Watch Sympathy for the Devil For Free

That was an excellent one.

How sad is this?

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Godard's documentation of late 1960s Western counter-culture, examining the Black Panthers, referring to works by LeRoi Jones and Eldridge Cleaver. Other notable subjects are the role of news media, the mediated image, a growing technocratic society, women's liberation, the May revolt in France and the power of language.I can't say I'm a huge Godard fan, but this film has to be one of his best pieces. 1968 is arguably the most revolutionary year of the most revolutionary decade of the 1900s. And he captured it, through the changes in the Stones, the Black Panthers, and more. Although not quite a documentary, it isn't quite fiction, either... it's a nice blend of art and a time capsule for when change -- good or bad -- was in the air.

The uninitiated should be aware that this movie is primarily a Godard film, and thus it is unconventional, yet with patience will yield great results. On the one hand, it is a great film which shows the Stones at work finalizing their famous song, Sympathy for the Devil. This being a Godard film, the action in the film will break to show something seemingly completely unrelated. It is the job of the viewer to harmonize the two and make sense of the message the great director is intending to convey.The following is a rough summary of the film itself. It is not intended to be a spoiler, because, again being a Godard film, it must be experienced and viewed to be fully appreciated. By referring to this rough guide, some sense of the entire film may be made easier.First, there are the opening credits.Then the camera pans to a hand-painted sign which says, I believe, "The Rolling Stones," in anagram.The camera cues to the Stones in rehearsal. Mick Jagger is singing an obvious demo of the lyrics, with the camera panning to Keith Richards, then Bill Wyman, Nicky Hopkins, and Charlie Watts in the background.Cue to a hand painted writing on the screen saying "Hilton Stair," then activity in a hotel room.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal again.Cue to a Scene of a store, the Trenchman.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "Outside Black Novel," showing a someone reading from a book, apparently about black empowerment, in an auto wrecking yard.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "Sights and Sounds," with the letters "SDS" in black letters, the rest in red.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal, the camera using extended panning on each Stone.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "All About Eve," where a reporter with a camera asks questions, some thought-provoking, others silly, to a young woman in a forest.Cue to a Hand painted sign, "Hi FI Ction Science," with the words "ONE" in black letters and the rest in red.Cue to the Stones in rehearsal. The rehearsal breaks abruptly to a person spray-painting a car with the following word-gram: MAORT Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "Hi FI Ction Science." Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal. The song is coming along to its recognizable, familiar sound.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "1 Plus 1 makes 2,"spray-painted on a wall of the wharf, the rhythm tack of Sympathy for the Devil in the background.Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "Black Inside Syntax," where a black interviewee is being asked questions about Black Power and revolution. The interview continues to the auto wrecking yard.Cue to a hand-painted sign, "Changes in SoCIAty." A reference, of course, to the CIA.Cue back to the Stones in rehearsal.Cue to a hand-painted sign which is, this reviewer believes, a cross of two messages, "The Stones," and "On the Beach." There is gunfire and fighting on the beach. Closing credits feature the finished song in the background.As Godard films go, this is more coherent than most. The Sixties, particularly 1968, when Beggars Banquet, the album which opens with Sympathy for the Devil, was being recorded. There were student demonstrations in London and Paris and the United States. These demonstrations were definitely on Godard's mind when he presented the hand painted sign which empathized the letters, "SDS," standing for the Students for a Democratic Society, one of the many student groups existing at that time. They were politically charged times, and the energy and urgency of those times are reflected in the political messages found in the many cues from the Stones rehearsals.The great treat is seeing the Stones in the recording studio. The dynamics of the group can be clearly seen in the portions of the film showing the recording of the song. The Glimmer Twins, Jagger and Richards, had clearly formed a prominent role in the group, and Brian Jones, once the leader of the group, was detached and acted uninvolved in the progression of the song. One of the most talented members of the group, he was clearly on automatic pilot. He died six months after the film was released.The film deserves five stars if not for a glimpse of how the Stones recorded in the studio and is one of the finer Godard films. A must see.

Like many, I'm sure, I was under a distinct impression that this had a lot to do with and thus featured a lot of the Rolling Stones. When it came up on Sky Arts, I thought this was a must!Frankly, I only watched all of it as I wanted to write a review. I like the Stones, a bit before my time and I only have their Forty Licks 'Best Of' plus a Live In Concert DVD. Thus, the studio bits of them rehearsing are therefore interesting but hardly essential to me.As it went on, I checked a couple of reviews and started to dread the next 90 mins... I've seen, unfortunately a couple of later Godard's and whilst he used to make amazing films (his 1960's Breathless is one of my all-time favourites) some of his stuff since, including the awful 'Weekend' has been just selfish, incoherent claptrap. He's a prolific fellow, according to IMDb he's directed 98 films! So far...I'm sure there's subliminal messages in amongst the hogwash and it must have been "fun" for stoners and dope-heads to try and extract them. But, for the rest of us, putting one's head in a spinning washing machine is much more fun.

Rocky Dijon plays congas. Also engineer Andy Johns is seen and my father, producer Jimmy Miller can be seen through the studio window and heard talking to Mick. The band was working at Olympic studios in London. I spent my childhood in England and many weekends and holidays at Olympic Studios while my father recorded the Stones and Traffic. I made tea or brought soda for everyone while they worked. I sometimes sat on the drums and played around. Charlie said he would give me his kit from his home and I am still waiting for the drums to arrive. The memories will last forever. Now if there was a way to return to the 1960s I would in a heart beat. Steve Miller