Ramones Raw (2004) User Reviews

The ugly sister

[allehman · 11 October 2004]

I bought the DVD. As described elsewhere, this has a lot of drummer Marky's hand-held videos. So it could have been REALLY bad. Fortunately, the massive pile of video has been well-edited, and it flows about as well as is possible. The video segments are broken about every 5-10 minutes by live performances, cartoons, etc. There are many TV appearances and a great 11-song live show from Italian TV.

For non-fans, it is worth owning for live performances by this mighty band. If anyone could possibly not know: their first four albums jump-started punk and new wave in the late 70's -- they were directly responsible for English bands like the Clash and Sex Pistols. The Ramones were four guys in leather jackets and blue jeans who pretended to be brothers, to be stupid, to sniff glue for fun, and to be Nazis. None of those things were true, but the image is a blast and the whole thing is played in front of heavy metal surf music: great melodies, slashing guitar sounds, indecipherable lyrics, fast-thumping-unstoppable drumbeat, played TIGHT. And they make it all look easy.

FANS: gotta have this. From what I've heard about the documentary in theaters now, "End of the Century", that is a must-own. RAW is EOTC's ugly sister: not as pretty but every bit as valuable. Get 'em both.

the best documentary yet

[Judy_is_a_punk1234 · 10/10 · 31 October 2005]

This is the ideal documentary for Ramones fans.Well,I say documentary but it's really Marky Ramone goofing around with his own camera occasionally catching snapshots of interviews with some excellent performances in between.It's lighthearted and complete fun and games. It gives Ramones fans insights into the jokes that the guys shared,the names they called each other,and the pranks they played on each other.A chance to see them in a natural environment and not at each other's throats.

After a painful past three years of losing three members of the band,this DVD reminds fans of the positive times that Johnny,Joey,CJ,Dee Dee and Marky shared with each other.

Very entertaining

[matt-the-nerd · 10/10 · 18 August 2006]

Ramones Raw is a DVD I'd recommend to most Ramones fans .This isn't End Of The Century : The Story of The Ramones. It doesn't try to tell us the story of the band, rather its a collection of Marky Ramones private video footage, concert footage and other rare footage of the Ramones. As a Ramones fan, I found the DVD very entertaining, both for the concert footage and other footage, which usually shows the band abroad in different parts of the world on tour.Apart from the main feature, there are several special features. An audio commentary with Marky and Johnny Ramones as well as the DVD's producer provides an insight to some of the stuff going on ,on screen. Also included are several TV appearances and deleted scenes. All in all, Ramones Raw isn't a serious film about what it takes to be in a band, rather it gives an entertaining look at the band during their career.

Not a documentary. Better!

[huboon · 9/10 · 18 February 2023]

Anyone watching this hoping to see a documentary will be sorely disappointed. This is a compilation of Marc "Marky Ramone" Bell's homemade tour videos with some concert footage and other cool stuff thrown in. It's a lot of fun and gives a glimpse of da boyz that you won't find elsewhere. Where else will you see footage of Johnny Ramone actually smiling? How about hundreds of absolutely crazed South American fans blocking the band's van from leaving their hotel? Their appearance on Uncle Floyd? Nowhere! I've been listening to this band for 3/4 of my life, I've heard the albums countless times, I've seen documentaries and read other books, and this reveals more humanity and humor in the boys than I've seen anywhere else. Watch it already.

Awesome-Stellar

[forum1313 · 10/10 · 19 October 2004]

Being the huge Ramones fan that I am, I of course love this video. Great concert footage and the video from the tours is great. This video does a great job of taking you through the whole Ramones career, except the beginning with Tommy as drummer. I especially loved listening to the audio commentary by Marky, Johnny(RIP), and the director... they have some interesting stuff to say. The part where they drive the van through the fans and edit in "Night of the Living Dead" clips and use the NOTLD music is great. The extras are great too. My favorite might be when they are on the Howard Stern show, playing "golf" with "the president", good stuff. Basically, if you are anything of a Ramones fan you should own this, A+! Go buy it you SLOTH!

A Great Alternative to Your Average Band Documentary

[carolyn-24 · 10/10 · 11 May 2005]

Ramones Raw is an amazing new DVD. I didn't expect much at first. Any DVD that claims to be definitive always makes me too skeptical. In this case I can't tell you how happy I am to be wrong. Ramones Raw starts out like most. The Ramones are playing to a huge crowd in Buenos Aires. The band is hanging out backstage then gets ready to go on stage in front of screaming fans. I immediately think it is one of those documentaries filmed at the end when someone figured out they should probably be documenting these guys. The next scene is a reporter in a hotel room asking where did the name Ramone come from? Johnny calmly starts to explain and I think they've got to be kidding. Luckily I was fooled.

