History Film / Woodstock

In the Summer of '69, a couple of extremely rich young men wanted to create something they could invest in related to entertainment, art and creativity. After initially planning a TV series and an artists' colony, they decided to hold a festival in a field, with a few big name acts. After a long fight to get it done, they got a deal with farmer Max Yasgur. The festival was called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

[[caption-width-right:300:We must be in heaven, man!]]

But at the same time the festival was noted for its sense of peace. The crowd was so peaceful over the three days that even the mainstream media like ''The New York Times'' praised the event for being so orderly with a well behaved audience. Two people were ''born'' there.[[note]]Other reports have four births, with at least one taking place in a car on the way there.[[/note]] People were getting along and showing love to each other. Not only that, but the roster of bands were great. These included Music/TheWho, Music/TheBand, Music/JanisJoplin, Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung,[[note]]However, the film credits them as "Crosby, Stills & Nash", as Neil Young found the camera crew intrusive and does not appear in footage of their performance.[[/note]] Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Music/JoeCocker, Music/ShaNaNa, Music/{{Santana}}, Music/TheGratefulDead, Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival, Music/JoanBaez and Music/JimiHendrix, to name a few.

The festival was filmed and turned into a documentary, titled simply ''Woodstock'', which was released in 1970. It was directed by Michael Wadleigh. It is regarded as one of the best documentaries and concert films ever. Not only because of the performances, but also because the main focus was the festival itself -- the audience. Creator/MartinScorsese got one of his first Hollywood jobs as a film editor for the movie. Most importantly for the producers, the film proved so big a box office hit that its earnings more than paid off the losses from the festival itself.

The festival's original location is currently home to The Bethel Woods Center For the Arts, which not only hosts three performance stages (including an amphitheater just north of the field where main stage of Woodstock stood), but and [[http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/the-museum honest-to-goodness Woodstock Museum]], which gives an in-depth look at the counter-culture that inspired the event, as well as the historical events leading up to it.

* EpicMovie: At 3 hours and 5 minutes in its original release, with 39 minutes added for the 1994 ReCut, the film can be counted as one.

''This thing was too big. It was too big for the world. Nobody has ever seen a thing like this. And when they see this picture in the newsreels, they'll really see something.''

But at the same time the festival was noted for its sense of peace. The crowd was so peaceful over the three days that even the mainstream media like ''The New York Times'' praised the event for being so orderly with a well behaved audience. Two people were ''born'' there.[[note]]Other reports have four births, with at least one taking place in a car on the way there.[[/note]] People were getting along and showing love to each other. Not only that, but the roster of bands were great. These included Music/TheWho, Music/TheBand, Music/JanisJoplin, [[Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung Crosby, Stills, Nash and]] [[Music/NeilYoung Young]], Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Music/JoeCocker, Music/ShaNaNa, Music/{{Santana}}, Music/TheGratefulDead, Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival, Music/JoanBaez and Music/JimiHendrix, to name a few.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: From Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
--> "Lacey lilting lyric, losing love lamenting"

* ClusterFBomb: Country Joe and the Fish used the opening to their "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" for this, getting the audience in on the act. It's since been nicknamed the "Fish Chant."
-->'''Country Joe''': "Gimme an F! Gimme a U! Gimme a C! Gimme a K! ''What's that spell?''

* CoolOldGuy: The local man shown in the very first clip of the movie, who cheerfully relates how he had to eat cornflakes for two days because he couldn't get out of his house to get food, but also says that he really liked all the kids and the movie is going to be big.

* TimeLapse: Used in a SplitScreen in which one half shows a time laps of the crowd moving around while some hippie in the other half natters about how his father can't understand him.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Amid all the groundbreaking HardRock, AcidRock and FolkRock luminaries, one group who got their big break at the festival was the retro greaser CoverBand, Music/ShaNaNa, made possible by Music/JimiHendrix's generosity of all people.

* LennonSpecs: They were very much the fashion in 1969, especially among hippies and beatniks. Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin both wear them.

But at the same time the festival was noted for its sense of peace. The crowd was so peaceful over the three days that even the mainstream media like ''The New York Times'' praised the event for being so orderly with a well behaved audience. Two people were ''born'' there.[[note]]Other reports have four births, with at least one taking place in a car on the way there.[[/note]] People were getting along and showing love to each other. Not only that, but the roster of bands were great. These included Music/TheWho, Music/TheBand, Music/JanisJoplin, Crosby, Stills, Nash and [[Music/NeilYoung Young]], Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Music/JoeCocker, Music/ShaNaNa, Music/{{Santana}}, Music/TheGratefulDead, Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival, Music/JoanBaez and Music/JimiHendrix, to name a few.

* EpicRocking: Lots of performers did extended songs at the festival, but (unsurprisingly) Music/TheGratefulDead took first prize with a 40-minute long version of "Turn On Your Love Light" (and it would've gone on even longer, except their amps suffered electrical overload and shorted out).

* HappilyMarried: The iconic (we use that word a lot, don't we) cover showing the two young people standing amid the mess on day 3, wrapped up in a quilt? Those are bartender/student Nick Ercoline and his fiancee, bank teller Bobbi Kelly. As Gracie Slick sang the dawn, ''Life'' magazine photographer Burk Uzzle snapped several shots of Nick and Bobbi's embrace. Two years later they were married. [[https://time.com/5644827/woodstock-photo-couple/ On the 50th anniversary of the festival]], ''they are still together''.
* HippieParents: And grandparents, probably tell the kids about their amazing technicolor music "adventure." Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's book ''I Would Have Gone to Woodstock'', and Max Yasgur's cousin Abigail's ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojgK7GBu5BY Max Said Yes!]]''[[note]]That video was shot at the annual Woodstock Revival Festival in Jerusalem. Listen closely and you'll hear Music/NeilYoung doing "Helpless," a song about youthful memories.[[/note]] keep the spirit alive for little children. There is also Rogerio Almeida Nogueira's fantastic cartoon retelling, ''Hippie Hooray!'' which was featured on the VH-1 documentary ''Woodstock Now & Then.'' This retrospective also showed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVUjkwybsFE young children learning to play and sing]] in the rock and folk styles from that era. The future is in safe hands.

The festival's original location is currently home to The Bethel Woods Center For the Arts. When visiting, be sure to check out its [[http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/the-museum honest-to-goodness Woodstock Museum]], which gives an in-depth look at the '60s counter-culture that birthed the event, as well as the events leading up to it.

* CueTheSun: Music/TheWho finished their playlist of their RockOpera ''Music/{{Tommyi}}'' and they were climaxing it just when the morning sun broke. At such a spectacular coincidence, John Entwistle would quip, "God was our Lighting Man!"

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Amid all the groundbreaking Music/HardRock, Music/AcidRock and Music/FolkRock luminaries, one group who got their big break at the festival was the retro greaser CoverBand, Music/ShaNaNa, made possible by Music/JimiHendrix's generosity of all people.

But at the same time the festival was noted for its sense of peace. The crowd was so peaceful over the three days that even the mainstream media like ''The New York Times'' praised the event for being so orderly with a well behaved audience. Two people were ''born'' there.[[note]]Other reports have four births, with at least one taking place in a car on the way there.[[/note]] People were getting along and showing love to each other. Not only that, but the roster of bands were great. These included Music/TheWho, Music/TheBand, Music/JanisJoplin, Crosby, Stills, Nash and [[Music/NeilYoung Young]], Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Music/JoeCocker, Music/{{Santana}}, Music/TheGratefulDead, Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival, Music/JoanBaez and Music/JimiHendrix, to name a few.