The cinema of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's career has had various strange and interesting intersections with cinema over the decades. Apart from the countless films his music has appeared in, here is a list of his most significant contributions to cinema, in the order in which they were filmed.
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- DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsDavid WarnerBob DylanMaureen PryorA man mysteriously locks himself in a room in a boarding house leaving only a note saying he has decided to "retire from the world". His worried sister and the other boarders then try to discover why.Filmed in 1962 when Bob Dylan was barely famous, this is a BBC TV play with Dylan sitting in the corner and commenting on the action with a few songs. There is no footage left after the BBC wiped their archives in 1968.
- DirectorD.A. PennebakerStarsBob DylanAlbert GrossmanBob NeuwirthDocumentary covering Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, which includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.Filmed by D.A. Pennebaker during Dylan's 1965 tour of England and featuring Joan Baez and Donovan. Upon seeing the final film for the first time Dylan hated it, until he realised it was just theatre, thus allowing it to be released. Contains some iconic and cinematic moments and almost no music.
- DirectorRobert N. ZagoneStarsBob DylanAllen GinsbergRalph J. GleasonThe legendary press conference in San Fransisco at KQED studios on Dec. 3rd 1965.Filmed in December 1965 and released on DVD in 2006, a press conference with Dylan at his absurdist best. He antagonises the press who ask him stupid questions and his responses, often side-stepping the question, are much more brilliant than the questioners seemed to realise. Allen Ginsberg is in the audience being a smart-arse.
- DirectorBob DylanStarsBob DylanRichard ManuelRobbie RobertsonBob Dylan and The Hawks (aka The Band) on their infamous 1966 "Judas" tour of the UK.Filmed by D.A. Pennebaker during Dylan's 1966 tour of England, Bob and his music couldn't be more different. Sadly, this film was edited by Dylan and Robbie Robertson, rather than Pennebaker, and thus the film is pretty loose and almost unwatchable. Incredible concert footage of Dylan's powerful performances with The Band needs to be rescued and re-released in a more appropriate form.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsJames CoburnKris KristoffersonRichard JaeckelPat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.Dylan doesn't even try to act in this resonant, revisionist western, lingering vaguely in various scenes with a mysterious presence. His presence is stronger on the melancholic original soundtrack he wrote, including the iconic "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".
- DirectorBob DylanStarsBob DylanSara DylanJoan BaezBob Dylan on tour with the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975; concert footage, documentary interviews and bizarre improvised character scenes.Dylan's second failed attempt as a filmmaker. Shot on the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour, this is a mixture of concert footage, documentary interviews and bizarre improvised character scenes. Another case where great concert footage of Dylan performing at his best needs to be rescued and edited into a better film.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobbie RobertsonMuddy WatersNeil YoungA film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band.Dylan makes a significant appearance towards the end in The Band's 1976 farewell concert performance that is made into an excellent film by Martin Scorsese.
- DirectorGeorge LoisLarry 'Ratso' SlomanStarsMuhammad AliNeil ArmstrongBob DylanMusic video for Bob Dylan's Jokerman, off the album 'Infidels'.Not a man known for his music videos, this is a rare example of one that really highlights a great and difficult song.
- DirectorRichard MarquandStarsBob DylanFionaRupert EverettA reclusive musician, once a huge rock star, takes a young female protegee. While on a tour she meets a younger, more popular rocker and switches her loyalties.Another attempt at acting by Dylan. He is the most engaging and moving performance in an otherwise forgettable film.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsMichael DouglasTobey MaguireFrances McDormandAn English Professor tries to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in.Dylan's only contribution to this film was to write one of the best songs of his late career, "Things Have Changed", for which he received an Oscar for best song. He has carried that Oscar with him ever since, performing with it on stage.
- DirectorLarry CharlesStarsBob DylanJohn GoodmanJessica LangeA singer, whose career has gone on a downward spiral, is forced to make a comeback to the performance stage for a benefit concert.Dylan co-wrote this film with Seinfeld writer Larry Charles, who also directs. Dylan plays a washed-up rock star in a corrupt post-apocalyptic world. Upon watching this film for the first time I was disgusted by the unconvincing dialogue. Upon watching it a second time I realised that the cynical brilliance of this film is in the space between the cliches everyone spouts and there is a strange poignant poetry that is quite unusual.
- 1985– 3h 28mNot Rated8.4 (12K)TV EpisodeDirectorMartin ScorseseStarsBob DylanB.J. RolfzenDick KangasA chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.An exceptionally rich and riveting four hours looking at Dylan's intensely transformational early career. It is full of music, including much of the early folk music that influenced Dylan with its integrity and intensity, and showcases some of the powerful footage of Dylan and The Band performing in 1966. Highly recommended.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsChristian BaleCate BlanchettHeath LedgerRuminations on the life of Bob Dylan, where six characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work.An entertaining but problematic fictionalisation of various Dylan fictions. It is packed full of great music and recreated scenes from Dont Look Back. Some threads work better than others, they are all in very different styles, surreal, naturalistic, romantic, melodramatic, but they don't add up to anything. The film is so idiosyncratic and bloated with Dylan references that it could only really appeal to Dylan fans, and yet it is so superficial and offers no new information about him whatsoever, so a Dylan fan might not be that interested.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsBob DylanAllen GinsbergPatti SmithIn an alchemic mix of fact and fantasy, Martin Scorsese looks back at Bob Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour and a country ripe for reinvention.Extraordinarily powerful concert footage beautifully restored make this film worth watching alone. It is interspersed with other historical footage from this remarkable tour comprising an immensely talented array of performers; and some new interviews, some of which are bizarrely fabricated, presumably to resonate with the spirit of Dylan's own failed film of the time, Renaldo and Clara. It is all structured around a mythic tone of the past great America.