Gimme Shelter

Colour, 16 mm
USA, 1970, 90 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

The landmark documentary about the tragically ill-fated Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. Only four months earlier, Woodstock defined the Love Generation; now it lay in ruins on a desolate racetrack six miles outside San Francisco. Before the estimated crowd of 300,000 people, the Stones headlined a free concert featuring Tina Turner, The Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers and others. Concerned about security, the Stones asked members of the outlaw biker gang The Hell’s Angels to help maintain order. Instead, an atmosphere of fear and dread arose, leading ultimately to the stabbing death of a fan. The Love Generation became, in one swift, cold-blooded slash, a generation of disillusionment and disappointment, and December 6, 1969 became the day the sixties died.