Bob Dylan Movies
Singer/songwriter Bob Dylan fortunately does not have to rely on his movie career to uphold his reputation as the single most influential rock musician of the 1960s. His best-known movie appearances include the concert film The Last Waltz and documentaries like Don't Look Back; but Dylan also appeared in other films, making his dramatic debut as a cowpoke named Alias in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), in which he sings "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Dylan went back to singing and composing until 1977's Renaldo and Clara, a four-hour-long largely improvised -- and universally panned -- production which Dylan himself wrote, directed, and starred in. It would be ten years before Dylan would once more flex his acting muscles in the long-on-the-shelf Hearts of Fire (1987), playing the tailor-made role of a retired rock legend. And though his roles leading into the new millennium consisted mainly of appearances in which he was billed as "Himself," Dylan's song "Things Have Changed" for the film The Wonder Boys (2000) brought the popular singer/songwriter his first Oscar for Best Music (Song). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1989
- R
Sally Kirkland stars as a good-hearted hooker named Bambi Rose in this odd crime-drama from director Amos Kollek. Bambi is getting a bit long in the tooth, and is at the mercy of a sadistic pimp named Slim (Richard Lynch), who has his fingers in nearly every sort of crime imaginable. When a greedy Wall Street stockbroker (Robert LuPone) shows up on her doorstep after being mugged, Bambi enlists his aid in ripping off Slim and saving her daughter from a life of vice. More interesting than the film is the cast, which -- aside from including some fine performances from Kirkland and Lynch -- features such future luminaries as Kathy Bates and Sarah Michelle Gellar (credited as Sarah Gellar). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, Robert LuPone, (more)
- 1988
- Add A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly to QueueAdd A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly to top of Queue
Narrated by Robbie Robertson, A Vision Shared documents the lives and influences of musical folk artists Woody Guthrie and Huddie Ledbetter ( or Leadbelly). Footage of their own personal stories is complemented by performances by fanatical popular stars, inspired still -- decades later -- by the original music of Guthrie and Leadbelly. Including performances by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and more, this collection offers renditions of folk favorites by artists who have paved ground musically in their own rights. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide
- 1988
A New York City police officer struggles to remove the threat presented by a gang of crazed killers who are wreaking havoc in the subway system. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doc Dougherty, Lenny Loftin, (more)
- 1987
- R
This uninspiring drama was unfortunately the last feature film directed by Richard Marquard and was released posthumously. Bob Dylan plays the retired and reclusive rock star (there's a stretch) Billy Parker who falls for aspiring rocker Molly McGuire (Fiona) and takes her under his wing on his tour of England to benefit from his experience. When Molly is "discovered" by lecherous music promoter James Colt (Rupert Everett), Billy flies the coop back to his stateside chicken farm while Molly makes music magic. Billy and Molly are eventually reunited when she returns for a triumphant tour of the United States. Songs from Dylan, Neil Young, Shel Silverstein, Andy Goldmark, Tony Swan, Wang Chung, John Dexter, Cyril Neville, John Hiatt, and Steve Jolley help the thin script and uninspired thesping. The film opens up with the 1982 hit Tainted Love from Soft Cell. Musicians Ian Dury and Richie Havens are included in the acting cast. One can only wonder if the feature was just wrapped up too quickly after the untimely death of Marquand from a stroke at age 49 on September 4th, 1987. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Rupert Everett, (more)
Quirky comedy, intense drama, and warm nostalgia are all combined in this eccentric look at one night in 1964 amongst the residents of the Five Corners neighborhood of the Bronx. The bulk of the film concerns Linda (Jodie Foster), a young woman who finds herself stalked by a disturbed rapist fresh out of prison. Needing protection, she turns to her formerly tough ex-boyfriend, only to discover that a recent political awakening has transformed him into a pacifist. The tension of Linda's situation is leavened by the film's attention to its bizarre subplots, which include a stolen penguin, partying teenagers who encounter trouble with an elevator, and a pair of detectives investigating a series of mysterious bow-and-arrow attacks. The script by John Patrick Shanley, who won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Moonstruck, manages to (for the most part) bring these seemingly unrelated stories together into a fairly logical conclusion. Even though numerous critics felt that Five Corners' mixture of widely disparate tones was not completely successful, the end result is a surprisingly charming and unique tribute to a time and a place. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, (more)
