The Band gave its last concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Theatre on Thanksgiving Night 1976. With guest appearances from iconic performers including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, the Band celebrated their final hours on a public stage. The performance was recorded by Scorsese who had just finished Taxi Driver and was in the middle of completing New York New York.

Most music films, Woodstock for example, are made by documentary filmmakers, but Scorsese brought an auteur dramatists approach. He used a 300 page script and story boards, a stage set by the designer for West Side Story, a backdrop from a local opera production of La Traviata, and chandeliers from Gone With the Wind. The editing took two years and the sound mixing four months. The result is widely acclaimed as the greatest rock movie of all time.

The farewell concert is a grand finale with one showstopper after another, but the movie has an untoppable high point a number that, oddly enough, wasn’t part of the concert – The Bands studio rendition of their signature song, The Weight, accompanied by that consummate gospel group The Staples. Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune.

Watching these heavyweights jam on stage, though, produces some pretty exciting moments. If nothing else, The Last Waltz captures the pure joy of musicianship–you cant help but feel these guys are having fun up there, and its infectious. eFilmCritic.com

This may not be Scorsese’s best film but its probably his most simply enjoyable and it emerges after 25 years as an essential part of his filmography, the point where, after the nightmare of New York New York he rediscovered the essential joy of his craft. Mike Sutton DVD Times.