WOODSTOCK: Monday Nights with Oscar

Roger Daltrey at Woodstock in Woodstock.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Monday Nights with Oscar" series will present a special screening of Woodstock on Saturday, September 8, at 1 p.m. at the Academy Theater in New York City.

Following an extended break, the program will resume at 6 p.m. with an onstage panel discussion with three-time Academy Award-winning film editor and frequent Martin Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker, concert producers Michael Lang and Joel Rosenman, concert staffer Lee Blumer, campground coordinator Stan Goldstein, and sound engineer Bill Hanley (schedules permitting).

According to the Academy's press release, "the day before the 1969 festival, Woodstock director Michael Wadleigh and associate producer Dale Bell organized roughly 80 cinematographers, sound recordists, and technicians into a single crew. Through rainstorms, electrical shorts, and a swelling crowd, the team captured 'three days of peace and music' on 315,000 feet of film, including performances by Richie Havens, Joan Baez, The Who, Sha Na Na, Ten Years After, Arlo Guthrie, Crosby Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker, Country Joe & the Fish, John Sebastian, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, and Jimi Hendrix."

I don't remember much about Wadleigh's take on Woodstock — except for the fact that while watching the documentary long, long after the real Woodstock had come and gone — I truly felt as if I were at the concert itself.

Well, let me rephrase that.

Unlike many (most? just about all?) Woodstock participants, I wasn't on anything that evening, and probably as a result of that, er … lack of vitamins, I was bored to tears (as I would have been had I gone to the actual concert). I can't even recall if I watched the three-hour film all the way to its final bang (or whimper) or if I left long before both the peace and the music were over. Perhaps I should have taken something to help me get through the never-ending musical numbers and to help me remember now what the hell it was that I saw and heard.

Woodstock won the 1970 Academy Award for Documentary Feature (Bob Maurice, producer) and was nominated in the Film Editing and Sound categories (Schoonmaker; Dan Wallin, Larry Johnson).

"Monday Nights with Oscar" is a monthly series showcasing high-quality prints of films that have been nominated for or won Academy Awards. For this special Saturday screening, the Academy will present a 35mm print from the film's original 1970 stereo theatrical release, courtesy of Warner Bros.

Tickets for Woodstock are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. A single ticket will provide admission to both the screening and post-screening discussion. Tickets may be reserved by calling 1-888-778-7575. Depending on availability, tickets may be purchased in person on the afternoon of the screening. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved.

The Academy Theater is located at 111 East 59th Street in New York City.

Photos: courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library/© A.M.P.A.S.