The Last Waltz

The Last Waltz documents the farewell concert of the Band, the influential rock group that had been active through the 1960s and 1970s. Staged at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving night in 1976, the event brought the group together with a long list of guests, among them Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters and Ringo Starr. Martin Scorsese filmed the performances and also conducted backstage interviews with the band members, weaving concert footage together with their reflections on the group's history and its decision to stop touring.

Scorsese directed the film between New York, New York and Raging Bull, as the eighth of the thirty-eight features he has made. Mardik Martin wrote the screenplay, and Robbie Robertson, Steven Prince and Joel Chernoff produced. The credited cast of thirty-one consists almost entirely of musicians appearing as themselves, with Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson representing the Band.

Released in April 1978, the film runs 117 minutes. Its critical standing is strong, with an 8.9 rating from 58 critics' reviews, while audiences rate it 8.1 on IMDb from around 22,000 votes and 7.7 on TMDB from roughly 320 votes.