No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Release Date:

21 July 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Plot:

A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Bob Dylan | Interview | Archive Footage | Performance

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Bob Dylan	...	Himself
B.J. Rolfzen	...	Himself (voice)
Dick Kangas	...	Himself
Liam Clancy	...	Himself
Tony Glover	...	Himself
Paul Nelson	...	Himself
Allen Ginsberg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dave Van Ronk	...	Himself (archive footage)
Maria Muldaur	...	Herself
John Cohen	...	Himself
Bruce Langhorne	...	Himself
Mark Spoelstra	...	Himself
Suze Rotolo	...	Herself
Izzy Young	...	Himself
Mitch Miller	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Bob Dylan Anthology Project (USA) (working title)
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (Australia)

Runtime:

208 min (DVD) | Finland:205 min (2 part TV-miniseries) | Canada:201 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:208 min

Country:

UK | USA | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Spain:T | Finland:K-3 | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | Brazil:Livre | Netherlands:AL | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Hibbing, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Spitfire Pictures

Trivia:

Mitch Blank's credit as "hypnotist collector" is a reference to a line in the Bob Dylan song "She Belongs to Me".

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Footage of the San Francisco Bay Bridge is included among footage of New York City illustrating Bob Dylan's arrival there.

Quotes:

Reporter: How many people who major in the same musical vineyard in which you toil, how many are protest singers? That is, people who use their music, and use the songs to protest the uh, social state in which we live today, the matter of war, the matter of crime, or whatever it might be.
Bob Dylan: Um... how many?
Reporter: Yes. How many?
Bob Dylan: Uh, I think there's about uh, 136.
[People around him giggle. The reporter doesn't laugh]
Reporter: You say ABOUT 136, or you mean exactly 136?
Bob Dylan: Uh, it's either 136 or 142.

Movie Connections:

Features Monterey Pop (1968)

Soundtrack:

Teen Love Serenade

Bob Dylan, human being

In our age of universal celebrity, where we know everything that everyone famous thinks (or, more usually, does not think), it's refreshing to rediscover how interesting it can be to hear from someone whose achievements are great but who rarely speaks about them. Bob Dylan has given an extensive interview to Martin Scorcese for Scorcese's film about his emergence from the folk scene and his subsequent "betrayal" of that scene when he went electric: it's absorbing to watch, although, in the end, Bob doesn't actually say that much specific. However, the interview is complemented by a selection of other distinguished talking heads and most crucially, a rich selection of archive footage, going back to Dylan's very first days as a performer. What one notices is just how young he was: the depth and sophistication of even his earliest music can blind one, listening on record, to the age of the performer producing it. He also comes across as playful, self-confident and quite naturally baffled by some of idiocy going on around him: far from seeming incomprehensibly moody, Dylan actually appears as sane as anyone could be at the centre of such attention. It's the music, though, that is really the key to this film, with a rawness and edge, as well as a cleverness, that is still unsurpassed today (and this comment applies equally to the acoustic and the electric material). Since 1966 when the film ends, Dylan has continued to tour and write occasionally great songs; but the body of work that he produced in the early to mid 1960s stands clear for its amazing quantity and quality. If nothing else, 'No Direction Home' stands as clear testament to that achievement.