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Festival

1967, Movie, NR, 95 mins

Festival: Review

FESTIVAL
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"Folk music doesn't tend to hand me any Tin Pan Alley drivel," says a painfully earnest young fan, and truth be told, there's a bit too much of that sort of thing in this documentary shot between 1963 and 1966 at the Newport Folk Festival. Is it possible that such solemn and misguided pronouncements really didn't sound goofy, even three decades ago? But the performances Murray Lerner captured more than make up for it, as does his footage of fans making their own music between sets. There's beautifully straightforward material of a broad swatch of mid-'60s music scene, including Buffy St. Marie; Donovan; Pete Seeger; Judy Collins; Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul & Mary; Johnny Cash; and Joan Baez, whose between-set moments reveal a far sharper sense of humor than her St. Joan persona might lead you to expect. It's also Baez, of all people, who, in between heavy thoughts about the nature of fame, remarks of the fledgling hippies in the crowd that she loves what the young people are into but wishes they'd shower more often. The better-known artists appear alongside country bands, gospel singers, a fife and drum corps, bluegrass and blues musicians and a woman who plays a very creditable version of "Turkey in the Straw" by slapping her cheeks with her fingertips: Their combined presence creates a powerful argument that folk music by definition draws on a rich variety of traditions. "Two hundred years ago, folk was pop music," observes a gracious older woman. "We change." Among the highlights: Peter, Paul & Mary putting some real spine into "If I Had a Hammer;" Bob Dylan making the transition from acoustic to electric; and Johnny Cash, sullenly handsome and devastatingly nonchalant, tossing off a couple of gravely verses of "I Walk the Line." leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 (Special Edition)
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