Renaldo and Clara (1978)

Director:

Bob Dylan

Writers:

Bob Dylan (writer)
Sam Shepard (writer)

Release Date:

25 January 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

This epic is a mass amalgamation of three separate film-types that is, contrary to popular opinion, coherent and a unified whole...

Plot Keywords:

Bob Dylan | Musician | Concert Tour | Folk Singer | Singer Songwriter

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bob Dylan	...	Renaldo
Sara Dylan	...	Clara
Joan Baez	...	Woman in White
Ronnie Hawkins	...	Bob Dylan
Jack Elliott	...	Longheno de Castro
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Lafkezio
Bob Neuwirth	...	The Masked Tortilla
Allen Ginsberg	...	The Father
Mel Howard	...	Ungatz
David Mansfield	...	The Son
Jack Baran	...	The Truck Driver
Helena Kallianiotes	...	Herself
Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter	...	Himself
Anne Waldman	...	Sister of Mercy
T-Bone Burnett	...	The Inner Voice

Runtime:

292 min (original version) | UK:235 min | 122 min (re-cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Alabama, USA

Company:

Lombard Street Films

Trivia:

When the film was originally released, its screenings were extremely limited. The film received very many condemning reviews and many theaters refused the screenings. The film was cut from its original four-hour length to a two-hour length, and what was left was mostly concert footage. This version was shown in more theaters than the original director's cut. The original four-hour cut would appear on European television some time later, on Channel 4.

Quotes:

The Truck Driver: Why are you so much in a hurry? Is the law after you?
Renaldo: I am the law!

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

I Want You

A sometimes irritating and sometimes profound meditation

At over four hours and consisting of a lot of improvised and apparently self-referential scenes, this could and indeed has irritated many viewers. But if one stays with it and takes it as it comes (Dylan himself has recommended that one watches it doped), the film is an extraordinary meditation on the nature of self, performance, show biz and life. At its heart, the film seems to me to be saying that everything is show business (love, politics, poetry) or perhaps that show business (represented by a cheesy club act) is as valid a life choice as any of the more profound things portrayed. For all his supposedly radical support for Rubin Carter, the film suggests that the boxer is just as much a performer as anyone else. The film contains some moving sequences, not least the wonderful one in which Alan Ginsberg performs Kaddish before a group of oldsters. And not least, the concert footage of Dylan is magnificent - Isis being a stand-out. Which brings me back to the movie's theme: here is a performer whose name is not really Bob Dylan playing a performer who is called Renaldo performing a song about marriage but not marriage to his wife Sara (who plays Clara in the film) but marriage to the ancient Egyptian Goddess Isis - which implies that the singer really is Osiris, God of the underworld. But it's just this kid Robert Zimmerman! What is the real truth? This is the sort of heady trip the film offers. Put up with the irritating self-indulgence of much of this,and the enormous length, and there are great rewards. Re-issue it, Bob!