| ![Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director's Cut (40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition and BD-Live with Amazon Exclusive Bonus Content) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QE-CGJqML._SL160_.jpg) | Director: Michael Wadleigh
Actors: Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joe Cocker, Country Joe McDonald, Crosby Stills & Nash
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $61.49
as of 7/30/2010 07:25 CDT details
You Save: $8.50 (12%)
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  273 reviews
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), Polish (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled)
Media: Blu-ray
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 6.1 x 2.8
UPC: 883929073986
EAN: 0883929073986
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 273
 A fascinating time capsule, a fun ride for music lovers. October 23, 2005
Ben Parker (Church Point, NSW Australia)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Most artists play one or two songs, but the songs chosen are outstanding. The most memorable moment is probably the guitar gymnastics of the lead singer of a band i'd never heard of called "Ten Years After" who do this medley of old blues standards called "I'm Going Home" in fast ultra-rock style with outstanding guitar solos. The sequence from The Who's set is also incredible, featuring a song from Tommy. Then there's Janis Joplin, who tears up the stage better than anyone else.
The parts between performances, sometimes overlong, nevertheless help give you an idea of what it might have been like to be there: the arrival sequence, the exciting storm sequence, the arrival of Arlo Guthie by plane, the two interviews with local residents of Woodstock, the scenes of people meditating, skinnydipping, being interviewed about free love and drugs, the announcements "there is some bad acid circulating! If you must experiment, only take half a tab!" For fans of the music of the time (Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Who) and for fans of 70's culture, its a real time capsule.
The One True Woodstock June 14, 2009
Jerry P. Danzig (New York, NY USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Wow, as someone who was actually at Woodstock (the one true one), I am totally thrilled by this box set.
First, the film looks and sounds better than ever, with a crystal-clear picture and awesome surround sound.
Second, the film is the longer Director's Cut, featuring classic performances that didn't appear in the original theatrical version, most notably Janis and I think more Jimi. Both are mind-blowing.
Third, most of the performances on the "extras" disc -- never before seen -- are as good as the performances in the film!!!
I had occasion to watch Monterey Pop again recently, and now that I've seen Woodstock including the bonus footage -- Woodstock hands-down had the greatest performances, by the greatest performers, at the peak of their powers!!!
Really, if you're a fan of Woodstock or the music of the period, the "extras" disc is worth the price of admission here itself. Amazing performances by Joan Baez, Canned Heat, the Who, Joe Cocker, and Santana, plus festival performers not seen in the original film, notably Creedence, the Dead, and Johnny Winter.
The extras disc also has some interesting interviews with many festival participants and attendees, including then-cameraman Martin Scorsese.
If you buy the set from Amazon, you also get a Bonus disc, with some additional numbers including the Dead doing "Mama Tried" and the Airplane doing "Volunteers".
Finally, I agree with other reviewers' comments about the difficulty of removing the discs from the cardboard sleeves without scuffing them. WB just loves these dopey cheapo cardboard packs.
Otherwise, however, the leather fringe vest in which the box is dressed, along with the embroidered WS patch, repro concert tickets, lucite paperweight with lenticular multi-scene pictures, and mini version of the Life WS special issue are all cool in my book. (I still have my un-taken tix and Life issue somewhere in the house!)
About the only negative I can think of is the inevitable "Half-Century Deluxe Ultimate" box set which will undoubtedly come in ten years, hopefully with more unseen performances.
Until then, this box pays fit and proper tribute to one of the great events of the sixties and one of the greatest events I have ever been fortunate to witness.
HIGHly recommended (inhaling can be a good thing)!
