Purely Joyful Movie!

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Great fun to look back at this film of headliner acts taking part in a musical review in a disco type setting. TV star David McCallum introduces acts like Ray Charles, Petula Clark, The Byrds, Ike & Tina Turner, Bo Diddley, James Brown, Roger Miller, The Ronettes and more.A very diverse collection of artists and musical styles. A time capsule showing the hair styles and clothing that went with the music. Relax, gear down and enjoy.

So you've suffered through all those lousy rock movies from the 1950's through the beach party flicks of the 60's and you wonder, why couldn't anybody make a good movie about rock and roll? Well, here it is. The idea was straightforward--get rid of the clueless Hollywood producers and hire someone like Phil Spector to do the job. Junk those silly screenplays and actors from another generation and let the performers do what they do best--perform their music.The well-staged concert film features a wide variety of artists, all in fine form, performing in the exciting and fast-moving days between the Beatles' explosion onto the American scene and the full flowering of psychedelia. One highlight is Joan Baez stepping out of the folk music milieu and belting out a version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" with Spector on piano. A favorite of mine is the Lovin' Spoonful romping through a couple of their hits. And if you aren't sure why Ike and Tina Turner are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, watch them here.The camera work and editing are surprisingly good considering the bulky equipment used back then and the scarcity of other rock concert films that had come before. This is a great nostalgic trip for those who remember those days For those who don't. it gives you an idea of what all the excitement was about.

Here, we see a multi-faceted view of the movement: FROM >an immature 'rock and roll' era TO the far more developed >ROCK era... Remembering that we are witnessing the infancy of what we would ultimatly call 'classic rock' we >can almost feel the labor-pains of a transitiion in progress... The performers were as diverse as the fans >that would come to worship them and each had a notion of >the world as it existed in that time... All-in-all, a snap >shot of the U. S. A. in the mid 60's.

"The Big T.N.T. Show" is an interesting time capsule for fans of the mid-60's music scene. The film is a live concert (shot on videotape, then transferred to film) featuring some of the top musical acts of the era. And what acts they are: Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez, Petula Clark, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Ronettes, The Byrds, Ike and Tina Turner, and Donovan. The film isn't perfect: Baez and Clark sing other artists hits that just aren't suited to their musical stylings, and Donovan's set is extremely slow moving, and brings the movie's tempo to a screeching halt (thankfully, those in charge of the concert bring out the Turner's after his set to wake the audience up). All in all, a great chance to see these acts in their prime.