Eat the Document

Director: Bob Dylan and Howard Alk
Release Year: 1972
Country: USA
Running Time: 54

The film was originally commissioned for ABC tv for their brief performance series Stage 67. The film as delivered was rejected. It was apparently too incoherent and too Avant Garde for their tastes. A shame, because I find it to be a fascinating film, much better than Don't Look Back in many ways. The editing shows a strong Goddard influence. The (incomplete) performances are among the most powerful that we have of Dylan on film. The film can be seen as a visual symphony in four movements, perfectly divided by where the commercials would have gone. Each segment seems to tell a distinct story. A great work of art.

Among the highlights: an elegant "One Too Many Mornings"; Dylan and Robbie Robertson working out some new material, with Dylan singing in his Basement Tapes voice - proof that he had it in him all along; a song by Dylan and Robertson that sounds strangely like a future Band song, but I can't quite place which one it is.

Rumors say that Pennebaker's version, called Something Is Happening, may soon become available. His cut reportedly contains more music than what eventually wound up in Eat the Document.

Contributed by John Howells.