If any lesson is to be learned from this film it is that rock festivals require considerable planning. They can be a celebration of life, but that requires some Establishment cooperation... In any event, Jagger is great.

| Nov 10, 2023

Because of the warped chronology, Gimme Shelter makes for absorbing viewing. It's also a chilling lesson in humility.

| Nov 20, 2021

In the end, Gimme Shelter remains a film of shallow intentions; its aesthetics seem those of possibility and opportunism rather than necessity and moral commitment.

| Jun 30, 2020

The documentary filmmakers, the Maysles brothers, have recorded the events prior to, during and after the festival with a chilling sense of drama.

| Mar 11, 2020

A film whose only function can be to pander to establishment fears about the rock culture and to reenforce their misconceptions about the underground movement as a whole.

| Jan 13, 2020

Remains one of the most powerful rock documentaries ever made.

| Dec 6, 2019

There is death everywhere, and of every sort, in the dead, drugged eyes and in the jostling, nervous kicks and shoves. Everyone is a danger to himself and to others.

| Mar 14, 2018

It's knowing about the killing, and waiting for it to happen on the screen that gives the film its energy and thrust.

| Jan 18, 2013

'Gimme Shelter' is not a concert film but a statement of a sea change, of the group way back when and of an end to its and the public's innocence and to the counterculture that once flourished.

| Nov 23, 2012

| Original Score: A | Sep 7, 2011

... put a frame around the notorious Altamont Speedway free concert that became the grim bookend to the decade.

| Dec 6, 2009

This seminal docu of the Rolling Stones free concert, in which a black youth was stabbed by Hell's Angels, raises crucial questions about cinema verite style, moral ambiguity, complicity, and mass behavior.

| Original Score: A | Jun 30, 2009

Essential.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 18, 2009

The most fascinating aspect about the film is how it traces the anatomy of the disaster that was Altamont.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 29, 2006

Though upsetting, the film remains an eye-opening eyewitness report on the counterculture experience in its decline.

| Original Score: A | Nov 29, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 29, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 4, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 5, 2003

A disturbing time capsule that showcases the anti-Woodstock

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 5, 2003