DVD Review: Looking back at ‘Dont Look Back’

Fifty years ago D. A. Pennebaker took a few cameramen to follow Bob Dylan around during his 1965 British tour. What was released two years later as “Dont Look Back” was immediately recognized as a landmark in documentary filmmaking. Though there is a fair amount of performance footage, this is not a concert film. The primary focus is on Dylan backstage, on the street, partying, hanging out with friends, dealing with celebrity. As always with cinema verité, it is hard to assess how much we see is the real Dylan and how much is for the camera. But Dylan presents himself in such an unfavorable light at times that the question becomes more complex: Is he a bastard? Or does he merely want to put forth that image, for some incomprehensibly perverse reason?

Five decades on, it is also an evocative time capsule of the ‘60s — not surprising, given that Dylan was one of the icons of that era. When we first see him on screen — in the famous card-flippping “Subterranean Homesick Blues” proto-music video — it’s staggering to realize that he was only 23 at the time.

Because of the rough-and-tumble method of shooting (hand-held on noisy locations on 16mm), the issue of pictorial quality is less than usually important. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see it in its new director-approved transfer.

In addition to an affable commentary track from Pennebaker and tour manager Bob Neuwirth, the disc includes more than two hours of bonus material. Much of it is carried over from earlier releases: an hour of additional footage; two alternate versions of the card-flipping “video”; Pennebaker in conversations with Greil Marcus and Neuwirth; five leftover songs, audio only; and outtakes. Added to that are new pieces about Pennebaker’s work and a recent interview with Patti Smith about Dylan’s influence on her.

Dont Look Back (Criterion, Blu-ray, $39.95; DVD, 2 discs, $29.95)