Bogdanovich’s Tom Petty Film Runnin’ Down a Dream on DVD Oct. 16
I remember reading about a film Peter Bogdanovich (Last Picture Show) was doing about Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to commemorate their 30th Anniversary last year. After hearing almost nothing about it for a year, I found out it’s going to be released Oct. 16.
Let’s dispense with the unpleasant aspect of this otherwise great news first: Best Buy has managed to get an exclusive distribution deal for the film, entitled Runnin’ Down a Dream, and will be selling the 3-DVD/1CD box set for $29.99. It’s a great price for such a deluxe package, but I’m on the record hating these exclusive deals and am not going pull punches just because I happen to adore Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
Let’s get back to the good part of all this. The film runs over four hours spread across two DVDs and features interviews with George Harrison, Eddie Vedder, Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Jeff Lynne, Rick Rubin, Johnny Depp, Jackson Browne among others. Is that any good?
The third DVD shows the band’s homecoming show in Gainesville, Florida from last year’s 30th Anniversary tour. I got to see them on that tour in Atlanta. The fourth disc, a CD, features some previously unreleased music and rarities as well as some Petty standards. I have a tracklisting for that CD but don’t know whether these are live cuts, studio cuts, or a mix of both. We’re a week away from knowing, I guess, because I’m so having one of these!
This could be a fascinating look into the world of one of rock’s most notoriously prickly and press-shy performers. I remarked often last year during my “Summer of Guster and Petty” that he and the Heartbreakers were an underappreciated band, considering their accomplishments and legacy. I still feel that way. On merit alone, these guys should have gotten a lot more attention. Part of the reason they might not have gotten all that acclaim might be attributable to Petty’s reluctance to put himself out there. I can’t wait to see what Bogdanovich has captured and what we might learn about these guys and their music.
DVD 3: Gainesville, Florida 2006
1. Listen To Her Heart
2. Mary Jane’s Last Dance
3. I Won’t Back Down
4. Free Fallin’
5. Saving Grace
6. I’m A Man
7. Oh Well
8. Handle With Care
9. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks)
10. I Need To Know (with Stevie Nicks)
11. It’s Good To Be King
12. Down South
13. Southern Accents
14. Insider (with Stevie Nicks)
15. Learning To Fly
16. Don’t Come Around Here No More
17. Runnin’ Down A Dream
18. You Wreck Me
19. Mystic Eyes
20. American Girl
Rarities CD Tracklist
1. Breakdown
2. Anything That’s Rock and Roll
3. Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)
4. American Girl
5. Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid)
6. Stories We Could Tell
7. Keeping Me Alive
8. Honey Bee
9. Lost Highway
Filed under: Tags: A Day Late and a Dollar Short, Tom Petty
Make that $24.99, according to Best Buy’s site. Yeah, that’s a “can’t pass up” deal. Damn - just when I thought things were lightening up a little bit. Nope.
Hell, I would have given them the extra $5 for this amazing a package but $24.99 works for me! Amazing.
October is killing me. I’m really fortunate I’ve gotten a few thrown my way for free or I’d be completely fucked. This is almost as crazy as June was.
hey! my birthday’s in october!
Yeah, well you know what you’re getting for your fuckin’ birthday, boss. It begins with Elliott and ends with Smith.
Be sure and send it to him as mp3s, Josh. Really crappy ones.
Well I would love to see this documentary, and it seems worth it for $25, but I will not break my boycott of Best Buy to do it. They have screwed me over a couple of times and have no customer service to speak of. I will not spend any more money there.
Chico, I concur with you, sir. Best Buy is the devil and they’ve screwed me over enough times that I’ve gone large scale embargo. I used to spend a lot with them and have now cut it back to almost nothing.
It is a great set, though.