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Wattstax
Directed by
Mel Stuart
R
1973
1h 38m
Documentary
,
Comedy
,
and more
7.6
90%
89%
Add to Watchlist
Documentary covering a Stax Records-sponsored all-day concert at the 1972 Watts Summer Festival with performances by Stax Records artists such as Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, The Staples Singers, and more.
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Where to Watch Wattstax
Amazon Video
Rent $3.79
Buy $9.99
Apple TV
Rent $3.99
Buy $9.99
Fandango At Home
Rent $3.99
Buy $9.99
+2 more
Cast of Wattstax
Richard Pryor
Self
Rufus Thomas
Self
Isaac Hayes
Self
Melvin Van Peebles
Self
Kim Weston
William Bell
Albert King
Self
Eddie Floyd
Self
Little Milton
Carla Thomas
Erik Kilpatrick
Self
Ted Lange
Self
Ossie Davis
Self (uncredited)
Mel Stuart
Director / Producer
Larry Shaw
Producer
Wattstax Ratings & Reviews
New York Daily News
Ann Guarino
All [the performers] draw lively reactions from the crowd who get to chant, "I am somebody." And isn't that all what we want to be?
Chicago Tribune
Gene Siskel
It is a fine documentary in that it does, better than any popular music film with the possible exception of Woodstock, document a group of people, their music, how it came to be, and why they like it.
Los Angeles Times
Dennis Hunt
This is a fragmented, skittery film that does not have enough moments of interest and hilarity to offset the stretches of boredom.
Miami Herald
Candice Russell
Simply as a means of recording the fruition of hope among a centuries-maligned minority Wattstax can stand proud.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Jack Lloyd
Just when you figure that the film industry has exhausted every possible avenue of exploration in the quest to present still another music festival documentary, along comes something with a nice, fresh twist. Such is the case with Wattstax.
Detroit Free Press
John Weisman
Once In a while, a muslc-oriented film can transcend the ordinary and become a chronicle of a social mood instead of an on-film record of a concert. It was that way with Monterey Pop and Woodstock; it Is that way with WATTSTAX.
Chicago Reader
David P. Schwartz
It's a rich tapestry incorporating documentary footage -- the '65 riots, interviews with Watts residents talking about being black in America -- that puts its musical performances (staged by Melvin Van Peebles) in a broad social context.
TIME Magazine
Jay Cocks
Stuart uses the music as an expression of common feeling, and he intercuts concert footage with interview material... The result is necessarily superficial, but it does give the people a voice, and the tone is insistent and important.
AV Club
Keith Phipps
The swaggering "Theme From Shaft" fades into the unsparingly sad state-of-the-community number "Soulsville," beautifully summing up what's come before.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Joe Pollack
Wattstax is a technical treat, with good sound, recording adding to the flavor of the music.
Detroit Free Press
Terry Lawson
The restored rerelease is a time capsule of Afros, anger and attitude.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Joe Williams
Rarely has a concert -- or a concert film -- been so shaped by its social context. Wattstax was both the definitive record of popular music circa 1972 and a say-it-loud statement of black aspirations.
New York Times
Vincent Canby
It just has the air of something too carefully laid out in advance. It's so busy being glossy and optimistic that it doesn't even allow its performers time to create on screen a measure of the excitement they might have created in person.
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
A candid, colorful and deeply meaningful sociocultural time capsule.
Seattle Times
John Hartl
A recording of a historic moment, Wattstax has considerable value.
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
A disorienting and ironic moviegoing experience.
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
A remarkably penetrating documentary.
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The director, Mel Stuart, cuts from performance sequences to encounter-group dialogues with Watts residents to clips of Richard Pryor improvising at a local bar, the ferocity of his wit bubbling up from the rage of his persecution.
Village Voice
Laura Sinagra
Not only documents the soul-titan concert held at L.A. Coliseum seven years after Watts burned, but illuminates the rue and kinesis of a city in full Black Power flower.
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