Gimme Shelter (1970)

Directors:

Albert Maysles
David Maysles
(more)

Release Date:

6 December 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

The music that thrilled the world ... and the killing that stunned it!

Plot:

A harrowing documentary of the Stones' 1969 tour, with much of the focus on the tragic concert at Altamont.

Plot Keywords:

Rolling Stones | Knife | Stage | Speedway | California

Cast

The Rolling Stones	...	Themselves
Mick Jagger	...	Himself
Charlie Watts	...	Himself
Keith Richards	...	Himself (as Keith Richard)
Mick Taylor	...	Himself
Bill Wyman	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marty Balin	...	Himself (as Jefferson Airplane)
Sonny Barger	...	Himself
Melvin Belli	...	Himself
Dick Carter	...	Himself
Jack Casady	...	Himself (as Jefferson Airplane)
Mike Clarke	...	Himself (as The Flying Burrito Brothers)
Sam Cutler	...	Himself
Spencer Dryden	...	Himself (as Jefferson Airplane)
Chris Hillman	...	Himself (as The Flying Burrito Brothers)
John Jaymes	...	Himself
Paul Kantner	...	Himself (as Jefferson Airplane)
Jorma Kaukonen	...	Himself (as Jefferson Airplane)
Pete Kleinow	...	Himself (as The Flying Burrito Brothers)
Bernie Leadon	...	Himself (as The Flying Burrito Brothers)
Gram Parsons	...	Himself (as The Flying Burrito Brothers)
Ronald Schneider	...	Himself
Rock Scully	...	Himself
Grace Slick	...	Herself (as Jefferson Airplane)
Frank Terry	...	Himself - KFRC Anchor
Ike Turner	...	Himself
Tina Turner	...	Herself
Jerry Garcia	...	Himself (uncredited)
Meredith Hunter	...	Himself - Black Youth Stabbed by Hell's Angel (uncredited)
Michael Lang	...	Himself - Concert Organizer (uncredited)
Phil Lesh	...	Himself (uncredited)
Albert Maysles	...	Himself (uncredited)
David Maysles	...	Himself (uncredited)
Alan Passaro	...	Himself - Hell's Angel Who Stabs Meredith Hunter (uncredited)
Michael Shrieve	...	Himself (uncredited)
Ian Stewart	...	Himself (uncredited)
Bob Weir	...	Himself (uncredited)

Directed by
Albert Maysles
David Maysles
Charlotte Zwerin

Produced by
Porter Bibb	....	associate producer
Ronald Schneider	....	executive producer: The Rolling Stones

Cinematography by
Albert Maysles		(filmed by) (as The Maysles Brothers)
David Maysles		(filmed by) (as The Maysles Brothers)
Gary Weis

Film Editing by
Joanne Burke
Robert Farren
Ellen Giffard
Kent McKinney

Sound Department
Michael Becker	....	sound
Bill Blachly	....	sound mixer: National Film Center
John Brumbaugh	....	sound
Howard Chesley	....	sound
Pepper Crawford	....	sound
Stanley Cronquist	....	sound
Paul Deason	....	sound
Tom Goodwin	....	sound
Tony Jackson	....	sound
Glyn Johns	....	sound recordist: 16-track, Madison Square Gardens
Orly Lindgren	....	sound
Walter Murch	....	sound
Peter Pilafian	....	sound (as Peter Pilafin)
Art Rochester	....	sound
Maurice Schell	....	sound assistant
Nelson Stoll	....	production sound mixer
David Thompson	....	sound
Susumu Tokunow	....	sound (as Alvin Tokunow)

Camera and Electrical Department
Peter Adair	....	camera operator
Baird Bryant	....	camera operator
Joan Churchill	....	camera operator
Ron Dorfman	....	camera operator
Robert Elfstrom	....	camera operator
Elliott Erwitt	....	camera operator
Bob Fiore	....	camera operator (as Bob Fiori)
Adam Giffard	....	camera operator
William B. Kaplan	....	camera operator (as William Kaplan)
Kevin Keating	....	camera operator
Stephen Lighthill	....	camera operator
George Lucas	....	camera operator
Chip Monck	....	lighting: tour production, The Rolling Stones (as Chipmonck)
Jim Moody	....	camera operator
Jack Newman	....	camera operator
Pekke Niemela	....	camera operator
Robert Primes	....	camera operator
Paul Ryan	....	camera operator
Eric Saarinen	....	camera operator
Peter Smokler	....	camera operator
Coulter Watt	....	camera operator
Gary Weiss	....	camera operator
Bill Yarrus	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Mirra Bank	....	assistant editor
Janet Lauretano	....	assistant editor
Adrian Mosser	....	color negative: Cineservice Inc.
Susan Steinberg	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Stanley Goldstein	....	special help
Chip Monck	....	tour manager: The Rolling Stones (as Chipmonck)

