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You look at the mind-boggling all-star lineup of Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz -- the acclaimed 1977 documentary about the unforgettable farewell performance by The Band -- and you can't help but think about the legends no longer with us. There are Band members Rick Danko and Richard Manuel. There are also blues greats Muddy Waters and Paul Butterfield and R&B patriarch Pops Staples.
"I just felt very warm and precious when I was working on the stuff Richard sang, or Muddy Waters or Rick or Butterfield or the Staples Singers," says Robertson, now a "creative executive" at Dreamworks. In tandem with old friend Scorsese, he digitally nursed the sound on The Last Waltz for this weekend's 25th anniversary re-release.
The roll call of the living is no B-list either: Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond -- and, of course, our Ronnie Hawkins, who originally hired the "retirees" in question as The Hawks.
"Working on it, you sat there and thought, 'Oh, my God, they were so special and thank God we have this film to contribute to their legacy,' " Robertson says. "It made me feel really good to be able to resurrect this whole thing.
"Y'know, 25 years later, it holds up so well. As far as a movie of this sort is concerned, nobody's blown it out of the water."
Everything about this classic concert film seemed improbable at the time. Comprised of four Canadians (Robertson, Danko, Manuel and Garth Hudson) and an American (Arkansas boy Levon Helm), The Band had insinuated themselves into American consciousness with hits like The Weight and Up On Cripple Creek, and had made their name backing Dylan in the mid-'60s (hence the group's name, generic before most people even knew what the word meant).
The Band's farewell tour -- the Toronto leg brought them to the old CNE Grandstand on a bill with Linda Ronstadt -- ended at San Francisco's Winterland on Nov. 25, 1976. As invited friends began to RSVP in unexpected numbers, Robertson and Co. decided to play it up with turkey dinner for 5,000 and orchestral dinner music. He also felt the event should be chronicled, so he called Scorsese, who'd worked on the Woodstock docu.
The evening had moments that brought shivers to the spines of music fans -- Van Morrison at his most manic, Eric Clapton challenging all guitarists with a virtuoso performance, Dylan leading the ensemble in a closing performance of I Shall Be Released.
"There've been farewells," Robertson says, "but all these artists came out of the late '60s when the music was so potent and everybody was at the top of their game. There was a certain standard set. And to bring about our musical conclusion in that way, with people you'll never see onstage together again, was amazing."
And then it was over, with only celluloid and a soundtrack to prove it happened. Since then, Scorsese made films you may have heard of, like Raging Bull and Goodfellas. Richard Manuel ended his life in a Florida hotel room and Danko died in his sleep after years of drug abuse. Robertson -- whose decision to stay retired from The Band (save for Juno and Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame appearances) proved wise -- has drifted from acting to recording to soundtrack doctoring. Soon, a quarter century snuck up on The Last Waltz alumni.
"The 25th anniversary got all these different parties -- MGM, Rhino, Marty and me -- all thinking at the same time. We all felt there should be a tribute, and a big part of it for me was I wanted this film looking as good as it possibly can, and to the standard of what movies sound like now. It's much bigger and it pulls you in more.
"For young people this is what they expect. The blacks as black as they can be, the colours really warm, and the sound ... well, the standard in movie theatres now is much different than then. You have six-channel surround sound, the sonic spectrum is tremendously improved in the last 25 years."
Once again, there's a soundtrack, a four-CD boxed set with 24 bonus tracks. "At the time we had limitations as to what we could get on a vinyl disc. Now we don't have to shorten songs, leave things out. We can give the public a much better sense of what really happened."
Like a high school reunion, The Last Waltz project cemented old ties for Robertson. "I got a message from Neil Diamond yesterday, I saw Bob Dylan a few days ago and I talked with Van Morrison a week ago. It's not like we talk every week, but they're dear friends and we have a past."
As do he and Scorsese. Robertson demurs at versions of history that have the director and musician sidetracking their careers in the late '70s to become nightcrawlers and party animals. Was he a bad influence? "Marty was doing very well on his own as far as the rock 'n' roll lifestyle was concerned," Robertson says with a chuckle. "It was more those times, which were pretty crazy with experimenting. Eventually everybody realized, 'Waitaminit, this'll kill ya.'
"But it wasn't isolated. Y'know, earlier times, artists were taking opium and drinking absinthe. You look at their work now and appreciate it. You don't say, 'Think how much better it would have been if he hadn't done opium.' "
The '70s ended, but the professional party with Scorsese continued. Robertson played leading man opposite Jodie Foster in 1980's Carny. But he soon quit acting. "I had to be honest and say, 'I don't want to play Meryl Streep's boyfriend or Cher's ex-lover.'
"At the same time I got involved in the music for Raging Bull and King Of Comedy. I've worked with Scorsese over the years (and) on Gangs Of New York as we speak."