Waste of time

The greatest movie ever made..!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The ensuing forty plus years have not been kind to "Monterey Pop", the rockumentary that intended to capture the spirit of the three day concert event that kicked off the San Francisco 'Summer of Love'. I found the film to be rather underwhelming, and find it surprising to be so much at odds with other posters on this site regarding it. Honestly, the only acts I found to be entertaining both musically and artistically were Janis Joplin (Ball and Chain), Otis Redding (Been Loving You Too Long), and Jimi Hendrix (Wild Thing). All performers were personal favorites of mine back in the day, and I still listen to their music now, maybe even more so than I did back then.As for the rest, mainly disappointing. The Mamas and the Papas with their opening number sounded more often than not to be off key with unsteady voices. Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkel, The Animals, not very exciting, while Hugh Masekela didn't convey an identity with his rambling performance. Jefferson Airplane - as uninspiring as their Woodstock clip, though they might have had a good reason for that one, coming on a Sunday morning to a worn out crowd with absolutely no energy. The Who was OK, but you could tell that smashing guitars and destroying their instruments was something new for the audience, even Hendrix' electrifying performance elicited puzzled looks from the crowd. Like, didn't those instruments cost you some money?As for it's influence on the hippie movement and flower power, the seeds were definitely planted and nurtured here, but contrary to what other reviewers on this site propose, this was not 'hippies and great music'. Except for the brightly painted buses and a few other colorful nods to psychedelia, many of those spotlighted in the crowd were rather 'normal' looking by comparison, not even sporting long hair in many cases. Need further proof - how about all those neatly lined up chairs for the concert goers? And if you ask, what about all the cool lava lamp effects that back lit a lot of the performers, try catching any of these headline acts on variety shows of the era and you'll see much of the same.I hate to come across as being that harsh, but for all of it's fame and notoriety as a seminal American music event, "Montery Pop" the movie doesn't do justice to the memory of Monterey Pop the festival. I guess you had to be there.

With the extended tracks, this is NOT to be missed. FINALLY we get to see the great Quicksilver Messenger Service, Buffalo Springfield, the Entire Who performance, the Entire Hendrix performance, the Entire Otis Redding performance. This was the greatest 3 days of rock and roll and was the birth of the San Fracisco Sound. Love it or hate it. There is no in between. See magic and mysticism. Buy or rent this movie. In-friggen'-credible!Country Joe and the Fish get an extra song, many backstage and people footage, see Hendrix walking with Brian Jones. Everyone was on the Bear acid, purple gel-tabs and God himself was present. Even the sell-outs, The mamas and The Papas put on an impressive show. If You Go To San Francisco Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair was written for Scott McKenzie after Papa John Phillips witnessed the magic that was happening.Don't miss the extended version of the Monteray Pop festival. The weekend rock and roll reached puberty!

I was but 9 years old when this event happened but was/am certainly familiar with most of the performers. The DVD has outtake performances. Many are absolutely dismal. Performers who made poor showings include The Byrds (David Crosby drove me nuts), The Mamas and Papas and Al Kooper. Of course the outtakes don't include the complete performance of these performers but the ones on the film are bad. However, I give this package a rating of "7" for a few gems. I'm into harder music for the most part but the biggest surprise for me was the song "Poverty Train" by Laura Nyro. Absolutely incredible. Her backup band was somewhat questionable but her singing performance was incredible. I became an instant fan. Unfortunately she passed away circa 1997 from ovarian cancer :-( Another gem was The Blues Project with their "Flute Thing". Somewhat dated with the flute through a tape echo unit, the musicians were nonetheless capable and the tune was musically interesting. Of course Otis Redding (with Booker T. and the MGs) and Hendrix were great. The one tune by the Electric Flag proved an excellent blues number. Interesting early showing by Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles (who later appeared on Band of Gypsys with Hendrix).And my kids love it. It's worth a look.

This has to be one of the greatest concert documentaries ever made. You get to see some of the greatest early performances by some of rock's greatest legends (Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin) as well as the performance of one band on their last legs, the Mamas and the Papas. The festival also could be seen as a turning point in popular music due to the fact that after the festiveal the more singles oriented acts were being pushed aside in favor of the more progressive album oriented artists.Also, if you need more convincing of how much of a pivotal event this was, check out the outtakes video. It contains many of the performances that didn't make it to the film, including Buffalo Springfield without Neil Young who had quit the band a month before their scheduled appearance. Replacing him for this performance was David Crosby, who performed earlier with the Byrds but joined his friend Stephen Stills and the rest of the Springfield for the show (less than a year later Crosby and Stills would team up with Graham Nash and the rest is history). Also check out Laura Nyro. Legend has it that she was booed off the stage. However, she gets a nice applause for her renditions of her classics "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Poverty Train".