Though the anti-war sentiments of Hamburger Hill come through loud and clear, the film is squarely on the side of those courageous, much-maligned Americans who fought and died in Vietnam. Based on a true incident, the story takes place in 1969, as the 101st Airborne Division confronts the Vietcong in a bloody battle over Hill 937 (aka "Hamburger Hill") in the Ashua Valley. During the next 10 days, both sides incur heavy losses, but the Cong refuse to surrender the hill. The ultimate American "victory" turns out to be a hollow one indeed. Scripted by Vietnam war vet Jim Carabatsos, Hamburger Hill not only underlines the futility of the war but also the pressures brought to bear upon the troops by an insensitive, often hostile media. By utilizing a cast of unknowns, director Jim Irvin deftly avoids the Hollywoodized slickness of such bigger-budgeted efforts as Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Barrile, Michael Boatman, (more)
Screenwriter Bruce Robinson made his directorial debut with this British comedy. Withnail (Richard E. Grant) is an unsuccessful, pill-popping actor; "I," or Marwood (Paul McGann), is Withnail's roommate and another equally underemployed actor. The time is 1969: Withnail is fast becoming a burned-out relic of the '60s, while Marwood is trying to reassimilate into society. The two take a trip to the country in hopes of rejuvenating themselves, but things go from worse to even worse. Given the intimacy and insight of the screenplay and dialogue, one shouldn't be surprised that Bruce Robinson (who adapted the film from his own novel) based Withnail & I on his own experiences. The film proves that certain "Age of Aquarius" types were just as bollixed-up in Britain as they were in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, (more)
Former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser warmed the director's chair for Band of the Hand. The film zeroes in on five juvenile delinquents who are plucked from their various detention facilities and unceremoniously dumped in the wilds of the Everglades. The boys begin to panic until hardcase Vietnam veteran Stephen Lang arrives. Lang explains that they've been paroled in his custody, and that it is his task to teach them how to work as a team in order to survive. The logic of this plan is to whip the boys into an elite vigilante unit, then sic them on the various drug dealers of America. The film features early performances by Lauren Holly and Larry Fishburne and Bob Dylan can be heard singing the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Lang, Michael Carmine, (more)
- 1986
Director Jean-Luc Godard pokes fun at the follies and injustices of small-time filmmaking in this drama-comedy about two apparent has-beens who are trying their best to get together the funds and the cast for a last, desperate bid for cinematic fame and fortune. The duo (Jean-Claude Mocky and Jean-Pierre Leaud) and their assistants mull over the meaning and purpose of cinema, but at the same time, the cattle-call for their proposed new production does not rise above its bovine metaphor. While eyeing beauteous new actresses with a dash of lasciviousness, the pair are also keeping track of would-be backers with more than a dash of cunning manipulation. Along the way, everything from hypocrisy to Roman Polanski gets a drubbing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jean-Pierre Mocky, (more)
- 1986
Concert footage of both Dylan and Petty directed by Gillian Armstrong. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, (more)
- 1984
Rare filmclips of folksinger Woody Guthrie at work and at play provide the highlights of this 74-minute documentary. Hard Travelin' places Guthrie's musical contributions within the context of their times, utilizing harrowing footage of the devastation wreaked by the Depression and the Dust Bowl. It goes without saying, perhaps, that Arlo Guthrie is called upon to assess his father, both as an artist and a man. Also appearing to perform and converse are Joan Baez, Hoyt Axton, Judy Collins and Pete Seeger. Woody Guthrie is the ideal "warm-up" for the 1976 Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
The made-for-TV Parole stars the music of Bob Dylan and Sting. Actually, it stars James Naughton, but the music is (or should have been) the selling angle. Naughton portrays street-smart Boston parole officer Andy Driscoll, who takes a personal interest in each of his charges and tries to mainstream them into decent society. The plot concentrates on one such parolee, played by Mark Sopper, who considers returning to crime after losing his girl, his job and his home. The film's studied grittiness is undercut by a contrived car chase and a phony happy ending. Watch for Ellen Barkin in the supporting role of "Donna." Filmed as a TV pilot in late 1980, Parole was not telecast until September of 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Real-life brother and sister Jimmy and Kristy McNichol star in this made-for-television drama about a claustrophobic cult. Jimmy McNichol stars as David, oldest son of the seemingly well-adjusted Bowers. When David disappears from his family to live with the Light of Salvation cult, sister Janet (Kristy McNichol) refuses to automatically side with her parents and dismiss the group. Young Janet tries to give her brother's judgement the benefit of the doubt, looking for her own answers, as her desperate parents consult a mind de-programming expert. Taut and edgy at times, the film shows how vulnerable young people get targeted by cults and their charismatic leaders -- only to turn into mindless drones. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kristy McNichol, Anne Jackson, (more)
