Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back (1967) on Netflix
NR19671h 36mDocumentaryMusic
In 1965, Bob Dylan tours England with a camera following. Between concerts he spars with journalists, sings Hank Williams songs with Joan Baez, and listens as Donovan performs.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.9/1011,088 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
The film opens with Bob Dylan discarding cue cards printed with phrases from "Subterranean Homesick Blues" while Allen Ginsberg talks with Bob Neuwirth in the background. The footage comes from Dylan's 1965 tour of England, filmed in black and white with handheld equipment and direct sound. He faces teenage fans, argues with a science student before a concert and spars with a Time correspondent in an interview, while his manager Albert Grossman negotiates with the agent Tito Burns. In a hotel room Joan Baez sings Hank Williams songs and a Dylan song he has not finished. Dylan asks Alan Price why he left the Animals, and plays "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" at Donovan's request. Songs from his Royal Albert Hall concerts are included.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back (1967)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The "Subterranean Homesick Blues" sequence that opens Dont Look Back was actually shot at the very end of Bob Dylan's 1965 English tour; director D. A. Pennebaker moved it to the front during editing as a "stage" for Dylan to begin the film.
- Shot in black-and-white on a handheld 16mm camera with direct sound, Dont Look Back created the template for the "rockumentary" film genre.
- Dont Look Back has been parodied and paid homage to by This Is Spinal Tap, All You Need Is Cash, Bob Roberts and Documentary Now!, and its opening sequence inspired music videos for INXS, "Weird Al" Yankovic and Hozier; journalist Roger Friedman called it "the most copied, most revered, music video of all time".
- The title is deliberately spelled Dont Look Back, without an apostrophe: director D. A. Pennebaker punctuated it that way as an attempt to simplify the language, and many sources have since "corrected" it to Don't Look Back.
