Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director's Cut The three-day Woodstock music festival in 1969 was the pivotal event ofthe 1960s peace movement, and this landmark concert film is thedefinitive record of that milestone of rock & roll history. It'smore than a chronicle of the hippie movement, however; this is a filmof genuine historical and social importance, capturing the spirit ofAmerica in transition, when the Vietnam War was at its peak and antiwarprotest was fully expressed through the liberating music of the time.With a brilliant crew at his disposal (including a young editor namedMartin Scorsese), director Michael Wadleigh worked with over 300 hoursof footage to create his original 225-minute director's cut, which wascut by 40 minutes for the film's release in 1970. Eight previouslyedited segments were restored in 1994, and the original director's cutof Woodstock is now the version most commonly available on videotapeand DVD. The film deservedly won the Academy Award for BestDocumentary, and it's still a stunning achievement. Abundant footagetaken among the massive crowd ("half a million strong") expresses thehuman heart of the event, from skinny-dipping hippies to accidentaloverdoses, to unpredictable weather, midconcert childbirth, and thethoughtful (or just plain rambling) reflections of the festiveparticipants. Then, of course, there is the music--a nonstop parade ofrock & roll from the greatest performers of the period, includingCrosby, Stills, and Nash, Canned Heat, The Who, Richie Havens, JoanBaez, Ten Years After, Sly & The Family Stone, Santana, and manymore. Watching this ambitious film, as the saying goes, is the nextbest thing to being there--it's a time-travel journey to thatonce-in-a-lifetime