At the Max (1991)

Directors:

Noel Archambault
David Douglas

Release Date:

June 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

Larger than live

Plot:

A filming of the 1990 Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels" concert that traveled Europe. This was filmed in the IMAX process, which allows the film to be projected in a size ten times the size of a regular 35mm projected image. |

Plot Keywords:

IMAX | Concert Film

Cast

Mick Jagger	...	Himself (as The Rolling Stones)
Keith Richards	...	Himself (as The Rolling Stones)
Charlie Watts	...	Himself (as The Rolling Stones)
Ron Wood	...	Himself (as The Rolling Stones)
Bill Wyman	...	Himself (as The Rolling Stones)
Chuck Leavell	...	Himself (Keyboards)
Bobby Keys	...	Himself (Saxophone)
Crispin Cioe	...	Himself (Uptown Horns)
Arno Hecht	...	Himself (Uptown Horns)
Hollywood Paul Litteral	...	Himself (Uptown Horns)
Bob Funk	...	Himself (Uptown Horns)
Bernard Fowler	...	Himself (Vocals)
Lorelei McBroom	...	Herself (Vocals)
Sophia Jones	...	Herself (Vocals)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Uptown Horns	...	Themselves

Also Known As:

Rolling Stones: Live at the Max

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Ireland | Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Sound Mix:

IMAX 6-Track | Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

IMAX

Trivia:

Originally shot with 8 IMAX cameras outfitted with the first long load film magazines. 5 concerts in 3 cities. The magazines were so huge and the ballistics of the loading so unpredictable, there was no guarantee of complete coverage of any song in any single concert. Eventually trying to cut this on a flatbed proved impossible. Recently re-released EditDroids were in Toronto on various projects and one was custom configured with the help of the folks at Lucas in Los Angeles. All 35mm "twist reduction" work print was reassembled in original rolls, transfered to video and recorded on one-off laser videodiscs. The 8-headed Droid could load all data bases and imaging for a single song in all concert locations. The editors could jump to any point in a song, see what was available (or not) then jump to the same spot in all subsequent concerts. The trick was tracing back from the Droid data through laserdisc data through video data back to 35mm stepdown print edge code and ultimately to the original IMAX neg - frame accurately to produce the neg cut list that needed to sync with the original 64 track digital recordings.

Only The Amount Of Wrinkles Change For The Stones

This veteran rock group is consistent: it almost always gives a dynamic show and it almost plays the same songs over and over. However, one doesn't seem to mind as the Stones always make their shows visually and audibly interesting no matter how many times you see and hear them.

The main difference in the shows over the years are the props (in this case, huge inflatable dolls) or a more youthful appearance when you see them in something 10, 20 and 30 years ago. When I acquired the "Four Flicks" DVD in 2003 I thought I had seen them do about all their songs but not so. For instance, in this concert is a great version of "Sad, Sad, Sad," which isn't on that multi-disc 2003 compilation.

After seeing the recent shows, you look at this and the "boys" look a heckuva lot younger.

These guys are always entertaining and I'm lucky to have found this tape in January of 2005. At the time, and still now the VHS and DVD were both unavailable for regular purchase. You have to find sellers on websites (Amazon, e-bay) to get them. I never saw this on IMAX so I can't comment about that experience.