Bob Dylan : Eat the Document - Bob Dylan - (1966) DVD

Eat the Document is a rarely exhibited documentary of Bob Dylan's 1966 tour of the United Kingdom with the Hawks. It was shot under Dylan's direction by D. A. Pennebaker, whose groundbreaking documentary Dont Look Back chronicled Dylan's 1965 British tour. The film was originally commissioned for the ABC television series Stage '66. According to Howard Sounes's biography, "Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan", after his motorbike accident in July 1966, Dylan viewed a cut of the material edited by Pennebaker and Bob Neuwirth and thought it was too similar to Dont Look Back. Dylan decided to re-edit the film himself, assisted by longtime associate Howard Alk. Dylan's and Alk's version was radical and difficult to follow. Their cut was eventually shown to ABC television, who promptly rejected it as incomprehensible to a mainstream audience.

Highlights of the film include an interview with the Manchester Free Trade Hall concert-goer who shouted "Judas!" during the second, electric half of the set; the performances with the Hawks; the scenes of Dylan and Robertson in hotel rooms throughout England playing otherwise-unreleased songs; and a piano duet with Johnny Cash.

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