Rolling Thunder Revue

Graham Craycraft

Bob Dylan is perhaps the most influential American musician in history. Putting out critically acclaimed music in his early twenties and continues to record and tour even now at seventy eight years old. Pairing Dylan with legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese yields something close to a 100% success rate. That’s exactly what happened in June 2019. Scorsese released a documentary film on Netflix that covers Dylan’s tour with group Rolling Thunder Revue which consisted of around 15 members with names like Joan Baez, Scarlet Rivera, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and more. The group toured from 1975-76 around the US and famously wore white makeup and dressed in slightly more outrageous costumes.

On this tour Dylan unveiled songs such as “Isis” (the song of man who would do anything for love), Hurricane (the song about the boxer nicknamed “Hurricane” wrongly imprisoned on murder charges) and “One More Cup of Coffee” (an eerie call to the other side before the narrator himself transitions over). These songs have become a staple to Dylan’s long catalogue of greatest songs. Scorsese cuts live performances together with behind the scene shots and modern interviews of those involved. We get a closer look at Dylan and the culture surrounding him. Wherever Dylan went, great music seemed to follow.

The cinematography is scattered and loud just like a rock show should be. It jumped to each scene with harsh largely unrefined cuts. You can see where one shot ends and the other picks up similar to old documentaries or modern YouTube videos. The only polish is in the beauty of the music. The greatest accomplishment of the film is in the live performances. Dylan pours all of himself into his sets and as we watch the white makeup drip off his face we are taken back to a moment when Dylan was young and full of wild energy. All my life I have looked at Dylan as this permanently old songwriter. It took this film for me to see him in another light. A young man who plays to play and for the love of the music. The life Dylan gives to “Isis” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” are mind blowing. These two recordings specifically are a completely new invention in of themselves.

There have been some critiques of Scorsese lying or adding fictitious pieces to the film with regards to those surrounding the tour such as promoters and some band members, but like they say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Even if a couple of the aspects of the story are muddled or embellished, this only adds to it. The core that is heart and musical excellence and pure love for the expression of art is true in the content of the film and the film itself. Like Dylan himself says in the film, “the only people who tell the truth are people with masks on.”

I highly recommend this film if you care at all about the history of American music. Also check out Dylan’s “The Bootleg Series Vol. 5” which is the live 1975 performance with Rolling Thunder Revue.

I give this a 98/100. Check it out and let me know your thoughts or questions.