By 1976, The Band were riven by drugs and alcohol and apathy – particularly affected was the big-hearted, big-voiced, raw-nerved Richard Manuel. Robbie Robertson had become the de facto spokesperson and grown-up in the room and was determined to go out on a positive note. Director Martin Scorsese had been an assistant director and co-editor on the epic rock concert film Woodstock and shown a brilliant flair for source music in his early feature Mean Streets. Despite being in the middle of shooting New York, New York, he loved The Band and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Still, the set-up was haphazard to say the least. Speaking to MOJO before his death in 2023, Robertson remained amazed the film wasn’t a complete disaster.
“First of all, the guys in The Band played 21 songs that we didn't have time to rehearse and didn't screw up once. Levon sang The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down as good as he ever sang it. Rick Danko sang It Makes No Difference as good as he ever sang it. Garth – amazing, Richard – amazing. My feet weren't even touching the ground when we were playing.”
Shot seven years after Woodstock, The Last Waltz was the next great adventure of rock on celluloid and the first major feature to consciously commemorate the music’s history, embracing its roots – Muddy Waters and Ronnie Hawkins – and its imperial ascendancy. The stories of the production are legion, including a rock of cocaine in Neil Young’s nose the size of North Ontario that was removed in post-production using an expensive technology wryly dubbed a “traveling booger matte.”
As was his wont, Levon Helm groused about a number of aspects of both event and filming, including the presence of Neil Diamond, whose Beautiful Noise album Robertson had produced. Is there anything – given more budget, time and modern technology – the latter would have done differently?
“Nothing. Nothing. Sometimes your limitations are your biggest gift,” he says. “We were dealing with a disaster in going in to shoot The Last Waltz. Everybody was saying these cameras aren't gonna last. They're not meant to work that way. The 35mm, you have to stop, and you have to reload, you have to change batteries and they heat up and they have to have time to cool down.”
Someone was smiling on Scorsese and The Band, because even the fuck-ups became some of the movie’s most memorable moments. “When we were doing Mystery Train with [Paul] Butterfield the lights all blew out,” remembers Robertson. “It looks like a cinematic moment with just this spotlight coming down on his shoulder. It looks on purpose. And [because of confusion] the cameras all shut down when Muddy Waters did Mannish Boy but [cinematographer] Laszlo Kovacs wasn't listening [to Scorsese’s directions] and he kept shooting. It couldn't get much better than that.”
Call it serendipity, but there’s barely been a better concert movie than The Last Waltz… “I wrote a song inspired by Thelonious Monk,” says Robertson. “He said, “We're all looking for the right mistake.” [laughs] And that's what it was. We found the right mistake and it worked.”
This interview originally appeared in MOJO 278.