(8.6) Thelma get the scissors! I’ll get this out there right up front — I am not a fan of this movie. It’s been a while, but I remember it dragging on and on with boring interviews and lots of murky, backstage nothing-is-happening footage. It runs almost two hours and it’s interesting to note that, for whatever reason, director Martin Scorsese did not have his trusty editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, on this project. Having said that, an outdoor, picnicky party setting would be the ideal way to watch “The Last Waltz.”
Plenty of people adore this movie — more, I think, because they love the musicians in it. Janet Maslin of the NYT saw what I saw, describing the interviews as “slack” and “uneven” adding,
A guest appearance by the very Las Vegasy Neil Diamond, one of whose albums was recently produced by the Band’s leader, Robbie Robertson, is so jarring and unwelcome that the movie takes minutes to recover. And Mr. Scorsese’s efforts to stir up a distinct visual style for the film, a style that might somehow have compensated for the curious lack of sentiment that marks all but the film’s final half-hour, are so half-hearted and sporadic they become almost maddening.
Arrive early! Starting at 6pm What Cheer Records and Vintage presents a special live performance. John Faraone will be playing a rare full-band set. It’s a party.
Sundown, Thursday, August 6, MotB, Grant’s Block, Westminster at Union Street (directions)