Some observations:
- The quality of the sound was great
- If you fast-forward to "Isis", you won't miss anything. Patti Smith didn't come across well at all. (You don't have to watch this film very carefully to see evidence of drug use. Probably including acid.)
- The "Desire" album, which is one of my favourites, was a work in progress at the time of the tour. The majority of the songs on it are in the film. ("Joey" and "Sara" didn't make the cut.) "Hurricane" was one of the musical highlights.
- Other musical highlights: "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "Simple Twist of Fate", Dylan doing an acoustic version of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" before an audience of Indians, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", and Joni Mitchell rehearsing "Coyote" (a favourite song of mine) with Roger McGuinn and Dylan, in Gordon Lightfoot's apartment, no less.
- Speaking of Mitchell, she and Joan Baez developed a strong dislike of each other during the tour. The film didn't go into this.
- Some non-musical highlights: I never saw an interview of Ruben "Hurricane" Carter before. Ronnie Hawkins was his usual funny self. Dylan's present-day comments were great. He often refuses to stay on topic during interviews, but not this time.
- I'm a big fan of McGuinn, so I would have like to have seen more of him. However, fans of Eric Anderson, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Mick Ronson, and T-Bone Burnett would feel the same way. If Scorsese said, "there wasn't enough time", he could have removed most of the interviews with non-musicians in the film, and nobody would have minded.