This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Simply put, if you weren't there, you'll have more fun reading Sister Carrie. As Jerry said, "God we make sh***y albums." You really had to have seen and done it for it to be of any interest (and that's what is strange about the Dead legacy. It will be forever gone when the last person to have ever been to a show finally passes on). This was the last show at Winterland before the Dead broke up (the first time) and before Garcia started using hard drugs. It really captures the weirdness though. I don't know, people keep telling me they went to shows for the music and to see Jerry Garcia, but for me those extravaganzas were like a nice, evening stroll through a Turkish bazaar on Mars. Stone cold, unadulterated, pure weirdness. It was pure weirdness in all its form, weirdness as a force of nature and not something trivial and silly. When the Dead rolled through town, the real weirdos came out of the woodwork for a giant celebration of strangeness. "When the going gets weird..."

I saw the Grateful Dead twice in my life, so I'm not a true Deadhead by Deadhead standards (ie: I didn't follow them around the USA) although I fell in love with "Morning Dew" at 15 years of age (I'm now 53) and listened to "Live In Europe" endlessly in my college years. The first time I saw them was in 1969 in a free concert and then several years later in a paid concert. This DVD represents in my mind, the free concert years. The free concert was totally free in mind and body. It lasted over four hours. Little children and mama's were on stage along with the musicians. The atmosphere was extremely laid back. I have attempted to describe the experience to friends and youth who never experienced a free concert of that magnitude. Thankfully, "The Movie" came along. Now I can only direct those who are inquisitive enough and wise enough to understand the ramifications of such a period in time to this DVD. One more comment: Garcia was an artist in more than musical terms as illustrated by his graphical and fine art and film sense of the movie. He produced this masterpiece. Enough said. You decide for yourself after viewing. One thing that I will state is this: You will never see anything similar in your entire lifetime. This is a totally unique experience of awesome creative magnitude. -Big Wave Dave

They were the ONLY ones who did what they did.I think for people that don't know anything about The Grateful Dead (or but think they do, but their entire knowledge of the band consists of the songs they've heard on Classic Rock Radio, and that stoner kid in one of their classes) the hardest thing for them to grasp as they're watching this movie is that it Actually Happened.This is not Fiction, and it ain't CGI. All of those speakers are not Props. None of those people are Extras.The best part is - none of it was Planned. NOBODY in the Organization ever would have thought in 1965 that someday they would be as big as they were in 1974. At the time this movie was filmed, they (the Organization) were wildly out of control, and were needing to just STOP.These concerts were the last ones before the band took a badly needed year and a half hiatus from touring. When they came back to the road in 1976, they assumed the form they would pretty much take until 1995. Up to October, 1974 - they were in a continual state of flux. This film documents one of their peaks, even it it is on the down-side of it.What people who still believe in Corporate Media (older-type folks) and MTV (kids - most of whom believe the world MTV portrays is real) will never understand is that The Grateful Dead were so much bigger than all of that.Forget 'Casey Jones' (although the version on this film is Smokin') and 'Touch of Grey'. If you want a peak into the most important social phenomenon of the Twentieth Century - this is a good place to start.I've tailored this review towards people who don't know anything about the Dead, because those that do have already seen this film. I've watched this movie at least two hundred times since 1990. It hasn't bored me yet. It's a different film each time I watch it - much like the concerts I went to.Last advice - if you don't have a good sound system, don't bother. Wait until you can watch the movie at your buddy's house with the killer system. Watching this movie with the sound coming out of a TV set speaker is like having sex without a partner.TURN IT ON, TURN IT UP - and most importantly - RELAX! The worst thing that can happen to you is that two hours and twenty minutes after you push Play is that you'll like the Grateful Dead! (Imagine what your friends will think!) PEACE!

Hey now,I think I have watched this movie about 200 times. Really. But it's not just because I'm a Deadhead. It's not just because the time filmed is during one of my favorite GD years, 1974. And it's not just because they have full versions of Morning Dew and GDTRFB on it.The reason I have watched this movie so many times is because it is food for your mind and soul. ( You can add body if you like to boogie during the film.) It weaves the many layers that make up a Dead show into a cohesive whole. Rather than just show concert footage, the movie dives into the hearts and lives of both the audience and the band members. We get to see pre, during, and post-show activities, as well as interesting insights from the band members.The film also does the best attempt of all released Dead videos of capturing "it" -- that unexplainable, natural force at work which can make the experience transcedent for those in attendance. The mixture of five different cameras and how close they get to the band help aid in their attempt to "explain the unexplainable."The highlight of the film is definitely the "Morning Dew", from 10-18-74, right out of a beautiful Dark Star. Jerry made a wonderful decision to have Morning Dew be shown in its entirety. To this day, I still get chills when listening to the climax of that piece.For Deadheads, this film is essential...but what makes it so respected is that the "uninformed" consumer can just as easily access this movie and see what life was like for a bunch of beatniks from San Francisco.Mike Hanley