Dont Look Back

{{short description|1967 documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Dont Look Back

| image = Dont Look Back - Bob Dylan (1967 film poster).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = D. A. Pennebaker

| writer = D. A. Pennebaker

| starring = Bob Dylan
Joan Baez
Alan Price

| music = Bob Dylan
Donovan

| cinematography =

| editing = D. A. Pennebaker

| producer = John Court
Albert Grossman

| studio = Leacock-Pennebaker, Inc.

| distributor = Leacock-Pennebaker, Inc.

| released = {{film date|1967|5|17}}

| runtime = 96 minutes

| country = United States

| budget =

}}

{{notatypo|Dont}} Look Back is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.

In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".{{Cite web|title=Hooray for Hollywood (December 1998) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9812/film.html|access-date=2020-09-29|website=www.loc.gov}}{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-09-29|website=Library of Congress}} In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted Dont Look Back the joint ninth best documentary film of all time.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28602506 |title=Silent film tops documentary poll |access-date=August 1, 2014 |work=BBC News|date=August 2014 }}

Synopsis

The opening scene of the film has Bob Dylan displaying and discarding a series of cue cards bearing selected words and phrases from the lyrics to his 1965 song "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (including intentional misspellings and puns).{{Cite web |last=Films |first=Pennebaker Hegedus |date=April 12, 2013 |title=DONT LOOK BACK (1967) – Trailer |url=https://vimeo.com/63913470 |access-date=June 20, 2020 |via=Vimeo}} This was the first single from his most recent album, Bringing It All Back Home, and a top ten hit in the UK when he filmed it there (a fact discussed in the film). Allen Ginsberg appears in the background having a discussion with Bob Neuwirth.

The film features Joan Baez, Donovan and Alan Price (who had just left the Animals), Dylan's manager Albert Grossman and his road manager Neuwirth. Marianne Faithfull, John Mayall, Ginger Baker and Allen Ginsberg may also be glimpsed in the background. Notable scenes include:

Dylan and Baez singing Hank Williams songs in a hotel room, as well as Baez singing the first few verses of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", "Percy's Song" and "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word" (which was still apparently unfinished at the time, as Baez later tells Dylan, "If you finish it I'll sing it on a record"; she would record it on Any Day Now in 1968).
Dylan's pre-concert philosophical jousting with a "science student" (Terry Ellis, who later co-founded Chrysalis Records).
Grossman negotiating with former bebop dance band leader and music agent Tito Burns.
Dylan singing "Only a Pawn in Their Game" on July 6, 1963, at a Voters' Registration Rally in Greenwood, Mississippi (shot by artist and experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller).
Dylan's interrupting Alan Price's backstage performance of "Little Things" to ask Price why he left the Animals.
Dylan's extended taunting of Time{{'}}s London arts and science correspondent Horace Freeland Judson who was subjected to what he believes to be a contrived tirade of abuse from Dylan. Dylan claims both that he is not a folk singer, and not a pop singer.
A selection of songs from Dylan's Royal Albert Hall performance.
Dylan regaling the room with "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" at Donovan's request after proclaiming "Hey, that's a good song, man!" during Donovan's performance of "To Sing for You".

Cast

=Credited=

=Uncredited=

Title

File:D A Pennebaker 2 by David Shankbone.jpg speaking at DVD re-release event on February 27, 2007]]

The original title of this film is Dont Look Back, without an apostrophe in the first word. D. A. Pennebaker, the film's writer director, decided to punctuate the title this way because "It was my attempt to simplify the language".Sounes, Howard, 2001, Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan, Doubleday, p. 171. Many sources, however, have assumed this to be a typographical error and have "corrected" the title to Don't Look Back. In the commentary track to the DVD release, Pennebaker said that the title came from the Satchel Paige quote, "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you," and that Dylan shared this view.

Production

Dont Look Back was shot in black-and-white with a handheld 16mm-film camera and utilized direct sound, thus creating the template for the "rockumentary" film genre.{{Cite web|date=2016-05-17|title=Don't Look Back, Bob Dylan and the invention of the rockumentary|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/17/dont-look-back-bob-dylan-invention-rockumentary|access-date=2022-02-17|website=the Guardian|language=en}} Production began when Dylan arrived in England on April 26, 1965, and ended shortly after his final UK concert at the Royal Albert Hall on May 10.{{Cite web|title=Still On The Road 1965|url=http://bjorner.com/DSN00785%20(65).htm|access-date=2022-02-17|website=bjorner.com}} Pennebaker has stated that the famous "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video that is shown at the beginning of the film was actually shot at the very end of filming. Pennebaker decided during editing to place it at the beginning of the film as a "stage" for Dylan to begin the film.

Release

The film was first shown publicly May 17, 1967, at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco, and opened that September at the 34th Street East Theater in New York.

A transcript of the film, with photographs, was published in 1968 by Ballantine Books.

Reception and legacy

Dont Look Back has been very well received by critics. It has a rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 55 reviews. The websites critics consensus reads, "Dont [sic] Look Back leaves the mysteries of Dylan largely intact while offering a gripping verite-style account of a pivotal moment in his incredible career." The film received a 5-star review from AllMovie and has a Metacritic score of 84, indicating "universal acclaim".{{Citation|title=Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bob-dylan-dont-look-back|access-date=2022-02-17}} In August 1967, a Newsweek reviewer wrote, "Dont Look Back is really about fame and how it menaces art, about the press and how it categorizes, bowdlerizes, sterilizes, universalizes or conventionalizes an original like Dylan into something it can dimly understand".{{cite web|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19799/m1/ |title=Show 40 – Ballad in Plain D: Bob Dylan. [1966] : UNT Digital Library |last=Gilliland

|first=John

|year=1969

|author-link=John Gilliland

|work=Pop Chronicles

|publisher=Digital.library.unt.edu

|format=audio

|access-date=2011-04-29}}{{cite web|url=http://www.thefilmchair.com/reviews/dontlookback.html |title=Dont Look Back (1967) |publisher=Thefilmchair.com |date=2007-01-16 |access-date=2011-04-29}}