- 1979
Martin Scorsese's documentary of the 1976 final performance of the legendary Sixties rock group The Band is at once a show featuring some of the greatest rock performers of their generation and a bittersweet look back at an era that was just beginning to fade. As Scorsese guides the group through interview segments discussing their 15 years together, these relatively young men sound like battle-weary survivors. But The Band were in splendid form for this show, and their multiple guest stars pulled out all the stops, especially Muddy Waters, whose "Mannish Boy" is so powerful it nearly burns a hole in the screen; Van Morrison, with a rousing performance of "Caravan;" and Bob Dylan, whose "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" displays the brilliant cockiness of his barnstorming days with this band. The all-star camera crew and superb stereo sound mix create what is considered to be of the best-looking and sounding rock films ever (as the opening credit says, play this movie loud!), and two studio-shot sequences with Emmylou Harris and The Staple Singers stand on their own. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, (more)
- 1978
- R
Bob Dylan made this concert film that chronicles a 1975/1976 performance of his Rolling Thunder Revue. In between songs he, his wife Sara Dylan, along with Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, and other counterculture figures perform philosophically based improvisational pieces. During the skits, Dylan plays the ambiguous Renaldo, while Ronnie Hawkins and Ronee Blakely play Dylan and his wife. Songs include "Isis, I Want You," "It Ain't Me Babe," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," "Hurricane," "Romance in Durango," "One Too Many Mornings," "One More Cup of Coffee," "Sara," "Patty's Gone to Laredo," "Just Like a Woman," "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowland," "When I Paint My Masterpiece," (Bob Dylan), "Chestnut Mare" (Roger McGuinn), "Diamonds and Rust" (Joan Baez), "Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen), "Need a New Sun Rising" (Ronee Blakely), "Salt Pork West Virginia" (Jack Elliott), "Kaddish" (Allen Ginsberg), "Cucurrucucu Paloma" (Tomas Mendez), and "Time of the Preacher" (Willie Nelson). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Sara Dylan, (more)
- 1974
- R
Narrated by Tom DeWitt, this theatrical video explores the reality that is created in illusion in several short scenes. ~ All Movie Guide
A former friend betrays a legendary outlaw in Sam Peckinpah's final Western. Holed up in Fort Sumner with his gang between cattle rustlings, Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) ignores the advice of comrade-turned-lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) to escape to Mexico, and he winds up in jail in Lincoln, New Mexico. After Billy theatrically escapes, inspiring enigmatic Lincoln resident Alias (Bob Dylan) to join him, the governor (Jason Robards Jr.) and cattle baron Chisum (Barry Sullivan) requisition Garrett to form a posse and hunt him down. Rather than flee to Mexico when he can, Billy heads back to Fort Sumner, meeting his final destiny at the hands of his friend Pat, who, two decades later, is forced to face the consequences of his own Faustian pact with progress. With a script by Rudolph Wurlitzer, Peckinpah uses the historical basis of Billy's death to eulogize the West dreamily yet violently as it is desecrated by corrupt capitalists. Both Pat and Billy know that their time is passing, as surely as Garrett's posse knows that they are participating in a legend. Using familiar Western players like Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado, Peckinpah underscores the West's existence as a media myth, and he even appears himself as a coffin maker. Just as the bloodletting of Peckinpah's earlier The Wild Bunch (1969) invoked the Vietnam War, the casting of Kristofferson and Dylan alluded to the chaotic late '60s/early '70s present; the counterculture has little place in a corporate future. Also like The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett was truncated by its studio; the cuts did nothing to help its box office. Key scenes, particularly the framing story of Garrett's fate, have since been restored to the home-video version. In this director's cut, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid stands as one of Peckinpah's most beautiful and complex films, killing the Western myth even as he salutes it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, (more)
- 1972
Organized by George Harrison after close friend Ravi Shankar alerted him to the plight of refugees seeking independence from Pakistan, this 1971 concert offers performances by both Harrison and Shankar in addition to featuring such legendary recording artists as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr. Songs performed in this Madison Square Garden mega-concert include "Blowin' in the Wind", &Here Comes the Sun" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
Joseph Kaufmann stars as Jud, a Vietnam vet who returns to America only to face scorn and ridicule. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
