Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps (1979)
Concert film covering Neil Young's October 22 1978 concert performance at the Cow Palace with nearly 20 songs (including two versions of "Hey Hey, My My," his nod to the punk movement), acoustic and electric (with long-time companions Crazy Horse), dating back to his Buffalo Springfield days ("I Am a Child") and continuing through popular solo numbers like "Cinnamon Girl" and the extended "Like a Hurricane."
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I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Excellent but underrated film
Absolutely Fantastic
wow, not only are the songs absolutely incredible but the imagery and loose end style is phenomenal. This movie is not just a rock film, its like an intense time warp journey through space. From the little sand people to the stage announcements, everything fits perfectly. This is the complete F***ing opposite of a washed up rock star. Neil delivers the smartest and most visually breathtaking performance of the decade. He makes every song interesting with Jamaican accents, giant amps, Rust-O-Vision goggles and characters that come seemingly from nowhere and depart into the recesses of the strange twenty foot tall amplifiers This film will blow your mind and leave you a changed person 100/100
I certainly love Neil Young and I must say I was disappointed with his first self-made effort "Journey through the past" .As I do not go much for the CSN stuff the idea of a filmed concert with Crazy Horse was really exciting.Besides,Young was then at the height of his powers,after releasing one of his very best records "rust never sleeps".Sadly ,afterwards,then came a period of barren inspiration-but Young's career was buoyant again in the nineties-,but that's another story.Suffice to say that Neil Young's epiphanies were numerous and brilliant ,he is second only to Bob Dylan.The film features almost the same songs as the soundtrack album "live rust" although for instance the marvelous "thrasher" is not included in the record (and "tonight's the night" ,on the other hand,was not in the film ).Half acoustic,half electric ,Young plays like a person possessed and he revisits his catalog with gusto.Particularly impressive is his reggae version of "Cortez the Killer".The "star wars" stuff did not impress me.It's the singer and the songs which matter.The film begins with Hendrix's "star spangled banner" and the Beatles' "a day in the life" on the PA.
Another reviewer complained about the opening with the Jawas. On one hand, I see how it slows the beginning of the film. BUTAs a fan of live music, I have to say that the best concert videos are those that capture, as well as possible, the essence of the live show. If part of going to the show was the theatrics, then why not include it in the film? Too much of today's pre-packaged pop may be choreographed, but has no sense of theater. I'm not saying that Jawa roadies are the height of performance art, but it's something. Overall - I'll echo everyone else: great slice of Neil's career. I always pause whatever I'm doing when I hear Sugar Mountain, and I'm still not sure why.
I saw this film when it was first released in a small but packed theatre. After the film ended, the entire audiance rose up and applauded the film, as if giving Neil a standing ovation. This is the only time I ever saw an entire audience applauding a film. For anyone who wants to see Neil Young in his prime, this is it. It is the best concert film I have ever seen, bar none. Keep your eyes on the Road Eyes. One of them is Neil Young's wife (you can see her dancing back stage). As Rolling Stone once said, "This guy's the best."