Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019, 142 Minutes)

Playing as a part of Scorsese: More Than a Gangster

The final film in our month-long Martin Scorsese series bring us back to a time and space he’s become well acquainted with throughout his career, the American rock scene of the 60’s and 70’s. With Rolling Thunder Revue, Scorsese focuses on the U.S. tour of the same name that Bob Dylan did from 1975 to 1976 during the release of his album Desire. During the tour, Dylan sought out more intimate venues scattered across a collection of areas that he thought spoke to the fabric of the country. The film compiles footage of the tour that was taken during the period, while interviews with Dylan and other collaborators provide context for this important period. In perhaps the film’s most exciting decision, it also includes interviews with fictional subjects (or real people playing fictionalized versions of themselves) that force the audience to take part in what has become one of the most iconic questions throughout Dylan’s career: how much of what he’s saying is reality and how much of it is a performance?

Cast: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Sam Shepard, Allen Ginsburg, and Sharon Stone