NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (January 2021): Criterion's release of Martin Scorsese's "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story'' comes to us via a new 4K digital transfer, approved by the director. This release is a dual-layered Blu-ray disc, and the film features vintage footage in 1.33:1 and newer footage in 1.78:1, with an accompanying high bitrate. Surprisingly, the old mid-70's footage features strong detail, with fine film-like grain, and a moderate amount of contrast. The newer footage (mostly of the talking-heads sort) looks appropriately crisp, with crystal-clear detail. Another fabulous transfer thanks to Criterion.

Criterion have provided the film with a 24-bit DTS-HD Master audio track, in 5.1 surround sound. While the newer footage sometimes overlaps aurally over the vintage footage, eventually the surround kicks in, with the music up front and center. Obviously, the biggest draw of this Blu-ray release is the music, which features multiple Dylan performances such as 'Mr. Tambourine Man', 'Isis', 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall', 'Simple Twist of Fate', 'Just Like a Woman', 'Hurricane', 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door', and too many more to mention. Also appearing here is a wild performance of Patti Smith's 'Archer's Song', a few poems from Allen Ginsberg, 'Pretty Boy Floyd' by Ramblin' Jack Elliot, this is not to mention some performances from Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell performing an early living room version of Coyote (which steals the show). There are optional English SDH subtitles and an optional descriptive audio track (very nice) on this Region 'A' (US and Canada) and 'B' (UK) Blu-ray from Criterion.

"Martin Scorsese'' is a 17-minute interview with the director. He humorously describes the charming ambiguity of Bob Dylan's memories of the Revue tour, and how Dylan's unwillingness to even talk about it served as a jumping-off point for the interview. Scorsese is very honest about the story he wanted to tell with the picture, and his disinterest in the film being 'conventional'. He also covers the fact that he wanted the structure of the film to flow like music and the film to act as a magic trick of sorts. I won't go on, but this is an illuminating piece that is typical of the eloquent and erudite director. "David Tedeschi'' is a 12-minute 2020 interview with the longtime collaborator of Scorsese. This is another interesting interview delving into the assemblage and editing of the film from hours upon hours of concert and interview footage. "Larry 'Ratso' Sloman" is another interview, this time spending 19-minutes with Sloman discussing (and reading excerpts from) his 'On the Road with Bob Dylan", his . He also reveals how the nickname 'Ratso' was born. Up next are three full performances from the tour, 'Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You', 'Romance in Durango', and 'Tangled Up in Blue'. "Restoration Demonstration'' spends a few minutes showcasing the awe-inspiring work that went into cleaning up the workprint (the negative was apparently lost). The film's trailer rounds out the Blu-ray disc.

"Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story'' starts out reminding one of, say, "Festival Express" or "The Last Waltz", but what unfolds is quite unexpected. The tension between this traveling group of artists (and a sea of hangers-on) continues bubbling, exposing some strange dynamics and introspective moments that I have never seen in a so-called 'rock-doc". Allen Ginsberg stands out as a father figure (though apparently not to Dylan), while Joni Mitchell arrives and everyone (this audience included) is just in awe. I would highly recommend this to anyone, Dylan fan or not. It really sneaks up on you. Criterion’s new 4K digital transfer on Blu-ray is a must-see.

Colin Zavitz