DKosty123 There is a lot of history in this film. It starts with Melvin Belli representing the Rolling Stones negotiating for the concert site for the free concert. Belli is the same guy who defended Jack Ruby after he shot Lee Harvey Oswald. His conference calls to the people representing venues for this "free" concert, are interesting and attended by all the Stones. While Ike & Tina Turner do get a little concert footage in this film, the missed opportunity here is that there is no footage of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young who were also a part of the concert. The film does have the footage of a murder by the Stones hired Hells Angels Security, along with some clubbing. This is history.It is interesting that the Stones wanted to re-stage Woodstock 4 months later according to all the accounts, yet this makes no sense. Woodstock became a "free concert" but actually only after the huge crowd broke down the retaining fence. Until then, everyone there had paid to get in. The Stones decided to make the Alamont concert free from the start. There was chaos and last minute planning, which was totally different than Woodstock too.Because the concert was free, and not well planned, it turned out to be different than Woodstock. The traffic jam getting into Alamont shown must have been even worse when the crowd left. The huge crowd at Woodstock had so much trouble leaving, that an unfinished Interstate Highway, Route 17, had to be opened to let the traffic out. The music in this film is great as the Stones tour that year was the group at it's height and songs like "Brown Sugar" would become hits. Little was it known that the Stones when this was filmed, would outlast The Beatles, and most of the other musical acts featured in the concert by many years. They art still performing in 2017 which is when I am writing this. This concert music might sound a little crude compared to recording of the same songs, but live concerts technology had no where near the technology in the recording studios at this point in history. Live concerts never sounded like studios at this time. The very first live rock concert albums proved that, and the first 2 live rock concert albums were done by The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. The albums got better after that, but too often the concerts did not have any way to create the same sound as the groups did in the studio.The amazing thing with this film, is the sequences at the end with Mick Jaggar watching the film of the murder which could have been much worse. Not revealed in the film is that the victim getting stabbed was killed because they were pulling out a gun. Without the stabbing, it can not be sure how many folks might have died if the gun man had opened up.The peace and love of Woodstock are over when this was filmed. As for free concerts, they still happen but rarely with this big named a group. As for murders at large events, they got worse after this. Crowd control at events had some major breakdowns years later where many were killed trying to leave large events.In a way, this film having killings at a concert event showed there were things to come that would make people forget this one.

SnoopyStyle It's 1969 four months after Woodstock. The Rolling Stones are giving a free concert at the Altamont Speedway with Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, CSN&Y as well as others in northern California. Hell's Angels are put in charge of security around the stage. The details are all in dispute but the violence gets out of control.It's amazing to see the Stones react to the footage afterward. Mick looks high and almost gitty at times. At other times, he looks concern which is the demeanor of everybody. There is a feeling of dread running throughout this documentary. Each problem in the planning and execution of the concert is magnified by the knowledge of what's to come. The style is observational which is so amazing in this. It doesn't take a direct stand in that the filmmakers aren't making any comments. From the footage, the Hell's Angels and drugs are made out to be the bad guys in this movie. It also shows how unprepared the concert planning was. It is one of the most compelling concert movie ever.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) October 1969 marked a month of tragedy for rock and roll. The Rolling Stones were on their US tour when they stopped to play a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in San Francisco. It was a concert event that was supposed to be the Woodstock of the West, but it ended up being just the opposite. Hell's Angels were hired for security and, as the chaos of the show ascended, the Angels became more and more violent towards the crowd until the night ended in the stabbing and murdering of at least one of the concert goers. Gimme Shelter is the documentary which focuses on this tragic occurrence in brutal detail. The film mixes concert footage of the Rolling Stones, footage of the night at Altamont, as well as the band watching and reflecting on that terrible night. It's an extraordinary and harrowing film which will shake you to your core as you watch the raw, unedited footage taken at Altamont and the unending brutality which seems so unnecessary and so easily preventable. It's a remarkably disturbing experience to watch Gimme Shelter.I honestly believe it was a stroke of genius to make this film so simple. There was no need to tamper with the Altamont footage or add anything extraneous to it. Gimme Shelter is perfect in the way it just shows us all of the actual footage from the concert, as well as leading up to the concert. There's no narration, no extra pictures or clips. It is just the footage put together in a way that details that terrible night in the straightest way possible. There could not be a more thorough account of the events at Altamont. This is the finest way to view something this out of the ordinary. The footage we watch in Gimme Shelter is stunning and unforgettable. It's safe to assume that 99% of the audience at that show was on acid, and the results are amazing to watch. There is an incredible amount of footage of people having wild acid trips, doing all sorts of bizarre things. It is amusing to watch at first, but quickly becomes deadly when Hell's Angels are introduced into the equation. Thus we have a scenario that is nerve racking to witness unfold and we are then filled with immense anxiety and dread as the situation grows into the tragedy it morphed into by the end of the night.Of course, what makes Gimme Shelter more than just a simple reflection on the tragedy at Altamont Speedway is the footage of the Rolling Stones watching the Altamont footage and reflecting on it all. The shock and awe is very obvious in their reactions and hearing what they have to say about it is fascinating. They don't say much about it because of all the shock, but they say enough and they display enough body language to convey their loss for words at this event and how horrified they are that something like this had to happen under their watch. This is possibly the saddest aspect of the entire situation. The fact that someone was murdered is horrific enough, but the fact that it had to happen in the name of rock and roll is deafeningly sad. It is painful to watch the messages of peace and love flourish in that concert audience, only to be violently contrasted by the over reactions of Hell's Angels. It's a sickening occurrence that seems to evoke more innate sadness than anger. It's terrible to watch but it makes Gimme Shelter one of the most powerful and provocative documentaries you will ever see. This film is an incredible experience that you will not soon forget.

tavm While I had previously seen this film on tape that I recorded off AMC, that cassette didn't record the whole thing so it wasn't until I just watched it on YouTube that I saw the murder that pretty much ended the picture. If I didn't already read about it on various internet articles, I wouldn't have known about the gun that murdered man had that he presumably intended to use on that Hell's Angel that stabbed him. This film, Gimme Shelter, is both enjoyable for the performances of The Rolling Stones and others like Ike and Tina Turner, Jefferson Airplane, and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and upsetting for all those scenes of those Hell's Angels constantly beating up on several audience members not to mention some of the musicians like Airplane's Marty Balin. And seeing Mick Jagger's face after seeing the whole thing on the view finder makes one wonder how he could have continued the way he did after that. Still, at least during those Madison Square Garden performances of The Stones and The Turners, you could marvel at the way they put themselves out there. I especially loved the way Tina stroked that microphone and its handle! And while the camera is mostly on the audience and their scuffles when the other acts are playing at Altamont Speedway, at least you can hear what they're singing when that happens. So on that note, Gimme Shelter is one of the most compelling of concert documentaries from this most interesting era in Rock music. Kudos to David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin.