Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Woodyanders A motley assortment of music acts encompassing various genres such as folk, pop, and R&B perform live in concert at a Hollywood club in 1966. Ray Charles gets things off to a rip-roaring start with a spirited performance of "What'd I Say." Petula Clark impresses with a lovely and classy rendition of her big hit "Downtown." Bo Diddley lays down some thunderous earth-shaking beats as well as busts a few funky dance moves. The Lovin' Spoonful are quite charming with their one two punch of "Do You Believe in Magic?" -- the group hilariously flubs the intro to this song! -- and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice." Joan Baez holds her own with a solid set; her inspired cover of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" stands out as a highlight (and, yep, that's none other than Phil Spector on piano). The Ronettes are a ball of infectious happy fire as they bring the house down with "Be My Baby" and a particularly dynamic version of "Shout." The Byrds score a bull's eye with their three songs, with "Mr. Tanbourine Man" proving to be the best and most memorable of the bunch. Country singer/songwriter Roger Miller makes an amiable impression as he performs a pleasing medley of "Dang Me," "Engine Engine #9," "King of the Road," and "England Swings." Things go a tad off track and get a bit too sober for comfort with Donovan's performance of four folk tunes, which to be charitable are pleasant enough. Fortunately, Ike and Tina Turner end the festivities on a rousing note with their ferociously thrilling closing act. Director Larry Peerce maintains a quick pace and astutely captures the vibrancy and excitement of the event. David McCallum makes for an acceptable host. Bob Boatman's sharp black and white cinematography provides a neat crisp look. The go-go dancers strut and shake their stuff with spirited abandon. A real blast from the past.

Michael O'Keefe Great fun to look back at this film of headliner acts taking part in a musical review in a disco type setting. TV star David McCallum introduces acts like Ray Charles, Petula Clark, The Byrds, Ike & Tina Turner, Bo Diddley, James Brown, Roger Miller, The Ronettes and more.A very diverse collection of artists and musical styles. A time capsule showing the hair styles and clothing that went with the music. Relax, gear down and enjoy.

Rusty-61 I finally got to see this when it was on cable this month, and it was worth the wait! I admit, I was looking forward the most to the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, James Brown, and the Ronettes, but we watched the entire thing and we were not disappointed. James Brown (who, the story goes, was in some sort of stand-off with Mick Jagger about who the better dancer was...needless to say, he wipes the floor with Mick) was incredible. There were some acts that were slower-moving, such as Donovan, but I guess they figured the audience needed a breather. Bo Diddley is another of the highlights, especially with a trio of beautiful back-up singers/dancers...they are dressed in formal Supremes-style evening gowns and big beehives, but manage to look completely bad-ass, and one of them even plays a bass while doing her little dance routine. The Ronettes are wonderful, doing "Be My Baby" as the crowd of mods and teeny-boppers goes nuts. Ronnie Spector's voice will give anyone with a soul chills in that song, and she really looked like she was having fun, though she did write later in her autobiography that Phil Spector yelled at her afterwards for improvising and not doing the song exactly the way he had instructed her to in rehearsal, proving that Phil Spector is brilliant as far music goes, but not that wonderful of a person. Speaking of which, Phil Spector may not exactly be the poster child for sanity, but he sure knew what he was doing when he put this concert together. Speaking as a dancer who specializes in 60's dance moves, I can honestly say that the go-go dancers (who are shown in footage at the beginning, and grand finale of the film) are the most talented I've ever seen, and trust me, I've seen a lot of footage from that era.The highlight of the movie has to be the Ike and Tina Turner segment, and that is saying a lot, considering some of the mind-blowing performances that come before it. They do a great medley and include full-length versions of "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine" among others. Even Ike appears to be having the time of his life--I don't think I've ever seen him actually smile on-stage before, but he can't keep the grin off of his face when he happily and smoothly duets with Tina. He might not be a stellar human being, but he definitely deserves credit for his musical talent and ability to entertain. Other than the very minor complaint of Tina's usually perfect fashion sense deserting her for maybe the only time in her life (she has a cute outfit but a bizarre leather 'hat' that looks like a long, deflated Jiffy-Pop Bag), the performance is flawless, and they blow the roof off of the place. Watch for the moment when she goes into the audience to involve them in the show during a slower number-she picks out a young mod guy to sing to, and his eyes are as big as saucers. When she sings, "tell me...do you wanna be my man?" he can't even answer coherently when she hold the mike up to him. The choreography and dance moves are so show-stopping and high energy (even for them) that no-one could follow them-- Spector was smart in saving them for last. The Ikettes and Tina are obviously having so much fun that their feet barely seem to touch the ground, and during the big finish "Tell the Truth", Tina moves so fast that she is literally a blur! You can see why Mick Jagger asked her to teach him how to dance. I keep meaning to re-watch the entire movie, but when I rewind, I can't make it past Ike and Tina's segment-never get tired of seeing them shake a tailfeather! I defy anyone to sit still while watching the last 15 minutes of this film.Since this is almost impossible to find, don't miss it the next time they decide to run it on television! I only give it nine out of ten stars because it isn't in color. I hadn't been born at the time this was filmed, but watching it, I felt like I was in the audience.

largeGROUCH Here, we see a multi-faceted view of the movement: FROM >an immature 'rock and roll' era TO the far more developed >ROCK era... Remembering that we are witnessing the infancy of what we would ultimatly call 'classic rock' we >can almost feel the labor-pains of a transitiion in progress... The performers were as diverse as the fans >that would come to worship them and each had a notion of >the world as it existed in that time... All-in-all, a snap >shot of the U. S. A. in the mid 60's.