Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music [Director’s Cut] (1970; Director's Cut: 1994)

This director’s cut of Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music adds about forty minutes of footage to the original, which already boasted a running time of more than three hours. The film chronicles the historic 1969 music festival, a three-day event (which stretched into a fourth day) held on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm about a hundred miles northwest of New York City. Woodstock captures the cultural touchstone not just with live performances of more than two dozen songs by nearly a score of singers and bands, but with interviews and observational segments that provide a broad picture of the outdoor show, attended by an audience of more than 400,000.

The material added to this version of the film essentially amounts to the inclusion of seven additional songs: one by Canned Heat, one by Janis Joplin, three by Jefferson Airplane, and a pair by Jimi Hendrix. Of those performers, only Jimi Hendrix appeared in the original version of Woodstock. While the addition of these three acts is more than welcome, the selection of the songs seems more than a little misguided. For example, the film features Jefferson Airplane playing “Saturday Afternoon,” “Won’t You Try,” and “Uncle Sam’s Blues,” but omits such hits as “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit.” Similarly, some big names who played the festival do not make it into the film, including Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Still, many of the performances are compelling, as are some of the vignettes that descry both concertgoers and the people who lived in the small town that hosted the show. Further, the innovative and substantial use of split screen throughout the film works well, allowing the director and editors to show more of the musicians and the audience. The team of six editors, which included Martin Scorsese, earned an Academy Award nomination for its work, while the movie itself won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Though it does drag at times throughout its considerable length, Woodstock is solid and interesting, and well worth a look.

*** (out of *****)

©2020 David R. George III

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1970 [Director’s Cut: 1994] • 3 HOURS, 44 MINUTES
WARNER BROS. • WADLEIGH-MAURICE LTD.

FEATURING
• RICHIE HAVENS; CANNED HEAT; JOAN BAEZ; THE WHO; SHA-NA-NA; JOE COCKER AND THE GREASE BAND; COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH; ARLO GUTHRIE; CROSBY, STILLS & NASH; TEN YEARS AFTER; JEFFERSON AIRPLANE; JOHN SEBASTIAN; COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD; SANTANA; SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE; JANIS JOPLIN; JIMI HENDRIX

DIRECTED BY
• MICHAEL WADLEIGH

1970 ACADEMY AWARDS (1)
• BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

ADDITIONAL 1970 ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS (2)
• BEST FILM EDITING (LOST TO BEST PICTURE PATTON)
• BEST SOUND (LOST TO BEST PICTURE PATTON)