It's certainly not an original opinion to consider Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz (1978) as the greatest rock concert film. It has been done. But the challenge that we have, when we have a great work in front of us, is to try to understand how it got that way. OK, Scorsese had a head-start, I guess you could say, with the occasion that was presented to him: the final concert of one of the most accomplished and important rock groups ever - with guest appearances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and many others, in an elegant setting worthy of the company (one of my favourite moments is when Ronnie Hawkins walks out on stage, looks around, and turns to Robertson and says, 'Big time, Robbie!'"). But the simple fact is that Scorsese and his crew of filmmakers did their work so well as to be almost invisible. Until you start to think about it, that is. First, the quality of the sound recording is exceptional - and of course, The Band have a lot to do with this. The opening number of the movie is actually the final encore, a cover of the Motown hit, "Don't Do It", and it demonstrates the relaxed, powerful, deep-groove playing that can only be honed in settings where pleasing the crowd might be necessary for survival (The Beatles had similar experiences, by the way). Second, the camera work is simply astonishing - it seems like there's magic in every shot, and something to be learned there, too. There are some amazing moments in the segments shot on the soundstage, as well, where chair-lift type devices were used to create camera movements that I'm not sure I've seen elsewhere. The version of "The Weight", done with The Staples Singers needs to be watched several times to be properly appreciated. Actually, you could say this about the entire film.

It seems evident to me that had Scorsese not directed films, that he would have been a musician - it's so deeply entwined in his work. And it's interesting to try to understand what lessons he learned from it, and how he applied them to his films. I had a teacher who once said, "In twenty-five years, everyone in the world will be studying music". I hope he was right.