Brilliant live stuff but too much fake to make it to a 10.

Some observations:

• The quality of the sound was great
• If you fast-forward to "Isis", you won't miss anything. Patti Smith didn't come across well at all. (You don't have to watch this film very carefully to see evidence of drug use. Probably including acid.)
• The "Desire" album, which is one of my favourites, was a work in progress at the time of the tour. The majority of the songs on it are in the film. ("Joey" and "Sara" didn't make the cut.) "Hurricane" was one of the musical highlights.
• Other musical highlights: "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "Simple Twist of Fate", Dylan doing an acoustic version of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" before an audience of Indians, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", and Joni Mitchell rehearsing "Coyote" (a favourite song of mine) with Roger McGuinn and Dylan, in Gordon Lightfoot's apartment, no less.
• Speaking of Mitchell, she and Joan Baez developed a strong dislike of each other during the tour. The film didn't go into this.
• Some non-musical highlights: I never saw an interview of Ruben "Hurricane" Carter before. Ronnie Hawkins was his usual funny self. Dylan's present-day comments were great. He often refuses to stay on topic during interviews, but not this time.
• I'm a big fan of McGuinn, so I would have like to have seen more of him. However, fans of Eric Anderson, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Mick Ronson, and T-Bone Burnett would feel the same way. If Scorsese said, "there wasn't enough time", he could have removed most of the interviews with non-musicians in the film, and nobody would have minded.

The blurb directly underneath the title page for this film here on IMDb calls it 'an alchemic mix of fact and fantasy', but to my mind, what's the point of putting fictional elements into the story? If you're a die hard Dylan fan you might be able to spot the fictional elements, however a casual observer would probably take the entire narrative at face value. This was directed by Martin Scorsese, who also did the honors for the 2005 American Masters episode on Dylan titled "No Direction Home". That look at the fabled singer and song writer seemed to take pains to emphasize that he wasn't all that political, revealing a contrast between him and folk singer Joan Baez, who wanted urgently to do political stuff while Dylan wanted to do songs. Here it seems just the opposite, as lengthy segments show Dylan deliberating on then current events while penning 'The Ballad of Ira Hayes' and 'Hurricane', regarding the imprisonment of boxer Rubin Carter.

The Rolling Thunder Revue took place during 1975, and depending on your preference, the name derives from a series of thunder claps impacting Dylan's consciousness, an Indian name for speaking truth, or a code name for a bombing mission during the Vietnam War. The 'speaking truth' part is given further resonance by Dylan appearing in whiteface during his performances, because in his own words, a man wearing a mask will tell you the truth about what he's thinking. Which for Dylan, was apparently personal enough that he didn't share much of his own thinking. Again, this is highlighted much clearer in 'No Direction Home', which demonstrated that he was unable or unwilling to verbalize a coherent answer when questioned by interviewers and fans.

Appearing on screen to offer their thoughts about Dylan and the tour are fellow musicians like Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, along with actress Sharon Stone, who's first concert experience of Dylan occurred when her mother dragged her along to see the show. She admits being embarrassed when Bob stated that he wrote 'Just Like a Woman' for her, though she did find out later from T-Bone Burnett that the tune was written at least ten years earlier.

As far as the performances go, this viewer wasn't impressed. Though the picture includes a good number of well known Dylan songs, listening to them can be hard on the ears. I direct your attention to 'Simple Twist of Fate' where Dylan goes off key a few times when his voice trails off. In every case, the recorded album versions of his songs are much better than what you hear in the revue footage. For many viewers however, you will experience Dylan songs that you haven't heard before, like the couple of tunes mentioned earlier.

So is this a worthwhile doc to watch? I think you'll actually have to experience it to know for yourself. Again, the die hards are probably in for a treat, whereas the casual observer might be put off by the extensive interviews and insertion of fictional elements. It's pretty long too at almost two and a half hours, so be advised going in.