’s legacy in music history.
Twenty-five years later, the music still sounds vibrant. A remastered version of the 1978 film, complete with theatrical trailers, archival footage and a behind the scenes feature about the making of the movie, hit stores Tuesday. The film was also recently released in theaters, you can see it at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville.
The movie, available for the first time on DVD, follows last month’s rerelease of the movie’s soundtrack, now a four-CD box set featuring 24 previously unreleased songs.
For the good-bye bash, The Band invited some of its closest friends, musical colleagues and some people who didn’t fit in to join the festivities.
Names sharing the bill on that historic San Francisco night are amazing even today — Neil Young, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan, just to name a few. The music shines from the movie’s opening number to the group’s last notes. It begs one simple question: Why break up?
“The Last Waltz” is the brainchild of guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson. In the movie, he’s the only one who says he’s tired of touring. It’s interesting to note how every other scene includes Robertson in some fashion, whether it is an overdramatic remark or an extended solo. If I want a Robbie Robertson album, I’ll buy one. I bought “The Last Waltz” because I’m a fan of The Band, not Robbie Robertson and The Band, as the film might more aptly be titled.
Drummer Levon Helm called the film a “disaster” in his 1993 autobiography “This Wheel’s on Fire.” To this day, there’s no love lost between Helm and Robertson.
The song selection for the movie is mediocre at best.
Where is bassist Rick Danko’s duet with Eric Clapton on “All Our Past Times?”
Where is the pianist Richard Manuel’s show stopping rendition of “Georgia on My Mind?”
For that matter, where are the Manuel compositions? Lest we forget he wrote some of the best Band songs — though they were lesser known — in the group’s early days.
I have mixed feelings about “The Last Waltz.” It’s not that the film is terrible; it just doesn’t capture the true essence of the one-for-all, all-for-one group that is The Band. The movie comes across as more of a soapbox for Robertson than an accurate portrayal of the group. Simply put, the final chapter in The Band’s history is written as Robertson sees fit.
Despite it all, I can’t get enough of The Band.
Maybe, I’m in denial about how bad the film really is. Maybe I was expecting something different. Maybe I’m hard to please. But I loved every moment of the film and its soundtrack, no matter how much I harp on Robertson.
Published May 15, 2002, in The Leaf-Chronicle of Clarksville, Tenn.