"Woodstock. The word immediately conjures up more than the mere mega-event, it evokes the entire sixties free-spirit mystique. Woodstock-the-movie's success is based, on the one hand, on some of rock`n'roll's definitive performances: a new, nervous Crosby, Stills & Nash warbling sweetly off-key; a simultaneously inflammatory and hypnotic Who chanting 'Magic Bus' and 'My Generation'; and Hendrix declaring himself President of the Woodstock Nation with a blistering, mind-bending rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner.' The other hand of the success is that of director Michael Wadleigh, whose manipulation of the widescreen frame captures a stage-side intimacy without sacrificing the magnitude of the event. He was ably assisted by editors Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese." --Sally Syberg