1978 Concert Film Ranked Among the ‘Best Movies of All Time'
The Last Waltz, the iconic 1978 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese, has been named one of the best movies of all time. The '70s rock concert classic ranked on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the 300 greatest movies of all time alongside blockbusters such as The Godfatherand Jaws.
The review aggregator gave the film an approval rating of 98% with a teaser that reads, "Among one of, if not the best rock movie ever made."
The Last Waltz was released in theaters in April 1978. With a runtime of nearly two hours, it documented the farewell performance of Canadian American rock group the Band, filmed on Thanksgiving Day that year at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Other performers included Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Ron Wood, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, and more.
‘The Last Waltz' was not a huge box office hit
The initial theatrical run of The Last Waltz brought a worldwide gross of about $367,000, according to Box Office Mojo.
Reviews were also mixed. Film critic Roger Ebert noted the "overall tenor of the documentary suggests survivors at the ends of their ropes." "There is the whole pointless road warrior mystique, of hard-living men whose daily duty it is to play music and get wasted. They look tired of it," he added of the legendary band.
Ebert had more positive things to say about female performers such as Mitchell, Harris, and the Staple Singers, whom he described as "open-faced and happy."
Downplaying critics who called The Last Waltz "the greatest rock documentary of all time," Ebert concluded, "Watching this film, the viewer with mercy will be content to allow the musicians to embrace closure, and will not demand an encore. Yet I give it three stars? Yes, because the film is such a revealing document of a time."
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Robbie Robertson explained why the Band wanted to film their final concert
The Band formed in 1967 by Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, and Levon Helm. They were best known for the songs "The Weight," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and "Up on Cripple Creek." When they decided to go their separate ways, Robertson wanted to go out with a bang.
"It was hard just to let go, just to think this thing was going to happen without any kind of documentation at all," he told CBC in an interview. "You know, it felt like we needed to do something about it. I mean, it started out that we were going to do just the simplest thing. We were going to do a little 16-millimeter thing just to get it on film, so you know, someday we could look at it. And it just snowballed, and when I got up enough nerve to ask Martin Scorsese to become involved with it, then we crossed over the line between amateur time and real filmmaker time."
Scorsese added that he felt it was important for the Band and their fans to record their last concert. "And I figured at least it would be a reportage, you know, if anything," he said.
The director used multiple 35mm cameras positioned around the California stadium and didn't get any audience shots like those seen in the earlier concert film Woodstock.
In the Applet TV+ documentary Mr. Scorsese, Roberston said Scorsese was immediately interested in the project even though he was in the middle of shooting the film New York, New York at the time.
"So, we decided to do this over the Thanksgiving weekend [in 1976]. And instead of [Scorsese] taking a break, he would come up and shoot the concert," the musician explained.
"Marty wrote a full script," he added. "Song by song, word by word, of what needs to happen. He was on a headset and he's telling everybody what's coming next and what you need to catch. And meanwhile, they're reloading film and batteries and hoping the cameras don't die. It was an experiment in terror."
Scorsese made no money on The Last Waltz and instead did it as a labor of love. "My agent wanted to kill me," the Hollywood legend once said. "I just… said, ‘Yes … but I made the film.' No amount of money could have compensated me for the … continuing beauty of… experiencing the work of that film. It's like a gift."
Ultimately, The Last Waltz ended up not being the Band's last performance. In 1983, Danko, Hudson, Helm, and Manuel reunited for a tour without Robertson. The Band broke up for good in 1999.
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 8:25 AM.