The Best Stones Film You’ve Never Seen

Grant Rosenberg, writing for Time, on Cocksucker Blues, Robert Frank’s 1972 backstage look at The Rolling Stones:

Although the movie was originally commissioned by the Stones themselves, they blocked its release when they saw the scenes of drug use and graphic groupie sex. After years of legal headaches, the band and Frank agreed to a sort-of compromise: the film can be shown only a few times a year, and Frank himself decides where and when, so that he may be present to ensure the screening meets his approval. In the age of YouTube (on whose servers several choice moments reside), ubiquitous, low-priced DVDs and Video-on-Demand, a film that is only permitted to be seen a limited times per year in one city in its director’s presence is nearly inconceivable.

★ Monday, 5 February 2007