1968 Film About the Making of a Band's Rock Masterpiece Ranked Among Best Rock Movies
Like every band worth its legacy, The Rolling Stones also had their own moment captured on film inside the studio. Hunkered down at London'sOlympic Studios while recording what would become a rock masterpiece, "Sympathy for the Devil," Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and company invited legendary French new-wave director Jean-Luc Godard in and let the cameras roll. What he captured was chaotic, controversial, and essential viewing for any classic rock history fan.
"Part documentary, part art film, Sympathy for the Devil (originally titled One Plus One) shows The Rolling Stones in the process of creating the iconic track,"Ultimate Classic Rock, which gave the film an honorable mention in its roundup of the best rock movies from every year, writes. "Director Jean-Luc Godard intersperses footage of the band in the studio with a narrative depicting the chaos of 1968."
Alternating between the recording sessions and the political unrest of the Vietnam War-era world outside the studio, the avant-garde essay film unfolds as a series of fragmented vignettes. Far from a traditional music documentary, it layers revolutionary imagery - from the Black Panthers to political texts and symbolic scenes - into a fly-on-the-wall portrait of art being made in a time of upheaval.
The film concludes with the band performing the finished version of the track, having transformed it from a skeletal folk ballad into one of rock's most enduring anthems. Though it was never released as a U.S. single and did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, "Sympathy for the Devil" is still widely regarded as a masterpiece of rock music, often mentioned alongside "Gimme Shelter" as one of the group's defining achievements.
The same can be said about their 1968 rock movie.
Sympathy for the Devil is available to buy on Apple TV.
Related: 1971 Bittersweet Classic With Soulful Soundtrack Ranked Among Greatest Rock Movies
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This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 7:35 PM.