A jewel in the crown March 18, 1999
Jan de Kievit (REEUWYK Netherlands)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Now this is what DVD is all about! The best rock documentary of the twentieth century is now preserved on longlast DVD. To be honest i ordered this DVD for two reasons: one was to test if a region 1 DVD would run on my 'fixed' region 2 MPEG card (hooray it works!) and reason number two was nostalgia. I saw the original movie at the age of 18 and was impressed by the new (1969!) wide and threefold screen technique. Now after thirty years and some poor sound video copies I was surprised that these same techniques still impressed me. I became aware that this rockdocumentary is absolute unique in atmosphere, technique and 'filmic' quality. Warner has done a great job on the sound and by adding 'new additions' to the DVD copy. They understand the added value DVD. Simply the best rockdocumentary of the century and a jewel in the crown of DVD!!
A classic restored... February 12, 2001
William M. Feagin (Upstate New York, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I first saw this film on cable around 1985 or so, and as soon as I knew it was being broadcast, I settled in to tape it. Thanks to dirty tape heads in my folks' old VCR, the sound quality was poor--most of the old man's intro outside the local pub was lost in static. This I endured for years. When I found this version available on DVD, already aware that the director's cut had been released some years back, I knew this would be a keeper. And indeed it is: The re-edited film, which formerly was choppy and confusing in its running order (or at least as I remember it), now flows much better, and the added performances are very welcome. My only complaint is that this one was issued among the first flood of DVD releases in 1997, and so is spread out over 2 sides of a disc rather than having been remastered in dual-layer format. (So I'm lazy, you say? Fair enough, but the thing I've always liked about the CD is that you don't have to get up to turn them over.) Otherwise, definitely worth having.
The counterculture's finest moment August 17, 2008
Edward E. Rom (Mankato, MN United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Something happened in the '60s, and we're still feeling the effects of it now. Even as I type these words, my neighbors on the other side of the apartment wall are playing rock music REALLY LOUD -- I even like what they're playing, though I'm not sure what band's album it is. For better or worse, rock music and its attendant baggage have had an enormous effect on our culture: I would even go so far to say that a certain energy has been raised, and continues to be raised, by this sort of music.
Popular music began to change in the mid-1950s, as black rhythm-and-blues was sanitized for the white audience, or should I say that audience's parents. To make a long story short, popular music (according to a rock history documentary I saw some years ago) had been taken over by the bohemian element by 1969. From that time until sometime in the '90s, a large percentage of popular music actually had artistic merit: an anomalous situation in the history of the recording industry.
That reality is reflected by the Woodstock music festival of 1969, which the DVD being reviewed here documents. This DVD seems to be somewhat longer than the theatrical release was, with a few more acts shown. The only group that seems really out-of-place here is the novelty act Sha Na Na, who did a sendup of '50s rock. The rest of it is at least very good, with some of it being superb. Some of it left me with my jaw hanging open, even after all these years. The echoes of this energy still in some part animate us...
One thing about this that younger people might think about is that this was all new at the time: only 14 years before Woodstock, the number 1 hit for 1955 was Patti Page's "How Much is That Doggie in the Window." The WWII generation mostly hated our music; the width of that generational gap, perhaps the widest such gap in history, is shown by the difference between our music, and their music. I still can't stand watching Lawrence Welk...
Along with the music, there are short clips of life at the rock festival, including some interview footage. This footage nicely frames the music, and gives, I think, some sense of the spirit of the time.
I do have a small connection to this: in 1971 or '72, I met a guy at a party who told me that he was in the Woodstock movie -- he was one of the people who came over the fence at about the time they turned it into a free concert. I went and watched the movie again the next time it came around, and sure enough he wasn't lying.
My previous review to this was of the film _Groupies_, which I characterized as illustrating more of the everyday reality of those days.
This film provides the contrast to that, as it gives us a glimpse of the counterculture's peak moment. After that, it was all downhill; by the late '70s we had gone from "peace and love" to "disco sucks!" There was still a lot of good music to come, but that was truly our grand ball. I'm confident we won't see the likes of this again, nor will our descendants for some generations to come.
I give this one five stars: not only is the music terrific, but the film is superb as a documentary that gives a good impression of "how it was" to those not old enough to remember the time.
Showing reviews 21-25 of 273
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