Excellent but underrated film

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

A five day roving rock concert travels across the country via train and performs live wherever they stop. This fantastic documentary covers the festival's Canadian leg of the tour, with the train making stops at Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgery. You can't beat the stellar line-up of first-rate musicians: the one and only Janis Joplin (her fiery performances of both "Cry Baby" and "Tell Mama" are absolutely electrifying show-stoppers), The Band (they hit it out of the ballpark with the rousing "Slippin' & Slidin'" and a potent rendition of "The Weight"), The Grateful Dead (in fine bluesy form with "Don't Ease Me In" and "New Speedway Boogie"), Sha Na Na (they do a spirited performance of "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay"), The Flying Burrito Brothers (their smooth-rolling rendition of "Lazy Day" really hits the soulful spot), and the Buddy Guy Blues Band (who burn it up with an incendiary cover of "Money"). Director Bob Smeaton keeps the pace hurtling along at the same constant speedy clip as the train and astutely nails a certain infectiously lowdown cool, breezy and mellow groovy vibe. All the musicians on the train put their individual egos aside, completely pour their hearts and souls into the giving the audiences their money's worth (the on-stage performances all seriously smoke, with Joplin in particular displaying a positively magnetic stage presence), and jam like crazy to the point where hardly anybody got any sleep and all the booze was drunk (the train had to make a special pit stop in Saskatoon to get more hooch). The cinematography by Peter Biziou, Bob Fiore and Clacke Mackey gives the film an appropriately rough'n'grainy look and makes neat frequent use of split screen. Best of all, there's a wonderfully warm and open communal spirit evident throughout which in turn makes this picture a true joy to watch. This spirit shines brightest when various musicians from different groups get together on stage to perform a marvelously sexy rendition of "C.C. Rider." While the concert itself had its fair share of problems (for example, people protested about having to buy tickets and demanded that they see the concert for free), the movie itself rates highly as one of the greatest rock documentaries to ever grace celluloid.

Documentary originally filmed in 1970 about a series of 3 Canadian music festivals (effectively a 3 stop tour) and the train trip taken by the performers (Janis Joplin, The Band, Flying Burrito Brothers, Grateful Dead, Delaney & Bonnie and many others) between Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. There are impromptu performances and dialog from the train journey, concert footage and short contemporary (present day) interview segments with musicians and promoters from the original festival. The disorganized informality of the the whole event seems to capture the atmosphere of the era. The musical performances are surprisingly good and the low tech, low budget film work is excellent.

Who knew things like HD plasma televisions, with home theaters and DVD players could turn into time machines. "Festival Express" is proof positive of this. I was a small child, living just outside Toronto in July of 1970 when the "Festival Express" happened. I wasn't there but I grew up hearing music like this, and I thank my lucky stars for being around in that time.Not sure how many of the train's riders are still actively playing, but I have seen Buddy Guy twice. 35 years later, the fires of greatness burn bright. This film is a testament to when the music really mattered, no glitz, or bad dance moves or lip-syncing, just honest, real music; the junk on the radio today, can only dream of being this good. The sweat from Janis's socks has more talent then the popular stuff today. But I digress…..Oh, about Janis. She is still so powerful and captivating. She set a mark that will not be surpassed. She will always be loved.I would gladly pay more then $14 to have been part of this.

In the summer of 1970, some of the world's premier rock musicians - prime among them The Grateful Dead, The Band and Janis Joplin - got together to perform a series of concerts across southern Canada. Rather than just flying to the various venues then afterwards going their separate ways, the performers boarded a train in Toronto and headed west to Calgary, stopping off at various places to "do their thing" for appreciative audiences. That train ride, which turned into a nonstop jam session among some of the top rock 'n roll talents of the time, became known as the Festival Express and this film is the chronicle of that experience."Festival Express" juxtaposes footage of the event with present-day interviews from some of the people who were on that train. We see the musicians jamming together in the cars then performing their sets in open-air stadiums. What the film doesn't show us is any real interpersonal connection or interaction beyond the music. Perhaps the cameras were turned off whenever the performers were talking to one another, or, perhaps, the performers were just too drunk or stoned to say anything of any real interest to one another on the trip. Either way, the film does not provide us with a very compelling behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives and personalities of these people. That is the biggest disappointment of the movie.Be that as it may, "Festival Express" is still a useful time capsule for reminding us about what the culture was like 35 years ago. The film does an interesting job capturing the strange moral paradox that has been an intricate part of rock 'n' roll from its earliest days. For although rock music has always derived its power and strength from its anti-establishment stance and attitude, it is also a highly competitive business built on corporate interests, involving record companies, producers, promoters and millionaire performers. So how does one reconcile these two seemingly antithetical positions? How justify high ticket prices or millionaire salaries in an art form that claims as its foundational principle that the corporate establishment is the source of all the evil in the world and the very thing that the music itself is dedicated to stamping out? And how genuine can this anti-establishment attitude really be when what looks on the surface to be spontaneous rebellion is actually the result of shrewdly calculated Madison Avenue exploitation? This conundrum comes to a head in the Toronto stopover where a group of protesters outside the concert are threatening to turn violent if they aren't provided free entrance into the arena (the tickets cost a whopping $14!). These youngsters feel that, because rock claims to be a statement against everything related to money and profits, the purveyors of the message - i.e, the concert promoters and the rock stars themselves - should be willing to forego being paid for their efforts. There's humorous irony in the fact that we see these "radical" anti-establishment musicians ultimately siding with the cops on the issue and against their youthful fans on the outside! The people who were on the train keep telling us what a life-changing and euphoric experience that trip turned out to be. That may well be the case, but due to the lack of intimacy we feel with the performers, that sense doesn't really come across very effectively in the film. What the film does provide is a rare opportunity to watch a collection of iconic rock legends performing at the peak of their youth and powers. That alone is what makes "Festival Express" a must-see for aficionados.