Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

barlenon Documentary originally filmed in 1970 about a series of 3 Canadian music festivals (effectively a 3 stop tour) and the train trip taken by the performers (Janis Joplin, The Band, Flying Burrito Brothers, Grateful Dead, Delaney & Bonnie and many others) between Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. There are impromptu performances and dialog from the train journey, concert footage and short contemporary (present day) interview segments with musicians and promoters from the original festival. The disorganized informality of the the whole event seems to capture the atmosphere of the era. The musical performances are surprisingly good and the low tech, low budget film work is excellent.

nobbytatoes In 1970, The Festival Express was the given name to a train that carried bands and a film crew across the Canadian landscape for three festivals, starting at Toronto, to Winnipeg and ending in Calgary; heading west in the traditional sense. The bands that called this train home included Janis Joplin, The Band, The Grateful Dead, Sha Na Na, The Flying Burrito Bros and many more. The train was a living hybrid, that never slept the entire trip. Constantly awake on alcohol and drugs accompanied by many jam sessions. It was a never ending party; with an emergency stop in Saskatoon for more alcohol. The festivals while attracting many fans, sparked protests. People protested in the streets demanding the festival be free admission, which the musicians couldn't afford. The protest followed them from each town, people storming the gates and attacking the countless police; the power of music or scroungy bums? The footage of The Festival Express was lost when the production company holding this footage went under. On its discovery, the film you see is what you get. The footage is so beautiful, holding the warmth the bands shared with one another. The sound design is so crisp it penetrates your mind, resonating and haunting, craftily creating the illusion of being in the presence of the musicians. The shows are captivating to watch. Absolutely mesmerising is Janis Joplin, singing her heart out on Cry Baby. There is this rawness captured in the performances. All the bands were there to perform and give the best show possible they could conjure from within themselves every time. With modern day interviews of band members and organisers, with their reminiscent of their times spent with all the bands, the conflicts from the protesters and the hard fact that this will never happen again. There is onus that you either know the bands or you don't. If your unfamiliar with any of the bands, you are left in the dark on who they are. While information about who these people are would help the uninformed, the music and the shows are the real point, not the lives of the bands.Must see viewing for all lovers of this music, The Festival Express is a runaway train of great music and mind blowing performances.

jfulbright Great film! "Never had such a good time in my life before".The highlight for me was a baby Bob Weir (rhythm guitarist for the Dead) chewing out a hippie for condoning violence against the Canadian police:"I talked to some of those guys, and those cops were BOSS!"He then went on to explain that one policeman had been injured so badly that he was in the hospital with a metal plate in his head because his skull had been fractured. Weir said the policeman didn't deserve that because he was only doing his job, and that the people who wanted the festival to be free were wrong because the musicians needed to make a living.People never understood that real hippies were not violent/political, and they didn't hate the police. The Haight Ashbury freaks got on well with the police, and there really weren't any problems until (get this) the "hippies" without jobs moved into the neighborhood.This film was a real joy, and it proves to the general public a couple of things:1. Hippie folk were not lazy. They were capable of extremely hard work. 2. Janis Joplin was a lot of fun, regardless of what the people in my hometown in Texas say. 3. Jerry Garcia simply wasn't built for EVER drinking alcohol. 4. That was one helluva train trip!

Roland E. Zwick In the summer of 1970, some of the world's premier rock musicians - prime among them The Grateful Dead, The Band and Janis Joplin - got together to perform a series of concerts across southern Canada. Rather than just flying to the various venues then afterwards going their separate ways, the performers boarded a train in Toronto and headed west to Calgary, stopping off at various places to "do their thing" for appreciative audiences. That train ride, which turned into a nonstop jam session among some of the top rock 'n roll talents of the time, became known as the Festival Express and this film is the chronicle of that experience."Festival Express" juxtaposes footage of the event with present-day interviews from some of the people who were on that train. We see the musicians jamming together in the cars then performing their sets in open-air stadiums. What the film doesn't show us is any real interpersonal connection or interaction beyond the music. Perhaps the cameras were turned off whenever the performers were talking to one another, or, perhaps, the performers were just too drunk or stoned to say anything of any real interest to one another on the trip. Either way, the film does not provide us with a very compelling behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives and personalities of these people. That is the biggest disappointment of the movie.Be that as it may, "Festival Express" is still a useful time capsule for reminding us about what the culture was like 35 years ago. The film does an interesting job capturing the strange moral paradox that has been an intricate part of rock 'n' roll from its earliest days. For although rock music has always derived its power and strength from its anti-establishment stance and attitude, it is also a highly competitive business built on corporate interests, involving record companies, producers, promoters and millionaire performers. So how does one reconcile these two seemingly antithetical positions? How justify high ticket prices or millionaire salaries in an art form that claims as its foundational principle that the corporate establishment is the source of all the evil in the world and the very thing that the music itself is dedicated to stamping out? And how genuine can this anti-establishment attitude really be when what looks on the surface to be spontaneous rebellion is actually the result of shrewdly calculated Madison Avenue exploitation? This conundrum comes to a head in the Toronto stopover where a group of protesters outside the concert are threatening to turn violent if they aren't provided free entrance into the arena (the tickets cost a whopping $14!). These youngsters feel that, because rock claims to be a statement against everything related to money and profits, the purveyors of the message - i.e, the concert promoters and the rock stars themselves - should be willing to forego being paid for their efforts. There's humorous irony in the fact that we see these "radical" anti-establishment musicians ultimately siding with the cops on the issue and against their youthful fans on the outside! The people who were on the train keep telling us what a life-changing and euphoric experience that trip turned out to be. That may well be the case, but due to the lack of intimacy we feel with the performers, that sense doesn't really come across very effectively in the film. What the film does provide is a rare opportunity to watch a collection of iconic rock legends performing at the peak of their youth and powers. That alone is what makes "Festival Express" a must-see for aficionados.