Customer Reviews

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream (4-Disc Set)

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"I feel pretty blessed really right now, when I see it, that most of us made it through that maze that is growing up in rock 'n' roll," he says. "And I think we've matured in a way that we're maybe better now, you know, maybe better musicians, and enjoying our craft more than we ever have. So I'm very lucky." Tom Petty

I found this four hour anthology of Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers on Sundance Channel. I immediately notified my best friend, and we watched unbelievably spellbound. This story of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was directed by Peter Bogdanovich. He begins with the start of Tom Petty's life in Gainesville, Florida and ends with a 2006 commemoration concert of his thirtieth anniversary in music.

The entire story is told through home movies, television shows and rememberances in narrative form. Tom Petty does much of the narrative and this is his profession and musical life, after all. The list of friends, colleagues and those in the know who knew or played with Tom Petty is remarkable. It is a time line of the history of rock and music. Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynn along with Tom Petty join to form 'The Traveling Wilburys'. This remarkable group, to a one, votes this time in their lives as one of the most rewarding musical experiences. Stevie Nicks wants to join Tom Petty and his heartbreakers, but she is a woman and "this is a men's club" says Tom Petty. The sheer sense of Tom's persuasive personality in pursing his career in music is pure genius. Once he set down this path he never looked back. This was his life and what a life it has been.

This movie is about the music. There is some mention of marriage and Tom Petty's daughter is interviewed. Little personal information is shared. What we do have is the music and it is glorious. From "Breakdown", "American Girl" "Even the Losers", "I Won't Back Down", "Learning to Fly", "Into the Great Wide Open", "Refugee", "Straight Into Darkness, "Don't Do Me Like That", and on and on. A homage to Tom Petty and his career.

"Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down A Dream remarkably chronicles a prolific career that's yielded dozens of instantly recognizable songs and countless good times for all who've cared to listen. It's an indispensable documentary on one of America's most successful rock and roll bands, whose leader never backed down in aspiring to his ambition." Donald Gibson

This may be one of the best made rock documentaries. A must see for all of Tom Petty fans and for those who love great rock n' roll.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 11-17-07

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

Traveling Wilburys (2CD/1DVD, Deluxe Edition)

This FOUR HOUR documentary is a must for all Tom Petty fans and honestly anyone weaned on late '70s early '80s Rock 'n' Roll. Spanning Petty's humble beginnings in Gainesville, Florida to the launch of his career in California to his battles with record labels and sleazy lawyers and his ultimate triumph, the documentary finally shows us Petty at the top of the rock heap alongside Jeff Lynn, Bob Dylan and George Harrison, the quintessential independent rocker/ musician/ songwriter. Shows Petty to be the ultimate self-sufficient iconoclast. Bogdanovich shares old reels of Petty's first band Mudcrutch and we see the evolution of a young idealistic kid with a chip on his shoulder transform (over a 30 year period) into a bona fide rock legend. Saw this on Sundance channel and bought the four disc box set which includes a soundtrack CD and the 30th anniversary concert in Gainesville. This documentary is overflowing with interviews, clips, personalities, history and a catalog of live performances. Worth every penny. Worth every second.

I extremely enjoyed this and I am not what you would call a die-hard Tom Petty fan. It just seems like growing up that Tom's music has always been there. I discovered Tom around the "Hard Promises" album via MTV videos and now that I think about, he has consistently released great music for 30 years. I have listened to the new album "Highway Companion" and I find it to be as good as anything I've heard from him.

What I did get from the movie is that Tom may be the most geniune rock & rollers ever. He knows what he wants and never lets up. Also the movie reinforced what I already believed: Mike Campbell is the most underrated guitarists ever. He may not be flashy but he can play just about anything. The same is true of Benmont Tench, both are incredible musicians. In fact, as you can see from lineup changes, without Mike & Ben the Heartbreakers sound is not complete.

Bottom line: Tom is one of the greatest American songwriters ever and watching this will confirm this!

I'm a Petty fan, so I loved the documentary. Bogdanovich does a great job of telling the story of Petty's career, and does a pretty good job of getting all sides of the story. It has all of the in's and out's of a "Behind the Music," with band drama, etc., but focuses mainly on the music. The band members are all thoughtful and insightful in their comments, and what becomes clear is that Petty and the Heartbreakers are consumate craftsmen. Although Petty is the undeniable leader, they work together as a band to create the songs. The Heartbreakers aren't a backup band. To me, this carefully balanced dynamic, which has now led to 30+ years of success, was the most interesting part of the documentary. But the BEST part, by far, was seeing and hearing the various live and demo versions of the songs. Again, Bogdanovich does a great job of giving us enough pure music to enjoy without boring us.

The documentary is long, at about 4 hours. It took me two sittings to get through it, but it never felt long. Again, I'm a Petty fan. If I weren't I'm not sure I'd have had the patience for all of it, but it really helped make the case in my mind that Petty is one of the great modern rockers still working today.

I'd been waiting for this 2 set DVD to come out for months and it finally showed up. It's 4 hours of rock and roll history that focuses on one of the best, tightest, most talented and unpretentious bands ever. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Just saying it makes a fan smile but this documentary goes deep into the back story of the band and has extended interviews with all of the band members and many people associated with the Heartbreakers through the years.

It covers the whole period from the first days in Gainesville, FL through the latest album, "Highway Companion". There's plenty of excellent music but Mr. Petty is fully engaged from beginning to end and he is completely up front in relating the many highs and inevitable lows of the group he started 30 years ago with a dream of making a life as a full on rocker. He did it. And the Heartbreakers did it. Full on.

