To look at Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and be much too critical of it, and this is now four months since David Bowie left his corporeal form (has it been that long already?) is difficult. I know I can certainly nitpick certain things, mostly in the streak of the 'auteur'; given that this is DA Pennebaker, who also brought us basically the definitive Dylan doc from the era a decade before this, Don't Look Back, and the precursor to Woodstock in Monterey Pop, this isn't quite as superlative as those films as far as the Cinema Verite fly-on-the-wall approach. There's some behind the scenes stuff, but it's not terribly involving (aside from seeing Bowie's make-up put on to make him Ziggy) as the conversations seem muted and uninteresting (yes, even with Ringo backstage which seems a feat).BUT, and this is the big but here, I know deep down I don't care, at least as far as why I wanted to watch this again. And somehow, of all things, watching his life performance here of 'Space Oddity' finally made me cry. I don't know whether it would've brought me to tears (not for too long, just enough, and some of it was due to feeling a connection with the audience as a couple of people shown by Pennebaker's camera were also in tears), but it was in that moment it hit me: we won't get this again, not quite in this style, not quite in this style, not shot on such rough film and in such an atmosphere.Of course there are still provocateurs in rock/pop (Marilyn Manson on the heavier side, Lady Gaga on the more space-driven and sexual, if it can somehow get more sexual than Bowie), but Bowie was his own sound much as Tarantino was and is his own filmmaker: taking from various sources (rock, blues, glam from T-Rex, the avant-garde rock of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop to an extent) and making it his own giant and unmistakbale SOUND in full caps. And don't forget this is David Bowie as Ziggy friggin Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - including the practically incomparable guitarist Mick Ronson on guitar playing like he's ten years ahead of the fashion and heavy metal stars only still in his own class - and playing off of all the works he'd done up through the masterpiece Aladdin Sane.Here you get to see him perform many of his big hits (along with Oddity you get 'Changes' and 'Suffragette City' and his own rendition of 'All the Young Dudes' which he wrote), and Pennebaker and his crew are at times breathless to keep up and yet have enough cameras and sense to also get the crowd. The audience is a key part of this, even as at times it's hard to see all of them and the lights make it into its own stylized piece of filmmaking; they're often seen only briefly, and yet what we see is enough and, again, I think this helps to connect the audience watching the film further with the band. But for all the hits (and some covers, like 'White Light White Heat' and 'Let's Spend the Night Together'), the stand-outs here are the songs that people who only know Bowie from classic rock radio won't know as well.By the time that Bowie and the Spiders get to 'Time', which is more indebted to German lounge singing of the early 20th century (Threepenny Opera anyone?), the softer but incredibly incisive 'My Death', and a wild, possibly overlong but who the hell cares rendition of his most metal-ish song 'The Width of a Circle', he's on fire as a performer and totally in control of how he can command a stage and an audience. In other words it may not be the perfect rock documentary, hence why it's not the full top-star rating. But as far as performances by mega-stars in their prime, this is a keeper (and ironic that this was his "final" performance, of course just the beginning of the many many Bowies). And yet the tears I had briefly watching this and coming to grips after months of feeling numb to his loss were I think the fact that he'd still be iconic if all he left was this.

Concert films tend to be rated highly by fans of the band or performer. To non fans its just a concert film, even some highly regarded concert films such as Talking Heads 'Stop making sense' are a tad overrated as far as I am concerned even though I actually like the band.This is the concert film shot in London and the last to feature David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust persona. Some fans might say this was at his pomp although Bowie has made good music since and at this time he was experiencing serious drug issues, bit churlish to say he was at the height of his powers when he was so drugged up.The footage contains some of his early great songs that even non fans would know, although some songs are rather dark. There is great showmanship from the thin white duke, costume changes and interplay with his guitarist Mick Ronson.It certainly looked shocking 40 years ago especially the way Ronson and Bowie cavorted on stage looked daring and camp, but of course now its largely dated. Bowie is now just a guy with heavy makeup and dated costume, so its reliant on his songs and stagecraft.However the concert is not that well filmed, its not well lit, the backstage footage is not that interesting. It is a historical record of an era for Bowie, a period he himself does not remember well because of his hedonistic lifestyle but there is still some power in those classic songs of his and great guitar from Ronson.

This is a great concert film. Bowie is in his absolute prime and Pennebaker captures the moment. The film makes you you feel like you are actually at the concert not watching a movie. Bowie has never been better. This film is a moment in time.

David Bowie, on stage at London's Hammersmith Odeon circa 1973, performing under the guise of his alter-ego, the androgynous space alien Ziggy Stardust. Bowie now claims Ziggy was not his bow to transvestism but rather his way of bucking the system; that's all well and good, but seeing D.B. in space-drag may make you think otherwise. He looks frequently ridiculous in these dated get-ups, and director D.A. Pennebaker gives Bowie no mystery or ambiance (he shoots straight-on without frills, probably the obstacle of a tiny budget). Why remaster something of the 'point and shoot' movie variety? Well, it's the 30th Anniversary of the album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust", so they exhumed this from the mothballs to capitalize on the hype. The music here is indeed exciting, maybe even titillating, but it should provide for a much grander experience strictly on your headphones. ** from ****