Scorsese's movie about Dylan

Saw it for a second time last night. I'm just not bothered by the fake stuff--I think it's funny that I was so badly fooled. (VG above said it's easy to spot Sharon Stone as fake. I gotta disagree--unless you know about Michael Murphy/Tanner (I did), and you join the dots from him to Stone (I didn't), I don't know why you'd doubt the legitimacy of what she says--it's such a definitive '70s story.

The one I still find confusing is Ratso. There's all that footage of him from '76...or is it that that was just some flunky along for the tour, not a Rolling Stone reporter, and the modern-day actor is a different guy?

the filmmaker fooled me
I think it was the thing of him directing the Shocking Blue video, such a random reference I guess I didn't think they made it up

The Shocking Blue detour was totally convincing! I mean, who think to have that as part of a fake resume?

pretty tough to imagine Lou fitting in with the Revue, even with Ronson on board ... though maybe a country-fried "Vicious," "Sweet Jane" or "Waiting for the Man" would work.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 15:35 (thirty-four minutes ago) Permalink

I don't know that the Revue could have handled another shit-talking moody grump

The one I still find confusing is Ratso. There's all that footage of him from '76...or is it that that was just some flunky along for the tour,

Why wouldn’t that be Ratso?

Yeah, Ratso was there and wrote a book about it.

Okay, but I read something that included him--along with Van Dorp, Stone, Murphy, and the promoter--as part of the ruse.

I read something like that as well. Oh wait, it was posted by you.

Had me going for a long time, longer than I’d care to admit.

Thought maybe Ratso was pretending to be Bob to some Plymouth residents and you were taken in too.

Recently learned that Joan Baez gave him that nickname, I believe.

Also google image search of Gerard Malanga is - surprise!- NSFW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jksNntjfFiE

Ratso has gone, out in disguise

Driving the bus, I walk the line.

I drove it for a little while,
I like to drive RVs

Hahaha

S. Stone's story was annoying and ridiculous considering it's a fake and why did they bother making it up etc.
But if I had not known it was a fake I would have believed it was real (and still annoying !).

The filmmakaer, on the other hand, was so obviously fake to me. And also useless. But I suppose that's the idea !

Ronno has left, the Spiders from Mars
Allen G’s hat, has stripes and stars
I played guitar a little while
I love to pick for Bobby Z

/Rolling Thunderthighs Inevitably

Isis was incredible, I was hanging on every word there.

i am 6 discs into the box set now (Harvard Square show is where i am up to iirc)

i am SO over “Hurricane” but conversely, cannot get enough of “Isis”

lively version of This Land Is Your Land closing out Harvard Sq was A+

live shows definitely more enjoyable than the rehearsal discs, but i am not a huge fan of rehearsal-listening in general

bob & joan singing together is magic, i love it

Something I read prompted me to include Ratso in the fakery, but I must have misread whatever it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj7WQbIu3qI

Ratso’s a real guy who seems like a fictional character. (His book about the tour is worth reading, if you run across a dog-eared copy somewhere.)

wgaf about ratso
Big D looks absolutely possessed during these performances. The close ups are horrifying

Lol, otm.

Ratso’s more interesting than any of “Marty’s” Hollywood buddies pretending they were on the tour.

idgaf abt ratso myself

late to this, finally finished last night

Impressed that he remembers all those lyrics

― calstars

yep, I thought this as well, I think Joan even mentions "I wouldn't remember all those words" when she & Bob are talking abt "Hattie Carroll"

I loved the Sharon Stone bit cuz it could have been true

Dylan sings with such confrontational intensity on this, like he's really got something to prove, I don't think it was just the coke (which was clearly all over the place just off-screen)

I also wondered if "Coyote" was written abt Ratso given the conversation he relates right before that footage

Joni had higher standards maybe? Well maybe not?

I always thought Coyote was p obviously about Sam Shepard? if you feel the need for literal/autobio interpretations (I generally don't)

think it's sam shepard. though there is a pretty hilarious lengthy argument/interview with joni in ratso's book.

Yeah who cares

oh god keep your greasy paws off Joni, Ratso!!

Isn’t “fat man in Paris” also about ratso?

Ginsberg at the very end was by far the best thing about the entire movie.

Uhhh, did you see the other Ginsberg stuff?

Yeah, but those last few lines (and Joni Mitchell singing) were the most lovely and inspiring parts of the whole 2+ hours. Beautiful.

Yeah I also enjoyed that breezy yet meaningful sermon at the end. But man the David Cross resemblance is jarring

I was amused by the scene where Ginsberg tried to use the Cowboys & Indians wax figures as a kind of “teachable moment” for some young kids, and they quickly outsmarted him / overturned his schtick.

(Actually I think it was “Pilgrims & Indians” — a Thanksgiving tableau)

The Joni scene playing Coyote isn't just the highlight of the film, it's best thing that's going to be in any film this year.

Watched this last night and don't have anything really original to add. But, fwiw: I loved it, basically, especially the gig at Lightfoot's and especially especially Joni (she nicks this, as she does The Last Waltz); also loved the bridge club and the gig at the reservation. I love all of the live stuff but probably the biggest revelation was Hattie Carrol - especially Ronson's incongruous gurning and soloing. Dylan's teeth give me the heebie-jeebies, as does his driving. I've always been pretty anti-Baez, finding her out of her depth, and vaguely feeling that Dylan is taking the piss out of her but she's a strong presence in this (dancing like she's auditioning for the Doors movie, aside) and I could have watched more of her. The 'fakery' doesn't really work as fake or as real so I'd jettison it altogether.

I said on another thread that I'd avoided the Revue period for vague reasons - partly because I had something closer to the self-congratulatory vaudeville cokefest of the Last Waltz in mind. Not that coke wasn't the driving force behind this but it was much lower-key than I'd imagined. As others have said, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth doesn't exactly scream wild night on the tiles. This only makes the presence of Ronson and his hair even more incongruous. The low-key nature of it makes me think of the Basement Tapes if anything.

yeah rewound the joni clip twice and then found it on youtube to share elsewhere. it's quite wonderful.

btw i LOVED this

Do you really think he drove the bus that often, aside from that clip?
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, June 17, 2019 10:23 AM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think he probably did, Bob's a pretty hands-on guy making cabinets and welding and whatnot, likes to sneak around doing "normal person" stuff