Taking Woodstock (2009)

A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

James Schamus (screenplay), Elliot Tiber (book),

Stars:

Henry Goodman, Edward Hibbert, Imelda Staunton

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Henry Goodman	...	Jake Teichberg
Edward Hibbert	...	British Gentleman
Imelda Staunton	...	Sonia Teichberg
Demetri Martin	...	Elliot Teichberg
Kevin Chamberlin	...	Jackson Spiers
Lee Wong	...	George the Doorman (as Takeo Lee Wong)
Anthoula Katsimatides	...	Esther
Clark Middleton	...	Frank
Bette Henritze	...	Annie
Sondra James	...	Margaret
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Dan
Christina Kirk	...	Carol
Gail Martino	...	Town Clerk
Emile Hirsch	...	Billy
Adam LeFevre	...	Dave

Storyline

A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.

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Plot Keywords:

catskills | concert | motel | undressing | town name in title | 

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Taglines:

"A Generation Began In His Backyard."

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic nudity, some sexual content, drug use and language

Details

Official Sites:

Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 August 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aconteceu em Woodstock

Filming Locations:

Cherry Plain State Park, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,457,760 (USA) (28 August 2009)

Gross:

$7,443,007 (USA) (25 September 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

No authentic Woodstock footage was inserted into the film. According to director Ang Lee all the crowd and concert footage was shot specifically for the film.

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Goofs

The song Maggie M'Gill by The Doors was used in one of the scenes. It was not released until 1970 and appeared on the Morrison Hotel album.

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Quotes

Vilma: You should see what I'm packing up here.

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Connections

Featured in Peace, Love and Cinema (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Coming into Los Angeles"
Written and performed by Arlo Guthrie
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

User Reviews

A loving and lovely tribute to a brief moment in time

Perhaps more than most films, you'll either get this or you won't. Ang Lee seems to have conjured up the past with an accuracy that most filmmakers would spoil with reverence. Through a series of vignettes and very small references to Wadleigh's 1970 documentary, "Woodstock," a legendary moment in culture gets celebrated with a sweetness that was part of the era that quickly evaporated.

I was reminded of the film "Dirty Dancing" not just in the setting but in the tone. Ang Lee keeps the humor from becoming too broad in depiction of the locals whose lives were about to up-ended in a way that no one anticipated but few would not welcome. The actors in particular find a common level to play with that draws the audience into the excitement. We know what will happen, but as the momentum builds to the actual event the audience is swept away just as the characters in the film are.

The key character, a very unimposing Demetri Martin, never falters in this coming-of-age story that mirrors the culture changes swirling around him. He gives a very strong performance and is virtually never off the screen.

I had read that the "main event" isn't recreated, and that's partially true. However, we "see" what most of the actual participants of the event saw of the performances on a stage set up in a cow field. It's a stunning moment in the film and as magical as the experience must have been. I was roughly the same age as the character, struggling with the changes of adolescence at a moment in time when there really weren't road-maps for the future. While I was far away from the East Coast, this event reached me in many of the same ways as the characters in the film. I suppose for most people my age that was also true.

While I flinched a few times when a "plot" would intrude into this whole dazzling work, it served the purpose for the power and point of the final moments: Standing in the muddy aftermath the hope of what was going to happen next was palpable for a whole generation, but the next event, Altamont with the Rolling Stones, ended it all with crushing horror. Yet, the optimism is still alive, I think. Equality for many racial and sexual minorities were fulfilled…or are being so fulfilled at this time…and one of the more ironic points of the film was actually scored during the trailers that preceded the feature: the previews for Michael Moore's "Capitalism" and that subject is what really ended the counterculture.

But for Ang Lee he gives the 40th Anniversary of the Woodstock festival an original and unsentimental celebration. (And if hippies annoy you, this isn't the film you need to see.)