Product Details

• Actors: Anton Newcombe, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Joel Gion, Matt Hollywood, Peter Holmstrom
• Directors: Ondi Timoner
• Writers: Ondi Timoner
• Producers: David Timoner, Ondi Timoner, Jeff Frey, Tim Rush, Vasco Nunes
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Palm Pictures / Umvd
• DVD Release Date: April 12, 2005
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007IO740
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,279 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Dig!" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Seven years in the making and culled from over 1500 hours of footage, DIG! plunges into the underbelly of rock ‘n’ roll, unearthing an incredible true story of success and self-destruction. Anton A. Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Courtney Taylor of the Dandy Warhols are star-crossed friends and bitter rivals – DIG! is the story of their loves and obsessions, gigs and recordings, arrests and death threats, uppers and downers, and the delicate balance between art and commerce.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything thats right & wrong with the music industry, January 27, 2005

By 

Clare Quilty (a little pad in hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dig! (DVD)

Sure, "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" got all the love in 2004, but my favorite rock-doc-as-car-crash of last year was this: "DiG!"

Seven-some years in the making, it's director Ondi Timoner's crazy love letter to two men -- Anton Newcombe, leader of The Brian Jonestown Massacre; and Courtney Taylor, head of the Dandy Warhols. Both groups ignited like Apollo 11's on the launch pad of the 1990s music scene but slowly sputtered back down to the ground just as spectacularly.

Newcombe seems like a musical genius who can't resist imploding at the worst possible times and places, while Taylor has the drive and accessibility to succeed without the crucial spark of crazed brilliance. Their friendship/rivalry takes a lot of turns during the course of this film, which was mostly recorded on handheld cameras as the events unfolded.

Everything that's right and wrong with the music industry is here: the inescapable mechanics of the game; the perils of drugs, egomania, overambition, pride and possession of mass quantities of obnoxiousness. Anybody who thinks they might want to make music for money should see this film first.

Plus, there's a lot of great, entertaining footage here: Newcombe's ill-advised handling of a Georgia roadcheck; a run-in with David LaChappelle; and especially the BJM's disastrous, Andy Kaufman-esque meltdown in front of record execs at the Viper Room (you gotta love any fight scene that ends with "motherf----r broke my sitar, man!").

The movie's only significant weakness the fact that Taylor voices the film narration. Yes, he was there and can comment on the events unfolding with a distinct air of authority, but his reading also gives the lines an unignorable bias. It's a regretable slip that tilts the movie to a slightly unfair angle, but it doesn't sink "DiG!"

Plus, this movie had one of my favorite supporting "performances" of the year: long-suffering BJM sideman Joel Gion. If he doesn't parlay this movie into a career as a comedy star, he's not trying hard enough.

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great film but neither is god-like, May 22, 2005

By 

raymond bassett - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dig! (DVD)

I lived in Portland saw the Dandy Warhols early on and thought that they were cool because they approximated a music I was always into, 60's psychedelia, and they brought their own sensibilities to it. I had the same reacton to the Brian Jonestown Massacre when I heard their early records. Anything that references that kind of 60's swirl in music is fine by me and I gravitate to it - Reasons I am fans of both bands -

HOWEVER-

I would never claim that either of these bands has a one up on the other one because I don't think either band is one of the alltime greats and I don't care how either achieved their musical goals concerning the reasons given. I don't care about b.s. arguments that claim "hey, man BJM is great because they were prolific and didn't sell out" or the Dandies were great because "they found a way to make it work and that's what you have to do." At the end of the day, all you are left with is the music and if you like it great, but the suggested argument that separates the two (one sold out, one didn't) is bogus. All the bands from the 60' sold out (whatever the hell that means) at one time or another and the ones who didn't wished they had. So what? Any entertainment deal involves a deal with the devil at some level and to suggest otherwise, or that the people who make "unheard" music are somehow "more pure" is nonsense. Why sign a record deal at all, in that case, if everything that comes from that intial decision is a frickin slippery slope to being compromised? IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THUS.

As to the hyberbole of the movie as if it is pitting two super bands against each other, the "5 years ahead of their time" is good rhetoric, but nothing more. Supporters of both bands can claim the Dandies' or BJM influence on music all day long, but as both were so influenced themselves (and never sold many records) who can claim a rightful timeline as to their either band's influence on anyone, unless you're talking about the heirs to BJM, none of which has had that much success on the kind of level the film wants us to accept.

To stress again, I am a fan of both bands, and I loved the movie, but the resulting success vs. sell out argument is, ultimately, a tired and worn out cliche from an era that, ironically or not, had great influence on both bands.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On the Road to Rock Music Stardom - Or Not - A Good Documentary, June 2, 2011

By 

stoic (Mobile AL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dig! (DVD)

DiG! is a documentary that focuses on two promising 1990s rock groups: the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols. Though the film ostensibly concerns whether these groups will achieve stardom, it is at its best when it focuses on Anton Newcombe - the leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

As a portrait of an angry, talented young man (Newcombe), DiG! is a success. People in the music industry regard Newcombe as a savant, even though he does everything he can to sabotage his career - fist fights with band mates, arrests for drugs, etc. DiG! offers viewers some insight into the possible roots of Newcombe's problems when discussing his childhood. Though it is sometimes difficult to watch Newcombe destroy himself, it is always interesting.

The material about the Dandy Warhols is middling. The group achieves more success than does the Brian Jonestown Massacre, but their story is just not as interesting. Anton is the main draw.

In short, DiG! is a good documentary that any fan of rock music will enjoy.