SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

J Besser Wow, what a movie. Not only is it filled with great music but it always is a great time capsule of the late '70s Dead scene. It's a movie that non-Dead fans will enjoy because it truly a movie that brings you to another place and time but it never feels dated in it's presentation. A timeless classic.

atlasmb In 1970, while a freshman in college, I purchased "Workingman's Dead", a studio album that was a snapshot of The Dead in that moment. Only recently did I learn that the album's sound was heavily influenced by CS&N. It's a great album, but it does little to help one understand the phenomenon that was The Grateful Dead.If we go back to "the garden", Woodstock in 1969--their live performance that was uninspired but natural--it is a good starting point for understanding the Experience that became the band's trademark. Woodstock had a freewheelin' energy and it reflected the anarchistic vibe of the counterculture. Unfortunately, that performance was also a portent of the consequences that befall those who abandon reason for the sake of experimentation or pleasure; and the LSD-inspired sloppiness of their Woodstock set was indicative of the drug-fueled illnesses that would end Jerry Garcia's life in his fifties."The Grateful Dead" does a good job of making this a documentary by showing backstage scenes, the group interacting with fans inside and outside the venue (Winterland), the crews setting up and tearing down, etc. But this film is about the legacy of a countercultural institution. And the live performances that were edited for this film shot in 1974 feel unself-conscious, organic and true to The Dead's oeuvre and style.Their music is a blend of folk country and psychedelia, reflecting Garcia's many musical influences, his personal style, and perhaps even his early use of the banjo. As is to be expected in their concerts, extended solos and jams are de rigueur.The film would get average marks if that was all it showed. But the fans, the Deadheads, were as much a part of the experience as the group they followed, so it is in showing the audiences that the film rises to more than a concert documentary. Shots of their lyrically dancing fans, and those possessed by frenetic intensity, are an integral part of the film. And they demonstrate how their performances were like a moveable Woodstock that continued for decades.Each performance was a celebration of the Deadicated for whom concertgoing was a way of life, a calling. Other bands had their groupies, but The Dead inspired legions of faithful attendees. Fortunately, this film does a fairly solid job of depicting the obsessive and transformational commitment of their followers, the Deadheads. We see the nearly religious devotion that was a gift, not deserved, in exchange for the gift of the band's preservation of an eclectic ideal.The photography is average, though comprehensive, but the sound is-- fortunately--quite good. Near the end, we see a banner proclaiming "Dead Don't Die". It's a prayer, perhaps, that flies in the face of reality, but it somehow helps quantify the spirit of the group and this film.

gatorone1000 Hadn't watched it in 15 years. When it came out on Blu-Ray I had to get it - marvelous transfer. Wish I could say that I had seen them during this time period around '77. I was part of the crowd that jumped on the Dead bandwagon in the mid '80s. I was sixteen in '86 when 'In the Dark Came out'. The Dead were really popular at the high schools that I went to (Bullis, then George C. Marshall, VA) so I had been listening to bootlegs during the '84-'85 period when Jerry was in a coma and the band wasn't touring. Man, the day that the Dead were on the cover of Rolling Stone in '86 and they announced the Spring tour was one of the most exciting moments of my young life. I saw them probably 15 times over the next few years..

longrifles ...there is nothing like a Grateful Dead show." Truer words were never spoken. This film portrays as nearly as possible the concert experience of the Grateful Dead. Although it was shot in 74, it could as well have been 84 or 94, because things never changed that much. The music is as timeless as "Greensleeves" or "Amazing Grace", and therefore will never go out of style. (How hip do you think Eminem will seem in 25 years?) Like Levis, the Dead are forever, and this film catches them on a really good night, one of thousands, when heaven came down very close to earth, and if you reached up high over your head, you could brush it with your fingertips. If you never saw the Dead, that's too bad, but this movie is pretty damn close. 1974 - wow. Jerry looked so young then. But didn't we all?