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In the late 1960s and early 70s, the success and fame of San Francisco Bar Area musicians grew, and so did their star egos and demands. Promoter Bill Graham got sick of dealing with it and decided it was time to close the doors of his Fillmore West ballroom effective July 5, 1971. There had always been good times, too. To preserve those memories, Graham brought in a team of film cameramen and sound recordists to document the last week of shows.
In the resulting feature, eighteen musical numbers are packed into one hour and forty-five minutes, yet director Dick Heffron also manages to draw a compelling portrait of Graham, the complex figure at Fillmore's center. The rock impresario comes off variously at different times as hysteric, parental figure, comedian, master manipulator, hard-nosed businessman and sloppy sentimentalist. Surrounding him are most of the important bands that made the
Fillmore legendary - Santana, the Grateful Dead, Hot Tuna, Quicksilver Messenger Service, It's a Beautiful Day, Boz Skaggs, the Elvin Bishop Group and many more. A notable absentee from the farewell festivities, Jefferson Airplane, are shown in archival footage. Widescreen and multiple screens introduced to the concert film in Woodstock (1970) are used to good effect in this musical documentary which has never been made available on home video.
" One of the better rock films." — Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide
"Uncannily faithful to the way it was." — John L. Wasserman, San Francisco Chronicle
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showtime
Tuesday, June 21 at 7 pm
location
THE GREEN ROOM
144 West Street (across from the Comstock Hotel)
admission
$6 general / $4 GBFS members
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