Woodstock (1970)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Michael Wadleigh

Release Date:

26 March 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History | Music

Tagline:

love, peace, music

Plot:

The film chronicle of the legendary 1969 music festival.

Plot Keywords:

Woodstock | Art | Helicopter | Mud | Drug

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Richie Havens	...	Himself
Joan Baez	...	Herself
The Who	...	Themselves
Sha-Na-Na	...	Themselves (as Sha Na Na)
Joe Cocker	...	Himself
Country Joe and the Fish	...	Themselves
Arlo Guthrie	...	Himself
Crosby Stills & Nash	...	Themselves (as Crosby, Stills and Nash)
Ten Years After	...	Themselves
John Sebastian	...	Himself
Santana	...	Themselves
Sly and the Family Stone	...	Themselves (as Sly & the Family Stone)
Jimi Hendrix	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Canned Heat	...	Themselves
Jefferson Airplane	...	Themselves
Janis Joplin	...	Herself

Also Known As:

Woodstock 25th Anniversary Edition (USA) (director's cut)
Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace & Music (USA) (longer version)

Runtime:

184 min | Germany:169 min | Sweden:184 min (1970) | Sweden:224 min (1994) | USA:228 min (director's cut) | Germany:216 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (re-release) | Mono (RCA Sound System) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (1994) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:S | Norway:12 | Spain:18 | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bethel, New York, USA

Company:

Wadleigh-Maurice

Trivia:

Crosby Stills Nash & Young almost didn't perform at the festival. The helicopter that Graham Nash and the group's drummer, Dallas Taylor, were on was less than 25 feet off the ground when the tail rotor failed and it began to spin. The helicopter almost crashed and Nash and Taylor were almost killed.

Quotes:

Hugh Romney: There's always a little bit of heaven in a disaster area.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fuck (2005)

Soundtrack:

Summertime Blues

"We must be in Heaven, man!"

Wavy Gravy said it best. Three days of peace, love and music, captured onto film. Everybody has their own opinions about which groups are better than others, but the overall effect is a dizzying one. 500,000 people (with an additional 1 million on the roads who couldn't get any closer) gathered in one spot, for a festival that named a generation. It's hard to believe that the concert was supposed to be a nothing more than a publicity event for a proposed recording studio, financed by a pair of venture capitalists. But the sun, moon and the stars were all in the proper alignment to create an event that we can only stand back and admire. I praise the organizers for having the foresight to document this event on film, for future generations to enjoy and behold. And perhaps, one day, repeat in some form.