Kurt Cobain identified it as the only "good documentary about rock and roll" in a 1991 interview with his Nirvana bandmates, a sentiment with which Dave Grohl concurred.Archived at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZpWr6-FtQ Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170518142140/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBW7iDoKdNA Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|title=Nirvana - Interview about the movie Singles in 1992| date=January 15, 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBW7iDoKdNA|language=en|access-date=2021-04-10}}{{cbignore}}

The film has been parodied and paid homage to by many other films and television shows including This Is Spinal Tap,{{Cite web |date=2014-03-11 |title=11 Things You Didn't Know About 'Spinal Tap' |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spinal-tap-30th-anniversary-facts_n_4887740 |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} Bob Roberts,{{Cite web |title=Bob Roberts DVD review {{!}} Cine Outsider |url=http://www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/dvd/b/bob_roberts.html |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=www.cineoutsider.com}} and Documentary Now!.{{Cite web |date=2015-08-14 |title='Documentary Now!' a spoof on docs by 'SNL' alums Seth Meyers, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen |url=https://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20150814/documentary-now-a-spoof-on-docs-by-snl-alums-seth-meyers-bill-hader-and-fred-armisen/ |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=Daily News |language=en-US}} The opening sequence featuring "Subterranean Homesick Blues" has likewise inspired many music videos, including INXS' "Mediate",{{Cite web |last=chrishewitt |title=5 best odes to Bob Dylan's iconic cue card video for 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' |url=https://www.startribune.com/5-best-odes-to-bob-dylan-s-iconic-cue-card-video-for-subterranean-homesick-blues/484852661/ |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=Star Tribune|date=June 7, 2018 }} MC Evidence's "The Far Left,"{{Cite magazine |last=Weingarten |first=Christopher R. |date=2010-03-30 |title=Is Bob Dylan Hip-Hop's Godfather? His Ties to Beasties, Roots, More |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/is-bob-dylan-hip-hops-godfather-64581/ |access-date=2023-08-23 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Bob"{{Cite web |date=2022-01-20 |title=Weird Al's best non-parody songs |url=https://wegotthiscovered.com/music/weird-als-best-non-parody-songs/ |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=We Got This Covered |language=en-US}} and Hozier's "Almost (Sweet Music),"{{Cite web |date=2019-04-14 |title=Interview: Hozier – "At Worst The World Will Sing Along" - The 13th Floor |url=https://13thfloor.co.nz/interview-hozier-at-worst-the-world-will-sing-along/ |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=13thfloor.co.nz |language=en-NZ}} and was cited by journalist Roger Friedman as "the most copied, most revered, music video of all time".{{Cite web |date=2019-07-15 |title=Happy 94th Birthday to DA Pennebaker the Greatest Documentary Filmmaker, Lifetime Oscar Recipient |url=https://www.showbiz411.com/2019/07/15/happy-94th-birthday-to-da-pennebaker-the-greatest-documentary-filmmaker-lifetime-oscar-recipient |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=Showbiz411 |language=en-US}}

=Home media=

Dont Look Back has been released and re-released on home video in many formats, from VHS to Blu-ray, over the decades. A digitally remastered deluxe DVD edition was released on February 27, 2007.[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KJU1HI/ Amazon.com: Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back (1965 Tour Deluxe Edition): Bob Neuwirth, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Nico, Albert Grossman, Alan Price, Tito Burns, Donovan,Derroll Adams, Chris Ellis (III), Marianne Faithfull, Terry Ellis (II), Jones Alk, Allen Ginsberg, Brian Pendleton (II),Howard Alk, John Mayall, D. A. Pennebaker: Movies & TV] The two-disc edition contained the remastered film, five additional audio tracks, commentary by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker and Tour Road Manager Bob Neuwirth, an alternative version of the video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues", the original companion book edited by D. A. Pennebaker to coincide with the film's release in 1968, a flip-book for a section of the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video, and a brand new documentary by D. A. Pennebaker and edited by Walker Lamond called 65 Revisited. The DVD packaging was also given new artwork.

On November 24, 2015, The Criterion Collection released a newly restored 4K transfer of the film on Blu-ray and DVD.{{cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/28655-dont-look-back/|title=Dont Look Back (1967) – The Criterion Collection|access-date=February 16, 2016}} The Criterion version contained new special features.

References

Literature

Hall, Jeanne (1998): Don´t you ever just watch? American Cinéma vérité and DONT LOOK BACK. In: Grant, Barry Keith/Sloniowski, Jeannette (eds.): Documenting the Documentary. Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video. pp. 223–236, Detroit: Wayne St. University Press, {{ISBN|978-0814326398}}
{{cite book | last = Saunders | first = Dave | year = 2007 | title = Direct Cinema: Observational Documentary and the Politics of the Sixties | location = London | publisher = Wallflower Press | isbn = 978-1-905674-16-9}} (This book contains a lengthy chapter on Dont Look Back and its cultural context and significance.)

External links

{{IMDb title|0061589}}
{{TCMDb title|id=502659}}
{{rotten-tomatoes|dont_look_back_1967}}
{{AFI film|20193}}
[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/movies/28revi.html Review of 65 Revisited in The New York Times.]
[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3809-dont-look-back-everybody-loves-you-for-your-black-eye Dont Look Back: Everybody Loves You for Your Black Eye] an essay by Robert Polito at the Criterion Collection
Don’t Look Back essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 623-624 [https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC]