Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19925 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-26
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 355 minutes

DVD Description
DVD Disc 1: Runnin' Down a Dream Gainesville 2006 Elvis What's In A Name Mike Benmont B.Y.O.F (Build Your Own Festival) Fast Forward Deals A Broken Bond Ron & Stan Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Third Fuel Howie Poet

DVD Disc 2: Runnin' Down a Dream Bob Dylan Strange Coincidences Scott The Bottom Line Steve John Round Trip Rock & Roll Heaven Runnin' Down a Dream (End credits) One

DVD Disc 3: 30th Anniversary Concert Listen To Her Heart Mary Jane's Last Dance I Won't Back Down Free Fallin' Saving Grace I'm A Man Oh Well Handle With Care Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks) I Need To Know (with Stevie Nicks) It's Good To Be King Down South Southern Accents Insider (with Stevie Nicks) Learning To Fly Don't Come Around Here No More Runnin' Down A Dream You Wreck Me Mystic Eyes American Girl

CD Disc 4: Bonus Soundtrack CD Breakdown Anything That's Rock and Roll Fooled Again (I Don't Like It) American Girl Shadow of A Doubt (A Complex Kid) Stories We Could Tell Keeping Me Alive Honey Bee Lost Highway

Synopsis
The work of Tom Petty is a uniquely-American blend of pop and rock that has made him one of the coolest guys in the South. With his faithful band The Heartbreakers behind him, Petty has been lighting up stages across the country for years. RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM captures 30 years of rock and roll history with never-before-seen footage, interviews and a recording of the celebrated 30th Anniversary Concert in Heartbreaker hometown Gainesville, Florida. Directed by famed filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, this is a must for Petty fans everywhere.

Customer Reviews

GC
This film is a bit of an epic. It is also a fascinating insight into the dynamics within one of America's longer lasting and successful bands. It has it all, triumph and tradgedy. But perhaps it's greatest success was that it made me go and buy some Tom Petty CD's to replace the records and tapes that got worn out in the late 80's and early 90's.

Overall a great story, well told and with some fantastic music thrown in. Perfect!

Into the Great Wide Open
Its all been said by other reviews,but this DVD/CD combo is absolutly stunning.
Even though I left it very late to get "into" TP&THB's I feel blessed to be a fan.
The words..the music..the feeling it gives to hear Tom's songs...The Band...the overall brilliance of a group of people that have been together (or very close) for thirty years.
Words cannot describe what I'm feeling right now.

You know whats right......... Rock on Tom :) and thankyou.

Simply Superb
This is one of the best, most engrossing, rock documentaries I have ever seen. As other reviewers have noted, the 5 hours plus encompassing the story of the band, and the 30th anniversary concert just fly by. Tom Petty comes across as a thoroughly likeable bloke, with an engagingly laconic style which masks a steely-eyed focus and determination never to settle for second best that has kept him at the top for 30 years. Lengthy interviews with Petty and all other band members, some of which reveal past tensions which still appear to rankle, are honest and revealing. Few other bands can boast 4 original members after so long, especially when they have never really delivered a duff album. Most touchingly, new drummer Steve Ferrone who replaced Stan Lynch, confesses that he would be heartbroken if it all came to an end.

This is the story of a band that feels like a band, with a charismatic leader and understated multi-talented lead guitarist, that has produced some of the finest and most tuneful American rock music of all time. Plummy Englishman Denny Cordell who first signed the band makes reference to Petty as a poet, and like most afficionados has a genuine admiration and affection for the band. The sadness at Howie Epstein's death is poignantly felt; footage of his decline into drug addiction is shocking, but in Ron Blair's return to the fold there is a sense of completion.

The 30th anniversary concert is equally impressive. Petty prowls the stage like the 'bad ass' he is described as in the documentary, but seems genuinely touched at the warm reception from the home crowd in Gainesville. Musically, the band are as tight and tuneful as ever, and the addition of 'honourary Heartbreaker' Stevie Nicks provides one of the concert's highlights in an acoustic rendition of 'Insider', almost worth the price of the entire package on its own. Most of the essential crowd-pleasers are played, with the notable exception of 'Refugee', whose inclusion would almost have won this fantastic DVD / CD box set 6 stars. The additional CD provides some non-essential versions of songs played during the film, but who's griping? This is a fine, well-put together and long overdue quality assessment of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. In giving the band the extended documentary treatment it elevates them to the pantheon of American greats, a position they have always deserved. Time perhaps for MCA to get their fingers out and issue remastered and expanded versions of the early albums, which to the record company's shame are now becoming quite hard to find.