Gimme Shelter

Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old fan who made the mistake of bringing a concealed weapon to the free concert at Altamont Raceway on December 6, 1969, ended up dead at the hands of the Hell's Angels in a clash of mind-sets that has haunted the rock world ever since. Captured in a film initially filmed to showcase the Rolling Stones' 1969 American tour, the Altamont show was in direct contrast to Woodstock. This was not how the year was supposed to end. \nAltamont's music has since been overshadowed by the tragedy that ensued, as well it should be. What began as a celebration became an undulating human mass of anger and violence. Jefferson Airplane tried to riff on "The Other Side of This Life" until Marty Balin got in a scuffle with a Hell's Angels member, and The Grateful Dead, who showed up, refused to play once they felt the negative mood. \nThe 2000 Criterion Collection release of "Gimme Shelter" is crammed with special features, the best of which are a series of essays written by Amy Taubin, Stanley Booth, Michael Lydon, Sonny Barger and Godfrey Cheshire, as well as a somber radio wrap-up of the Altamont concert from a San Francisco radio station.\nDecember 6, 1969, might well have been the death of the 1960s ethos. The Maysles' and Zwerin's film plays like a memorial, not just to the deceased but to the decade.