His songs are the soundtrack to a generation. If you want to know where those songs came from and how they came into being, watch "Runnin' Down a Dream". It's all here and my compliments to Mr. Bogdanovich as he made a great, complete documentary that flows smoothly. But I was still wishing for a third 2 hour disc when I finished watching all there was. It's a great story.

Runnin' Down a Dream documents the history of Tom Petty, including his band Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Mudcrutch, The Travelling Wilburys, and his extensive solo career and collaborations with other artists. There is so much to cover, in fact, that this documentary stretches for 4 hours, and that's before you've even touched special features. The format is somewhat of a common one for musical documentaries. There is a montage of interview footage that is sliced and diced to tell the story somewhat chronologically from a variety of perspectives. Even after 4 hours of interview footage, music video clips, concert footage and photo stills, this documentary is a pleasure from start to finish. That is probably the best testament to how well made and fun to watch this really is.

The format of this documentary should please die-hard fans and casual listeners alike. I would consider myself a pretty big Tom Petty fan, but I watched this with somebody who was not. Well after seeing the documentary, they are a fan now. The last half, in particular, is so chock full of amazing music that most people *know* but not everybody realizes is Tom Petty. So this is a good movie to watch with somebody you want to convert over to being a Tom Petty fan.

The blend of formats is really good as a *bio-pick* but it's also nice for music history junkies. Sprinkled into all the interviews are tons of factoids and tidbits about how certain songs came to be, who wrote them, who worked on them, and on and on. Serious fans will really enjoy all those details.

But everybody can relate to some of the stories of hardship and challenges that are also sprinkled throughout. We get to hear about Tom's first battle to get out of his record contract when Shelter Records was bought by MCA Universal. And we get to see the various versions of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers take shape for various reasons, from Stan slowly falling on his sword to Howie's drug problems. In fact, it's very surprising just how multi-faceted the telling of these stories is. Rather than give us the sanitized corporate version of how so-and-so was kicked out of the group, this documentary allows clips of all parties to be included so that you can hear it from the horse's mouth and make up your own mind. I really appreciate that fact since I love to know as much of the story as possible and I am instinctively distrustful of one-sided portrayals.

As with any music documentary, the music is a large part of this film. And the depth and bredth of Tom's career is shown, not just in his songs, but in his collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Roger Maguin, George Harrison, Jeff Lynn, and many others. And of course if you include the supergroup The Travelling Wilburys, you have to add to George Harrison and Jeff Lynn the venerable names of Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. This is really an amazing bit of music with some of the best popular artists of the last 50 years represented here.

I highly recommend this documentary. There is also a 4-Disc Set which includes some rare audio tracks and more special features. So die-hard fans will probably enjoy that set. I was able to pick it up on sale, but either way this is a great film and you should seek it out.

Highly recommended.

Enjoy!

I guess I'm what you'd call a "casual" Tom Petty fan--certainly not an expert on the band's roots and history. So I casually recorded this from the Sundance channel--figured I'd watch a little at a time. My first "installment" began one night at 10:30. At 2:30 I went to bed. The movie draws you in and holds you, and you won't mind at all--nor will you keep track of time. It's a great ride.

Just picked up this DVD. The documentary portion is great... in depth, at times funny. It is two DVDs' worth so it took me a few days to see it all. The 30th anniversary concert is quite good. Worth the price for me was the live version of It's Good To Be King. This track, from the Wildflowers album , is one of my favorite Petty songs. The 12-minute live version blows the cd version out of the water. Overall a great buy.

I caught this on Sundance and was mesmerized for 4 hours! I always liked Tom and band.. the thing is he is so deceptively a talented songwriter that it was easy to take him for granted. Forgive me Tom for doing that! After learning so much about him as a man, and a kind, sweet man at that, for some reason that helped me appreciate his poetry and musical skills all the more. The movie shows his seedling talent and how he persisted and learned and grew, and also kept a strong core of optimism and delight at how things in his life unfolded. Beautifully done camera and wonderful clips of young Tom and band. Absolutely worth every penny, and even if you think you are not a big TP fan, get it anyway if you like any rock music at all, you will be converted, as I was. I am now in the process of buying every thing this brilliant man has ever done.

And now we will be treated to TP and HB halftime at the Superbowl. I hate football but will be sure to watch this year!

Also, I ran out and bought this 4 CD set, I had to have the extra disc of tracks and the 30th Anniversary concert!

Peter Bogdanovich has made a documentary that totally holds your interest even over a staggering four hour running time.

I didn't know much about Tom Petty growing up, but I've had a bellyful now. And yes, all the hits sounds strangely familiar, from American Girl to Free Falling, just like we saw on the halftime show at the Super Bowl a year ago. More recent material hasn't really saturated the airwaves, and some of it like The Last DJ, is almost incredibly insipid.

We get to know and like Tom Petty, though he has a streak of, I don't know what, egotism, that's totally understandable. After all, he is the most successful rocker ever, or so the movie argues, with sales in the millions and three "game-changing" releases. Still, he doesn't seem like he'd be an easy person to work for and all the Heartbreakers express shock and disappointment over having been treated shabbily, or ignored, at various times. But I applaud him for showing his faults, he could have authorized a kiss-kiss type lovefest.

One wonders what happened in that divorce that prevented the filmmakers from even mentioning the name of his first wife. Must have been nasty! The question of the absent first wife haunts this picture much as it does Hitchcock's Rebecca.