No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (27 Sep. 2005)

A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Stars:

Bob Dylan, B.J. Rolfzen, Dick Kangas

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Bob Dylan	...	Himself
B.J. Rolfzen	...	Himself (voice)
Dick Kangas	...	Himself
Liam Clancy	...	Himself
Tony Glover	...	Himself
Paul Nelson	...	Himself
Allen Ginsberg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dave Van Ronk	...	Himself (archive footage)
Maria Muldaur	...	Herself
John Cohen	...	Himself
Bruce Langhorne	...	Himself
Mark Spoelstra	...	Himself
Suze Rotolo	...	Herself
Izzy Young	...	Himself
Mitch Miller	...	Himself

Storyline

Portrait of an artist as a young man. Roughly chronological, using archival footage intercut with recent interviews, a story takes shape of Bob Dylan's (b. 1941) coming of age from 1961 to 1966 as a singer, songwriter, performer, and star. He takes from others: singing styles, chord changes, and rare records. He keeps moving: on stage, around New York City and on tour, from Suze Rotolo to Joan Baez and on, from songs of topical witness to songs of raucous independence, from folk to rock. He drops the past. He refuses, usually with humor and charm, to be simplified, classified, categorized, or finalized: always becoming, we see a shapeshifter on a journey with no direction home.

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Plot Keywords:

singer | bob dylan | interview | archive footage | performance | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | History | Music | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

PBS [us]

Country:

UK USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Hibbing, Minnesota, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Spitfire Pictures, Grey Water Park Productions, Thirteen / WNET

Technical Specs

Runtime:

208 min 208 min (DVD) 205 min (2 part TV-miniseries) 201 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mitch Blank's credit as "hypnotist collector" is a reference to a line in the Bob Dylan song "She Belongs to Me".

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Goofs

Footage of the San Francisco Bay Bridge is included among footage of New York City illustrating Bob Dylan's arrival there.

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Quotes

Bob Dylan: I was born very far from where I'm supposed to be, and so I'm on my way home.

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Connections

Features The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show (1958)

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Soundtracks

"Like a Rolling Stone"
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony BMG

User Reviews

Bob Dylan, human being

In our age of universal celebrity, where we know everything that everyone famous thinks (or, more usually, does not think), it's refreshing to rediscover how interesting it can be to hear from someone whose achievements are great but who rarely speaks about them. Bob Dylan has given an extensive interview to Martin Scorcese for Scorcese's film about his emergence from the folk scene and his subsequent "betrayal" of that scene when he went electric: it's absorbing to watch, although, in the end, Bob doesn't actually say that much specific. However, the interview is complemented by a selection of other distinguished talking heads and most crucially, a rich selection of archive footage, going back to Dylan's very first days as a performer. What one notices is just how young he was: the depth and sophistication of even his earliest music can blind one, listening on record, to the age of the performer producing it. He also comes across as playful, self-confident and quite naturally baffled by some of idiocy going on around him: far from seeming incomprehensibly moody, Dylan actually appears as sane as anyone could be at the centre of such attention. It's the music, though, that is really the key to this film, with a rawness and edge, as well as a cleverness, that is still unsurpassed today (and this comment applies equally to the acoustic and the electric material). Since 1966 when the film ends, Dylan has continued to tour and write occasionally great songs; but the body of work that he produced in the early to mid 1960s stands clear for its amazing quantity and quality. If nothing else, 'No Direction Home' stands as clear testament to that achievement.