Renaldo and Clara (1978)

Regisseur:

Bob Dylan

Drehbuchautoren:

Bob Dylan (writer)
Sam Shepard (writer)

Premierendatum:

25. Januar 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

This epic is a mass amalgamation of three separate film-types that is, contrary to popular opinion, coherent and a unified whole...

Plot Keywords:

Bob Dylan | Concert Tour | Folk Singer | Musician | Singer Songwriter

Filmpreise:

1 win

Nutzerkommentare:

Bobby,Joanie and the jack of all trades.

Besetzung

Bob Dylan	...	Renaldo
Sara Dylan	...	Clara
Joan Baez	...	Woman in White
Ronnie Hawkins	...	Bob Dylan
Jack Elliott	...	Longheno de Castro
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Lafkezio
Bob Neuwirth	...	The Masked Tortilla
Allen Ginsberg	...	The Father
Mel Howard	...	Ungatz
David Mansfield	...	The Son
Jack Baran	...	The Truck Driver
Helena Kallianiotes	...	Herself
Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter	...	Himself
Anne Waldman	...	Sister of Mercy
T-Bone Burnett	...	The Inner Voice

Länge:

232 Min | UK:235 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Tonverfahren:

Mono

Altersfreigabe:

USA:R

Drehorte:

Alabama, USA

Firma:

Lombard Street Films

Dies und das:

When the film was originally released, its screenings were extremely limited. The film received very many condemning reviews and many theaters refused the screenings. The film was cut from its original four-hour length to a two-hour length, and what was left was mostly concert footage. This version was shown in more theaters than the original director's cut. The original four-hour cut would appear on European television some time later, on Channel 4.

Dialogzitate:

The Truck Driver: Why are you so much in a hurry? Is the law after you?
Renaldo: I am the law!

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweist auf/spielt an auf/erwähnt Magical Mystery Tour (1967) (TV)

Soundtrack:

It Ain't Me, Babe

Bobby,Joanie and the jack of all trades.

When it was theatrically released in most of Europa,BOb Dylan's work was boiled down to a 100 min version.I had to wait almost thirty years to see the complete movie (about 4 hours).Was it worth the wait?

The performances make me inclined to think that it was.Virtually all the songs Dylan performs are great live moments,and it would be wise to release (I think it has already been done)an only-songs DVD:Wearing a mask,or with his white make-up,Dylan's sings his songs as if "a life were depending on them " (and in the case of "Hurricane" it is true!):all the songs from the "desire" album are superior to the studio tracks:"Isis", "one more cup of coffee" and "romance in Durango" are almost spooky.The "blood on the tracks" material triumphs too: "tangled up is blue " will blow your mind and a strange "if you see her say hello" accompanied on piano which is heard when Dylan and Baez walk across the snow is so "new" I did not recognize the song at first."A hard rain 's gonna fall becomes a heavy metal stomp which makes the original 1963 version sound like a demo.There's also a countrified "I want you" (not as stunning,perhaps ,as the slow Budokan version),a moving "Sarah" (Lowndes)and a rare live version (heard as background)of "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands " .

We are also treated to the delights of the duets.I'm not the kind of people to tell you that Baez "is holding Bob back and makes him a robot on a leash":when they sing together ,I'm on cloud nine Johnny Ace's "never let me go" is brilliant and a very long version of "the water is wide" is heard during one of the numerous scenes of the Renaldo/Clara/Woman in White triangle.

Baez's "Diamonds and rust" is admirable but unfortunately it is cut ,which is a shame!Roger McGuinn gives a riveting instrumental version of his Byrds classic "Eight Miles High" with Baez's doing the frug to it and then leads the band into a blistering version of "Chesnut mare" another Byrds classic.

I would not go as far as writing that the non-musical sequences were as magical as the others.David Blue playing pinball and remembering the Village days is not really absorbing (although he mentions Phil Ochs -who could have been part of the Rolling Thunder Review);the love triangle deals with the three involved persons's private lives and I do not think it will interest the younger generation who almost knows nothing about their love affairs;outside of the handful of artists I've mentioned,the other musical sequences are average-to-poor.

One can save the scenes on the street concerning Rubin Carter and the one when Ginsberg and Dylan visit Jack Kerouac's grave .Even more disturbing is this other sequence in a graveyard where the two men speak of Jesus and the Way of the Cross.This and "people get ready " ("there's no room for the hopeless sinner") might explain Dylan's sudden (and short-lived) conversion to Christianity in the late seventies.

"Renaldo and Clara" is a hotchpotch ;it's hard to imagine a non Dylan buff sitting through these four hours.

Like this? Try this: "Hard Rain" a 1976 concert:they wrote that the Rolling Thunder Review was moribund at the time but don't you believe them!"Hard rain" is one -hour long and there is never a dull moment !(most of the material was released on the eponymous album)