Gimme Shelter (1970, dir. Albert Maysles, David Maysles)

Gimme Shelter (1970, dir. Albert Maysles, David Maysles)

What Is It?: The classic (hardly Lost, but still) rockumentary about The Rolling Stones on the road to disaster at the Altamont Speedway.

What About It?: The Maysles brothers (known for the cult classic Gray Gardens and the brilliant Salesman) made a thoroughly atypical Rock Doc with Gimme Shelter. Opening with the Rolling Stones in the editing studio with Albert and David Maysles listening to Sonny Barger of the Hell's Angels on KSAN blame the debacle at Altamont on the band, then flashing back to the opening of their 1969 US tour at Madison Square Garden, the film is structured as a thriller. In an almost Hitchcockian fashion, the viewer knows what will happen, that James Merideth will be stabbed while the Stones sing “Under My Thumb,” so all of the actors' actions are suffused with suspence and tension. By the time we get to the show in Northern California, the entire enterprise is fraught with anxiety. And Rock.

Why Should I See It?: If you're a fan of the Rolling Stones, or of 60's era R&B, then there is much to love here before it all goes to shit. There's a scene in particular with Tina Turner singing the Otis Redding Classic, “I've Been Loving You Too Long”, that will stop your universe in its tracks. In addition, if you're into documentaries, the Maysles have made a fascinating document of a seminal event that many have called the death of the sixties. We won't be quite so grand, but we will say that it both rocks and is a bummer.

What Else Is It Like?: C**ksucker Blues, Monterey Pop, Festival Express.

When Is It Playing Until ON DEMAND?: 1/24/07

Watch It ON DEMAND On Comcast Cable.

-- ddt/pdx

What's New This Week (That's Worth Watching to One Degree or Another)?: Air Force One, The Bishop's Wife, Dead Man Walking, Drunken Master, Fargo, Far Away Home, Get Shorty, 12 Angry Men (1997), The Manchurian Candidate, Midnight Cowboy, My Girl, No Way Out, Rocky I, II, III, IV & V (!)