User Reviews

This past year I immersed myself in the history of Woodstock, reading the individual books written by Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, and the collaboration between financial backers John Roberts and Joel Rosenman. Each offered different perspectives on how the 1969 Music and Arts Fair came together, and all were interesting reads. Similarly it seems, a number of film documentaries about Woodstock have come out just this year, presumably in honor of the three day concert's fiftieth anniversary. There's "Creating Woodstock" along with the PBS documentary simply titled "Woodstock", with the sub-title - "Three Days That Defined a Generation". For those who grew up during the Sixties and were part of the Woodstock generation, there's probably not a lot to learn from these film docs, but it is fun to revisit old times and bask in the glow of the era's vibe of peace and love. For anyone not part of the era who was born well after the event took place, this film as well as the others will provide a helpful overview of how the concert came to be with all the difficulties involved in putting it together. What you won't find here is an emphasis on the music; there are no meaningful clips of the bands and artists performing. For that, you're better off with the 1970 film, again simply titled "Woodstock". What you do have are commentaries from some of the original organizers, like Lang and Kornfeld, along with performers Richie Haven, John Sebastian, Arlo Guthrie and Country Joe McDonald. Those commentaries were all filmed during a 2005-2007 time frame, making me wonder why it took more than a decade to get the film released, as it could have been made available much sooner if not for the magic number '50'. For my two cents, the recommendation I'd make among those pictures I've mentioned here, would be the PBS documentary, as it contains archival material and footage not seen anywhere else, though that one too is light on music. And of course the 1970 film that came out about a year after the watershed event happened. It truly was, as this title states - "Three Days That Changed Everything".