I saw The Last Waltz at a theater the year it came out. It was showing as a double feature with -- get this -- Thank God It's Friday. That's a case of going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Fortunately, The Last Waltz played first. TGIF has a 5 rating on IMDb; I gave it a 4.
Wow. How lucky. I would've killed to have seen it when it was first released. Of course, I was only eight but still...
Even though it was released only two years later, in a way, it must have seemed like something from a whole other time. Thanksgiving 1976, with Carter just elected, was like the end of the first half of the 70s. In 1978, you had the 80s coming roaring at you full-speed, no?
This is actually the first movie I ever saw on VHS, on 1978.
shareMan, I remember when this first came out in theaters. I was in grade 11 and this was the music I loved and lived for — even though then it seemed to many of my classmates like outdated music even then. This was the time of New Wave, Punk and (ug) Disco ... but when I cajoled my classmates to go ... everyone was BLOWN AWAY ... it was such a classy show with such awesome performances ... it was like I was validated or redeemed ... and people started listening to what I had to say about music. Suddenly everybody could see what I was yammering on about. This movie prolly sold a lot of albums for a lot of groups.
shareMe too. I remember when the concert was happening -- 1976. It was all the talk on the radio (WPLJ in New York City). I remember being sad that The Band was "quitting". Then, a couple of years later, this movie came out, and instead of going to the Senior Prom, a bunch of friends and I went to the Ziegfield Theater on 56th Street in Manhattan -- about 15 of us -- high of course. What a glorious memory. We were blown away then, by the music, the guests (Neil Young with Joni harmonizing in the background!), and the coolness factor of all the oddities in the movie. Afterwards, we went downtown and walked around the Village. Stopped at Folk City and The Bitter End -- no one proofed in those days. Took the subway and ferry home -- arrived at sunrise. Today, when I watch the beginning of the movie, and see all the kids waiting on line to enter the concert, it reminds me so much of us. Back then we had to actually go to the theater to buy tickets too. What great memories.
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