see this but look for the four hour three disc DVD set

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.

score 8/10

johno-21 4 May 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1358708/