The Last Waltz

Movies to See Right Now

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Henry Golding and Constance Wu in CRAZY RICH ASIANS

This week have two reliable audience pleasers that have been in theaters for a while. To preview the year’s biggest movies, make your plans to attend the Mill Valley Film Festival.

OUT NOW

  • Spike Lee’s true story BlacKkKlansman is very funny and, finally, emotionally powerful.
  • Crazy Rich Asians is wildly popular for a reason – it’s damn entertaining and probably the year’s most appealing date movie. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll wait for the chance to see Awkwafina in her next movie.

ON VIDEO

My Stream of the Week is the psychological thriller Beast, with its blazing, breakout performance by Jessie Buckley. It’s a heckuva ride. You can stream Beast on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON TV

On September 24, Turner Classic Movies airs my choice as the best ever concert movie, The Last Waltz. (OK, Monterey Pop, Woodstock and Stop Making Sense are all in the conversation, too.) The Last Waltz is the documentary of The Band’s 1976 farewell concert at San Francisco’s legendary Winterland venue.

This was a big deal because The Band was one of the most respected and influential rock bands of the late 1960s and 1970s. They are primarily remembered for being Bob Dylan’s electric band and for their own hits Up on Cripple Creek, The Weight and The Night They Drove Dixie Down, Stage Fright and The Shape I’m In.

The occasion brought a Mt Olympus of rock musicians: Dylan himself, of course, and also Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Dr. John, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Ronnie Wood and The Staple Singers – and even Neil Diamond. Van Morrison is unforgettable in his unflatteringly tight scoop-neck t-shirt under an oddly sparkly burgundy cowboy leisure suit.

My favorite song is The Band backing Neil Young on his Helpless. A silhouetted Joni Mitchell provides ethereal backing vocals from offstage. It’s spine tingling.

The Last Waltz was directed by no less than Martin Scorsese (between Taxi Driver and Raging Bull!). The great cinematographers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond operated cameras.

Of The Band’s original members – Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel – Robertson and Hudson still survive.

The interviews with the charming and authentic Levon Helm are delightful highlights in The Last Waltz. I’ve written about Levon’s later acting career, with his performances in Coal Miner’s Daughter, In The Right Stuff, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Levon Helm in THE LAST WALTZ
Dr. John, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Rick Danko, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson in THE LAST WALTZ

Levon Helm RIP

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We just lost Levon Helm to throat cancer. Of course, he is best known as the drummer and singer with the influential rock group The Band – it’s Levon’s voice on Up on Cripple Creek, The Weight and The Night They Drove Dixie Down, among others. He appeared with The Band in Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece 1978 concert film The Last Waltz.

Levon also had a rich movie career. His 17 acting credits include some very top shelf stuff. He was Loretta’s father in Coal Miner’s Daughter. In The Right Stuff, he played Ridley, test pilot Chuck Yeager’s aircraft mechanic, the guy who loans him Beeman’s chewing gum before each life-risking test flight. He was also the narrator in The Right Stuff.

Levon Helm in THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA

I particularly loved one of his last roles, Old Man with Radio in Tommy Lee Jones’ overlooked 2005 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Playing a blind man living alone on the Mexican border, he was absolutely haunting.

Here’s an 8-minute clip from The Right Stuff in which Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier for the first time. The scene is introduced by Levon Helm as the narrator, and then Levon as Ridley helps Yeager (Sam Shepherd) into the test plane and loans him his Beeman’s. What a wonderful voice.