One of the most anticipated new films of this Christmas season has been A Complete Unknown, the folk music film that features Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. The film culminates with his infamous performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, which is exactly the year that Dylan began participating in what would become Don’t Look Back. The D.A. Pennebaker film differentiates itself from other Dylan documentaries and concert films (Martin Scorsese’s excellent No Direction Home and Rolling Thunder Revue, Jennifer LeBeau’s Trouble No More and her film with John Hillcoat, Bob Dylan: Odds and Ends). It’s a perfect “portrait of the artist as a young man,” and while it captures some incredible music, it’s more about Dylan’s persona and PR.
Don’t Look Back is now streaming for free on The Criterion Channel (which, for what it’s worth, is the best streaming platform in our opinion). The film is also a part of The Criterion Collection, featuring a glorious 4K remaster of the film with hours upon hours of special features. They describe Don’t Look Back in this way:
“Bob Dylan is captured on-screen as he never would be again in this groundbreaking film from D. A. Pennebaker. The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in England during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist. In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.”
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The description continues: “Featuring some of Dylan’s most famous songs, including ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues,’ ‘The Times They Are A-Changin,’ and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,’ Don’t Look Back is a radically conceived portrait of an American icon that has influenced decades of vérité behind-the-scenes documentaries.” You can stream the film for free on The Criterion Channel here. But watch it fast — it’s only free through Jan. 1, 2025.
The Greatest Dylan Doc from the Greatest Music Documentarian
While he made some deeply influential political films, Pennebaker is best known for being arguably the best music documentary filmmaker in history, though Nick gives him a run for his money. Pennebaker directed the legendary Monterey Pop, Little Richard: Keep on Rockin’, Original Cast Album: Company about the Sondheim musical, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Sweet Toronto, Shake! Otis at Monterey, and music documentaries about Alice Cooper, Otis Redding, Check Berry, Elaine Stritch, Jimi Hendrix, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Don’t Look Back is arguably the crown jewel of them all (give or take Monterey Pop).
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Pennebaker rightfully has several films in The Criterion Collection, and you can find their 4K release of his Don’t Look Back here. It’s a seminal document, a must-watch if you plan to see A Complete Unknown, if you’re a Dylan fan, or if you’re interested in documentary cinema.
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Don’t Look Back
Release Date
May 17, 1967
Director
D. A. Pennebaker
Runtime
96 Minutes
Cast
bob dylan
, Albert Grossman
, Bob Neuwirth
, Joan Baez
, Alan Price
, Tito Burns
, Donovan
, Derroll Adams
, Horace Freeland Judson
Writers
D. A. Pennebaker
Distributor(s)
Leacock-Pennebaker
, Inc.
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