Monterey Pop **** (1968, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar) – Classic Movie Review 8701

It is time to get your love beads and purple velour pants for the 1968 classic rockumentary Monterey Pop by director D A Pennebaker of the legendary rock music festival concert (pre-dating Woodstock) that started off the Summer of Love of 1967.

Great rock acts (Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Mamas and the Papas, The Animals, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Grace Slick, Canned Heat, Buffalo Springfield, Big Brother and the Holding Company and lots more) perform great songs, including ‘Wild Thing’, My Generation’ and ‘Ball and Chain’.

Hendrix and Joplin are mind blowing, though Ravi Shankar’s sitar finale is a surprising highlight.

Monterey Pop was filmed over three days at the 1967 International Pop Festival at Monterey, California.

The MC is Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones.

It is disappointingly short at 78 minutes, though the DVD outtakes make amends with performances by several bands not in the film: Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Blues Project, The Association, Buffalo Springfield, Al Kooper and The Byrds.

Monterey Pop is directed by D A Pennebaker, is shot in Eastmancolor by Nick Doob [James Desmond], Barry Feinstein, Albert Maysles, Roger Murphy, D A Pennebaker, Richard Leacock and Nicholas T Proferes [Nick Proferes], runs 88 minutes, is made by Voyager, Leacock, Pennebaker, is released by Leacock-Pennebaker Inc (1968) (US), is produced by Lou Adler and John Phillips, and is edited by Nina Schulman.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8701

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