Renaldo and Clara
This extensive discussion of the film 'Renaldo and Clara' was originally posted to rec.music.dylan by Marc Stein in late 1993. Perhaps it more properly belongs in a Bob Dylan Web Site, but there is enough OBC (Official Beat Content) to justify its inclusion here in Literary Kicks.
Renaldo and Clara
staged as follows:summary are synopsis
"Renaldo and Clara", written and directed by Bob Dylan is known to be obscure (devastating bald reviews).
Bob Dylan's troubled relationship with women: wife, Sara, and ex-lover, Joan Baez is the film's loveless triangle, its mirror life. Blatantly deceptive [jokerman] and obfuscating; layering meaninglessness into unified, connected, whole, multiple sub-themes, derelictions and Dylan's sideline headiness.
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Dylan's experiment's first-half, 1975 tour, Rolling Thunder Revue's live concert footage, between "Desire" and "Street-Legal," had never been seen before Renaldo and Clara's release [much of its still not been seen simply because no one's seen the film]. It's filled with live cuts, unreleased re-recordings; and no studio recordings .
I am presenting the first seven sections [out of 44, i think]; however, they are numbered to coincide with Mr. Stein's diligent dissection and useful annotation, entirely authored by him and accompanying YT KAFKA's appropriate clip:
Marc Stein and Kafka [the first, wrote the synopsis , which i changed until satisfactory; the second, no less laboriously, uploaded all 44 videos, included them on a play list, and painstakingly annotated each one before posting to YT, where they surprisingly remain after a year.]
band
| Wyeth | | Rix |
| drums | | perc. |
|__________| |__________|
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
| Ronson | | Burnette | | Stoner | | Mansfield|
| l. guitar| | guitar | | bass | | misc. |
|__________| |__________| |__________| |__________|
| McGuinn | | Rivera | | Dylan | | Neuwirth | | Soles |
| guitar | | violin | | v., harm.| | guitar | | guitar |
|__________| |__________| |__________| |__________| |__________|
Rob Stoner -- bass, backup vocals, musical director
Plays Gene Vincent in some scenes
Steven Soles -- rhythm guitar
Plays Ronee Blakely's abusive boyfriend
Scarlet Rivera -- electric violin
featured on the "Desire" album.
Bob Neuwirth -- rhythm guitar
"The Masked Tortilla" reads some poetry in scenes
Roger McGuinn -- twelve-string guitar
Formerly of the Byrds
Mick Ronson -- lead guitar
Plays a backstage bouncer in one scene.
David Mansfield -- electric violin and pedal steel
Plays an angel in his underwear in the bordello scenes.
T-Bone Burnette -- backup guitar, keyboards
Howie Wyeth -- Drums
Luther Rix -- Percussion
1
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1
Bob Dylan and Bob Neuwirth are on stage singing "When I Paint My Masterpiece" as the titles roll. Dylan is wearing a rubber mask that gives him an other- worldly appearance. The rest of the band is not yet seen, just Dylan and Neuwirth (Neuwirth, for those who don't know, is a longtime Dylan companion and fellow Greenwich Village folksinger-hipster).
2
A crowd of people in a dark room are discussing tour logistics and hotel arrangements. Roger McGuinn's face is visible among them. 3
David Blue (another G. Village early 60's folksinger) is playing pinball next to a swimming pool and telling the camera about his first trip to New York -- he swiped money from his father's wallet, took a bus to 42nd Street and then went right back home. He talks about old Village figures like John Brent and Hugh Romney, and about how they used to pass the hat after reading poetry. (Blue will continue telling stories while playing pinball throughout the movie.)
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4
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| | Bob Dylan- Renaldo and Clara (Helena Kallianiotes)
4
Dylan is in a garage idly playing an acoustic guitar with a dark-haired woman by his side. A mechanic asks "Why are you in such a hurry?" Apparently Dylan is trading a T-bird for a cheap motorcycle. The mechanic asks "Are you running from the law?" and Dylan says "I am the law." This is Dylan in his Renaldo persona.
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5, 6, 7
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5
Bob Neuwirth, in a mask, is on stage in a small club reading a poem written by a badly disabled black guy named Tony Curtis who sits watching. At the end of the poem Tony Curtis asks for money (asking for money for poems or songs will be a recurring motif in the film.) Phil Ochs (I think!) comes on stage, takes a guitar and plays a chord. 6
Record executives talk in a conference room. 7
The dark-haired woman (DHW) from the fourth scene is running up a set of stairs. Scarlet Rivera, is playing violin backstage and pauses to tune with Dylan. In the background, a Dylan version of the Hank Williams song "Kaw-Liga" plays. We see a truck labeled "Hemingway" with an Indian head on the side. As the song continues to play, a disk jockey announces that the Rolling Thunder Revue with Bob Dylan is coming to town. NOTE: there are three Indian images here -- the song "Kaw-Liga", the Indian head on the truck, and the name "Rolling Thunder" (which is the name of a famous train, but is also the name of a famous Indian chief who we will hear more of later in the film.)
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8
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Sara Dylan (Bob's wife) and DHW are in a restaurant. The DHW needs a ride to Vermont and is picked up by a stranger who overhears them talking. It seems that Sara already has a ride (that is, a lover) but that the DHW doesn't. NOTE: Sara will later put on a wig and play Clara -- without a wig I will refer to her as Sara. |
9 |
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Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue on stage performing "Isis". This is the excellent version from Biograph. The sound is full, rich and chaotic (there are five guitars!) and fits very well the image of rolling thunder. NOTE: The live cuts tend to echo the drama. The song "Isis" (on Biograph he precedes it with 'This is a song about marriage') is connected to Sara's first appearance in the film. Dylan wears white makeup covering his face, as he does in all subsequent concert scenes. |
10 + 11 +12
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| | 10
Sara picks up a rose. (This rose will continue to appear in the film.) 11
A Hollywood-style woman announcer in a fur wrap is at a microphone waiting to announce the appearance of Bob Dylan. She mistakes the first person to approach her for Bob Dylan, so she obviously has no idea who Dylan is. He tells her he's not Dylan, "Dylan is wearing a hat". Ronnie Hawkins (the blues singer who originally worked with the Band) turns up, and he's wearing a hat. The woman asks if he's Bob Dylan and he says he is. Since Ronnie Hawkins is a big bruiser with a deep voice and a thick beard, the effect of this is rather funny. The woman asks him to explain who Bob Dylan is and Hawkins says solemnly, "A hero of the highest order".
NOTE: in the final credits, Ronnie Hawkins is listed as playing Bob Dylan (while Bob Dylan is listed as playing Renaldo. 12
Ronnie Hawkins (as Bob Dylan) is propositioning a young brunette to join him on tour. He lays it out straight for her -- she's a very lovely young lady and he'll give her a good time, no strings attached. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" begins to play in the background. Hawkins/Dylan tells her, rather ominously, "You'll come back a much wiser young lady." She is hesitant; she wants to stay on the farm (though she looks nothing like a farm girl -- cf. Dylan's song "Sooner or Later": '... you weren't really from the farm'.) She wants to ask her father for permission, also recalling the Dylan song "Motorpsycho Nitemare," about a farmer and his daughter. Hawkins/Dylan and the girl begin debating about whether the world will soon end; Hawkins/Dylan says "the world's going to explode", hoping to entice her to join him. This (the world ending, apocalypse) will be another recurring motif in the film.
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