Long Strange Trip (2017)

A look at the 30-year career of The Grateful Dead.

Director:

Amir Bar-Lev

Stars:

John Perry Barlow, Tom Constanten, Sam Cutler

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
John Perry Barlow	...	Himself
Tom Constanten	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sam Cutler	...	Himself
Jerry Garcia	...	Himself (archive footage)
Donna Godchaux	...	Herself (archive footage)
Keith Godchaux	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mickey Hart	...	Himself
Robert Hunter	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Kreutzmann	...	Himself
Phil Lesh	...	Himself
Ron McKernan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dennis McNally	...	Himself
Barbara 'Brigid' Meier	...	Herself
Brent Mydland	...	Himself (archive footage)
Steve Parish	...	Himself

Storyline

The tale of the Grateful Dead is inspiring, complicated, and downright messy. A tribe of contrarians, they made art out of open-ended chaos and inadvertently achieved success on their own terms. Never-before-seen footage and interviews offer this unprecedented and unvarnished look at the life of the Dead.

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Plot Keywords:

interview | party | singing | singer | lifestyle | 

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Taglines:

The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug content throughout, language and some graphic nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 May 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Долгое странное путешествие

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, AOMA Sunshine Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

238 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the documentary, it shows clips of footage that has never been seen before. Bob Weir (Guitarist) confirmed this in episode 2 of the 6-Part documentary.

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Quotes

Sam Cutler: The Grateful Dead are dumb... They make fabulous music, wonderful, amazing music... When it came to business decisions, stupid.

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Soundtracks

Lost Sailor
(uncredited)
Written by Bob Weir and John Barlow
Performed by Grateful Dead

User Reviews

The Grateful Dead as your musical Tour Guides... Brilliant!

Director Amir Bar-Lev has accomplished the impossible. His task was to create a documentary that encompassed all of the facets and angles that created, invigorated and surrounded not only an evolutionary rock band over 50 years, but their horde of tour family and endless supply of fans. I leave this film experience recognizing so much of my personal Dead Head past without having to chase reliving it from show to show.

The history: At the heart of this movie is the history of the Grateful Dead. Just seeing Jerry Garcia and the band in their energetic youth helps the later generation of fans experience them before age and excess had chipped away at the band. It's a documentary, and that's never lost on the film maker. The origins, the acid, the music, the band members, the myths, the travelings.... all explained without further internet search.

The interviews: Sam Culter (Tour manager 1970-1974) appears throughout (filmed outside his van) gives a consistently unique and uncompromising view that is can't miss stuff. Al Franken, Nick Paumgarten and Steve Silberman also give intelligent and hilarious insight to the Dead Head phenomena.

The editing: The documentary works best in it's editing of interviews as if they were an ongoing conversation, much like the bands' musical ideal. The timing of the introduction/insertion of specific songs (of which there are a plethora to choose from) is both uplifting and quite poignant. There are numerous slick vignettes that are almost Tarantino-like. The film moves at a meaningful pace as it covers 238 minutes

The music: Is it me or did I find alternative versions of songs without singing backing a good portion of the documentary? The earlier live practice footage with Jerry leading the are priceless. The studio versus live arguments (mainstream media versus organic growth) is covered throughout, which would be for those not yet initiated. Love the tapers section explained in detail. "These guys completely get me", is something the vast majority of Dead heads who felt unique must be saying about the film makers!

Jerry immortalized: If you had any doubts about who was the leader of the Grateful Dead, doubt no more. Jerry is portrayed as equally a cool dude, childishly idealistic, musically dedicated whose burden of being the leader of The Dead took it's toll. How could it not?

The fans: If you are streaming this on Amazon; Prime, it's Episode V. This is the best synopsis of "what the hell is going on" at a Grateful Dead show. I've tried to explain this to people over the decades, and everything I've attempted to extrapolate from my experience is here, as well as everything that someone with my limitations wouldn't be able to iterate. Wow, was that fun!

The ending: We all know that Jerry hasn't been of this world for decades and it simply hurt all over again. It's like your parents would rhetorically ask you, "Well, how'd you think this was all going to end?" At that point it's clear that this is really the Jerry Garcia story and there was no context to them talking about how the Grateful Dead experience continues.... and yet it does for many...