Movie Details
| Title: | The Song Remains the Same | |
| Director: | Peter Clifton | |
| Year: | 1976 | |
| Genre: | Concert Film | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 01.17.11 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 01.17.11 | Netflix | I've been kind of going through a big Led Zeppelin kick over the past year or so. I picked up an awesome Japanese box set where they reproduced each album's original LP packaging for CD and presented the entire catalog in one place so I feel like I've finally filled in the blanks on a band that i've heard their greatest hits over and over again (much like The Beatles). So in that was the live album released in conjunction with this film so I added this to my netflix queue. Like a year later, here I am. This quickly went from me sitting down to watch it intently to me keeping this on in the background while i paid bills and straightened out my desk. The movie is 2 hours 15 minutes with an extended 12-minute intro where this guy who looks like Bud Spencer is dressed like a gangster and ambushes a poker game between a few goons, the wolfman, and a guy who bleeds in CMYK then calls each member of the band, some lounging in the countryside watching nude children play in a stream, others tilling earth on their farm, to Madison Square Garden to perform a gig. So the first reel is pretty damn confusting. Then the music starts and you kind of get that these little interludes are some sort of vision from each member of the band, none of which make any sense. So yeah, not a great film. But as a concert I found a few things interesting about it, all pertaining to the 70s. It's such a 70s gig in every way. Jimmy Page's weird wizard cosmis pantsuit, Robert Plant's little half-shirt with the tightest pants known to man, John Bonham's flaming gong - yes, a gong set on fire for the end of the set - and little bedazzled t-shirt. And then there's the completely indulgent solos as only the most popular rock band in the world can pull off. Jimmy Page whacking a bow on his guitar and pointing it up in the air, John Bonham playing with his hands in the midst of his Moby Dick sojourn. I particularly liked that one because it showed the rest of the band walk off stage to take a cigarette break while he went at it. The actual concert performance is somewhat worthwhile as a document of the time and place, but even on the live album I found the 30-minute version of Dazed and Confused just too much. I'm still glad I watched this though. It seems like the 70s is shaping up to be rock and roll's heyday and the Zep were the kings. |
