Now that the trailer for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming music documentary “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” has finally been released, I can safely say this is my most anticipated doc of the year. The trailer opens with his protest song “Hurricane” and ends with “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” as we come across a 1975 America well over the done-to-death, post-Manson flower-power and social justice era of just a few years back. At the same time, Dylan decided to hit the road with his Rolling Thunder Revue Tour and, if you’re a Dylan aficionado, it represents the very best of live Bob Dylan. Forget about the theatrics for a second (the makeup and mask-wearing, magicians, boxers) and focus on the indelible music and the way Dylan, fresh off retirement and an endless mysterious spirit, explored the roots of the country in a barnstorming tour like no other. The likes of Joan Baez, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, Sam Shepard, and Allen Ginsberg took the bus with Dylan and The Band to add extra oomph to the surroundings.
The doc seems to be a mix of priceless archival footage of the tour, both on and off-stage, and features a candid Dylan interview, which is being touted as his first in over a decade. Scorsese is no stranger to the artist, he probably directed the greatest Dylan documentary ever put to film: “No Direction Home.” That film covered his rise in the Greenwich Village folk scene during the early ‘60s all the way to his infamous motorcycle accident in 1966 (which prompted him to become a recluse and not record music for a good 19 months, but, more, importantly, retiring from live perfvormance for a good 8 years). Netflix is releasing “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” in theaters and streaming on June 12.