Thanks
Pamela Adams	....	thanks
Robert Albert	....	thanks
Alan Bomser	....	thanks
Tom Bywaters	....	thanks
Donald Cammell	....	thanks
Dick Carter	....	thanks: Altamont Speedway
Barbara Jarvis	....	thanks
John Jaymes	....	thanks: Young American Enterprises
Tony Kline	....	thanks
Stephen Mellor	....	thanks: Allan King Associates
Stefan Ponek	....	thanks: KSAN Radio
Steve Schmidt	....	thanks
Haskell Wexler	....	thanks
Van Wolff	....	thanks (as Van Wolf)

Production Companies

• Maysles Films
• Penforta (executive produced for The Rolling Stones in association with)

Distributors

• Cinema 5 Distributing (1970) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Company (1970) (UK) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Kit Parker Films (2000-????) (USA) (re-release)
• LW Editora (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• PolyGram Video (UK) (video)
• PolyGram Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Alembic Recording  16 track recording: Rolling Stones at Altamont (as Alembic Recording - Betty and Bob, Engineers)
• KPIX  press conference footage: San Francisco
• National Film Center  sound mixing
• WABC  press conference footage: Eye Witness News Department

Also Known As:

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (edited for re-rating) | USA:R | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta) (2002) | UK:15 (video) (1993) (uncut) | UK:A (theatrical release) (1971) (cut) | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Altamont Speedway - 17001 Midway Road, Tracy, California, USA

Company:

Maysles Films

Trivia:

In the original version, played to theatre audiences, Mick Jagger used foul language on two or three occasions - appropriate for the moment but later censored out for TV broadcast with a "guitar strum" sound overdub to block the "offending" word. Only early copies of the film contain the original uncensored dialogue.

Quotes:

Mick Jagger:[watching Tina Turner performing the opening of the concert] It's nice to have a chick occasionally.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "30 for 30: Muhammad and Larry (#1.4)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Honky Tonk Women

Subject is stronger then the film-making

"Gimme Shelter" is definitely a well-made documentary, although not really better made than many other similar documentaries. The strength is what exactly this one is showing, namely the death of 60's innocence at a sleazy unorganized concert packed with drugged-out hippies watching the world's greatest rock and roll band. With that at hand, it'd be really hard to make a bad film.

Even though gigantic festivals like Altamont were new at the time, it is hard to imagine just how clueless people were in organizing the event. Even with the parking, when they are talking about how they have room for only a (relatively) small number of cars when they need room for many times more, the answer simply is a suggestion to ask the landowner next door to use his land to park cars and hope for the best, and that's that.

There probably is no better film where you can get that certain "feel" for the late 60's hippie-rock crowd and scene. It's really sad in a way because unfortunately, all the hippies themselves come across as clueless themselves, as if The Stones have all the answer's to their problems.

The whole mix was amazingly combustive, with The Stones, 300,000 drugged-out hippies, and plenty of showerless Hells Angels just looking for an excuse to kick someone's ass. It's hard to imagine anyone giving the security responsibilities to such a mammoth event to a group of guys that appear as if they'd have a difficult time simply *spelling* the actual word "security." But it all does make for an amazing portrait of a truly incredible event. Truth is, Altamont never actually changed anything much; instead, it was a wakeup call for those who still for whatever reason, refused to acknowledge that the times have already been changing indeed.

The footage at Madison Square Garden is actually the best concert footage in the film, interesting seeing how the house lights were on all the time and how the band played on stage without any props or effects (KISS was still 5 years away).

Many may disagree with this, but on the DVD, the newly remixed music in the film actually sounds too clean, especially during the concert sequences. The audio sometimes sounds so good, that it makes the film, itself gritty and hardcore, look "fake" and "dubbed" all too many times.