The 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was this past week and it got me thinking about documentary films. I know that the words “documentary films” and “muddy dancing hippies” are not usually synonymous with one another, but not only was Woodstock one of the most defining moments musically in American History, but it also revolutionized the way we perceive documentary films. In fact, if it wasn’t for a documentary film, people might still be cleaning up the trash on Max Yasgur’s farm.

Documentary films had been produced well before Woodstock happened but in 1969, a new crop of filmmakers were just starting to come on the scene. In fact, there were a bunch of filmmakers fighting for the chance to document the festival. Michael Wadleigh, The Maysles Brothers, Thelma Shoonmaker and a young man by the name of Marty Scorsese were all up for the job. Ultimately, the promoters of the concert decided to go with the more unknown team of Wadleigh, Scorsese and Shoonmaker as opposed to going with the Maysles Brothers because Wadleigh and his crew were willing to work for free. Woodstock Ventures was out of money and told Wadleigh that they could not pay for the film two days before the concert started. Wadleigh, ever ambitious and starving anyway, had nothing to lose. They decided that the festival and the opportunity was too great to pass up so they went to the concert and fronted the costs themselves.

For three days, Wadleigh, Scorsese and their small crew shot the festival around the clock. They were there when Richie Havens was unexpectedly pushed on stage to start the show and they were there when Jimmy Hendrix hauntingly closed the festival with the Star Spangled Banner. Having unlimited access, they sat back and observed what was happening around them. Like good documentarians do, they let the camera, the music and the people be the instruments for the storytelling.

As the first day went on, it became very clear to the event organizers that the documentary was their ticket out of the 1.6 millions dollar hole they had put themselves in due to the loss of ticket sales . While Jefferson Airplane played, the four men of Woodstock Ventures stood on stage negotiating the film rights with Wadleigh and Ahmet Ertegun of Warner Brothers. They sold the film to Warner Brothers for a $1 million dollar flat fee with a small percentage of the back end. Wadleigh estimated later that the film cost about $100,000 to produce and to date, the film has grossed over $100 million dollars. It also went on to win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, solidifying itself as one of the most successful documentaries of all time.

After Woodstock, the Maysles Brother’s, probably motivated by the fact they lost out on Woodstock, produced a string of successful films including, “Gimme Shelter.” The documentary chronicles The Rolling Stones “west coast answer” to Woodstock, Altamonte.  In “Grey Gardens” they introduced us to big Edie and Little Edie Beale and the film became a critical smash that was later made into a hit Broadway play as well as an EMMY nominated feature film for HBO in 2009. Lifelong collaborators, Scorsese and Shoonmaker met musicians Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm of The Band at the festival, and the filmmakers teamed up with The Band to film their last ever concert together. “The Last Waltz” was filmed in San Francisco in 1976 and the documentary is highly regarded as the best concert film of all time. As for Michael Wadleigh, taking a chance paid off. He saved Woodstock, won an Academy Award, motivated the Maysles Brothers to make more films and launched the careers of Martin Scorsese and Thelma Shoonmaker. The festival itself was something that can never happen again. For a moment in time, the last gasp of the sixties, people came together to promote peace, love and music. In the process and without manufacturing it, a new wave of film making was born. For that, we documentarians and total film geeks are eternally grateful.