In late 1969, the Rolling Stones headlined a free concert at the Altamont Speedway, located outside San Francisco. It was billed as the Western Woodstock, in comparison to the legendary music festival held just a few months before. But there was a significant difference between Woodstock and Altamont: violence. Whatever faults Woodstock may have had, it was peaceful. There were four deaths at Altamont, including a gun-waving fanatic stabbed and beaten to death by Hell's Angels.

The violence begins when the Stones arrive for the concert. Mick Jagger is punched in the jaw by a crazed hippie before he can reach his trailer. Even during the warm-up acts, the Hell's Angels, foolishly hired as security, are clubbing concert attendees, especially those rushing the stage or messing with their motorcycles. Airplane lead singer Marty Balin is mistakenly assaulted by a Hell's Angel. By the time the Stones are performing, there is a constant melee in front of the stage, causing Jagger to break off singing to plead uselessly for an end to the fighting.

Summary by Brian Koller

I expected this to be a documentary about the Altamont concert. I wanted to see what happened and hear from the people involved. That's not really what this is, though. The first half is a concert film with a handful of uncut songs recorded in New York. There is some foreboding as we see the Stones watching the video being edited. Eventually we get to video of a lawyer haggling with the different parties in San Francisco, as they try to set up the free concert. This was very interesting, because we see how rushed the event was. There were 300,000 people, and it wasn't planned out very well. This was a big part of the problem. Unfortunately, we never see anything about the Hell's Angels being hired. I would have liked to have seen the thought process involved there. It's also difficult to see the violence that's happening in front of the stage. I would have liked to have heard people recount what they saw. The good thing is the camera did catch the black guy with the gun being stabbed. We do see the gun, and then we see him get attacked and killed. Was it justified? We don't know. The eyewitnesses would have known why the gun came out, and that would have been interesting to hear.

Ultimately, there are two different films here. The first is for Rolling Stone fans to see concert footage. The second is for everyone who's interested in seeing how "security guards" can be responsible for beating and killing fans. The two just don't go together. On the plus side, the DVD is loaded. My favorite extra was the radio broadcast that was taped the following day. Very interesting and an excellent special feature to add. -- Bill Alward June 22, 2001