Monterey Pop

It is possible that the way to a new kind of musical—using some of the talent and energy of what is still the most lively contemporary medium—may begin with just this kind of musical performance documentary.

Though there's considerable footage of hippie activity (crafting kites, sleeping) and moments of prelapsarian frisson (a cop warns that "there's talk of the Hell's Angels coming down"), the film is resolutely performance-driven.

Compared to D.A. Pennebaker's previous feature DON'T LOOK BACK (1967), the warts-and-all portrait of Bob Dylan, MONTEREY POP seems very much an authorized presentation of its subject.

It captures their magic with a freewheeling spontaneity that became a model for later pop-music movies.