Rainbow Bridge (1972)

Fantastic!

Best movie ever!

A Masterpiece!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I was only 2 when Jimi Hendrix left this earth,as well as Janis Joplin. (Age 3 for Morrison). As I grew up,I discovered why these people were so important to the music of the times as they were. 3 people who for 4 amazing years captured the mood,sound and feelings of a generation.Hendrix,in whatever format or context you may hear or see him in,is worth owning. Even for an imperfect movie like "Rainbow Bridge". Why? That's easy,this movie while certainly a test of one's patience,captured the last Hendrix gig on film in July of 1970,short as it may be.The live versions of these Hendrix classics are really pretty good,I wont go as far as saying better than Woodstock or Jimi at Monterey but close. I'm not a die hard fan or anything but I know the difference between a good showing and bad one. Speaking of good & bad,I do agree it's a very misleading and dishonest thing that video/DVD packagers do when they put out things like this. Of course people will think it's a Hendrix concert but, if they stopped long enough to read the back of the case (like my brother did) they'd know it's actually a "movie". It's no different then when "Car Wash" was put out on video and they put Richard Pryor's picture on the cover (he's only in it less then 10 minutes,unlike Jimi who at least (in person) is in the last 30 or so. If he wasn't in this,certainly this movie would be a forgotten entity and probably only on old VHS tapes.As for the "plot" or "story" of the film? It's really not much of a story but it's almost a documentary like look at what the hippy counter-culture was all about. Their ideas of world peace and freedom to be what one wants to be and live like,are ideas I could agree with. I didn't even mind the scenes of skinny-dipping which teach body acceptance. Those kind of ideals are still being sought out today and have a lot more meaning in the long run....but! When they started spouting about how they've seen UFO's and the Government is conspiring to hide it from America or started to become a bit redundant in things they said before,I could only roll my eyes. I found the hash smoking scenes to be rather pathetic,drug use is definitely something I can never agree with. Sixties,seventies or anytime. I could only laugh at the African American couple looking at the camera and singing,as if they escaped from the play "Hair" or "Jesus Christ Superstar". Silly. So,overall this movie is really just worth having for the music & last concert of Hendrix's life,if you were there for those times or you just like movies that are really offbeat (or off the beaten path in this case). 8 stars for both Jimi Hendrix and a few plausibly presented ideas or ideals. The rest is just water under the bridge of time. (END)

OK. Its not really a movie about Jimi Hendrix or a Jimi Hendrix concert. And yes it has a lot of hippie oriented nonsense in it. Still its a good window into times gone by. I remember seeing this in the theatre when it was released and thinking WOW what a great movie... I bought it recently and I still look at it fondly. Its worth the cost just for Hendrix's ROUSING Dolly Dagger.A fun "BLAST FROM THE PAST".

Rainbow Bridge is a favorite of mine because it features Jimi Hendrix. His music performance is great and he looks like he is having fun with it. Also, you are treated to some candid conversation between Jimi and other people which let's you see him as just a regular guy who is maybe just a little different than other people.

I bought this DVD as a gift for a family member who is a Hendrix fan. We were both extremely disappointed. Jimi didn't even appear until well after the halfway mark. Then we got about 5 minutes of incoherent conversation and a 20 minute performance. The rest of the movie consists of hippy dippy conversation among members of some commune in Hawaii.This was not what the the DVD package would have you believe. Jimi Hendrix name is in larger print than the title, and all the pictures on the package are of Jimi. A colossal rip-off.