Ramones Raw is not a band documentary in a traditional sense. There is no attempt to tell the story of the Ramones. It is something I am sure not many bands could pull off and such a nice change of pace from your average band film. What you get is backstage and road footage mostly shot by Marky Ramone on his camcorder interspersed with live footage and other band events. There is no attempt to keep a chronological order. Footage switches between countries and events and back without hesitation. It manages to work. The viewer is treated to the most candid shots of the band. There are a few bathroom scenes with a band member relieving himself. Johnny jokingly asking Marky if he shot any pretty girls. Naturally, he did. Joey is laughing and making faces into the camera. Fans in Buenos Aires chase the band. The band is heard joking about the situation while they are driving in the van and we see the fans running down the street or driving in their cars following the van. Johnny yells out at them, "watch the road!" The band is almost panicking, but still amused by the situation. CJ adds, "Mark, get those two old ladies on film. They'll probably take their hair off and they're kids in disguise." The Ramones still treat their fans great. They sign autographs in train stations and in restaurants. They take pictures. They are also fans. You see them getting their pictures taken with Grandpa Munster, Carly Simon and Drew Barrymore.

When the band is at a zoo in Australia, Marky films them from a distance and narrates like a naturalist. In Italy their van gets into a three-car accident. There is a shot of the Ramones standing by the side of the highway waiting for help while cars fly by. It is my favorite shot. I would have loved to be driving by and saw the Ramones standing there. "Fortunately, no one got hurt, " someone mentions. Cut to a shot of Joey standing by a totaled car. He laments the loss of his Fiat.

In addition to all the great candid footage, Ramones Raw contains a bunch of TV performances. The best being their appearance on the Uncle Floyd show in 1979. The band performs while Uncle Floyd jokes around in the studio. He tries to make them announce the commercial break, but they aren't too cooperative. There is also a bit from the Howard Stern show where Joey and Marky play golf with the first Bush and discuss getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Gilbert Gottfried when he hosted USA Up All Night pretends to be the fifth Ramone in between showing A Nightmare On Elm Street.

There are also 12 songs from a 1980 concert in Rome, deleted scenes and commentary from Johnny, Marky and director John Cafiero. Ramones Raw is a truly great collection. I watched the entire DVD in one sitting and I could have watched much more.

Not good.

[13Funbags · 2/10 · 16 October 2018]

The name John Cafiero tricked me into watching this. He's done some good stuff before, he deserved the chance. Well I will be much more cautious next time I see his name. This movie just jumps around and has the feel of a VHS compilation tape made by a 12 year old. If that's what he was going for, well then kudos. But I don't like it. The only good part was the extremely long Up All Night segment with Gil Ramone.

Only for the Die-Hards

[pinch1011 · 27 February 2005]

Even though I consider myself a pretty big Ramones fan, this movie fell short of what I was hoping it would be. It is in no way a documentary on the band. Instead it is merely a collection of Marky's home movies intercut with rare television appearances. There's no narative at all. About half way through, we decided to watch it with the optional commentary from Marky and Johnny. At least that gave it a little bit of clarity.

All in all, I don't think I would recommend this one to anyone other than a real die-hard completist Ramones fanatic.

Mike

aguante los Ramones!

[RainDogJr · 9/10 · 7 February 2012]

I just finished watching RAMONES RAW. And two weeks ago I watched for the very first time the Ramones documentary END OF THE CENTURY. The two are the ONLY stuff I have seen from this band, and the two are, thankfully, completely different from each other; "Raw" is much more in the "for the hard-core fan" vein, and while it does inform you (for instance, I didn't know about the Paul McCartney-inspired origin of the band's name!), it ain't a documentary. It could be easily part of the bonus material of END OF THE CENTURY, I mean, like a minor and really nice companion piece.

At one point of "Raw", near the ending, there's footage of a TV host talking about the band. He says something like "those home movie-making Ramones". Yes, the guys filmed a lot during their tours. And of course some of it is pure gold. Let me be clear: "Raw" is mostly a collection of footage of the band while on tour and many live performances. We see different kind of stuff, from the band warming-up prior a show to the band visiting a zoo! The negative things of "Raw" mostly come from the live performances. Don't get me wrong, the band is doing perfectly their thing, but sometimes the sound quality is not the best (like in "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World"). Also, I didn't particularly like is all the TV stuff. I mean, is great that we have footage of all kind, but is also inevitable that I was like "poor Ramones! What are they doing there?" once I got to see the s***** shows in which they appeared… the fifth Ramone? What the heck was that?

But aside of that, this is always entertaining. Terry Gilliam once made a reference to what Stanley Kubrick once said about SCHINDLER'S LIST. Kubrick's quote was something like this: "Spielberg's film is about success. The holocaust was about failure". While this has NOTHING to do with the Ramones, I just wanted to sort of use that quote and point out that while END OF THE CENTURY was more about cult-following and, at the same time, lack of recognition (just like I wrote in my comment for it), "Raw" is more about success. I mean, just the thing with the album "Mondo Bizarro" is quite interesting: while in "Century" it is barely mentioned (aside of having Johnny being like "I don't like it at all"), in "Raw" we have celebration towards it (thanks to its gold certification). What doesn't change is that thing about South America; here there's a lot of footage of the impressive reaction that fans in Argentina, Chile and Brazil had when the Ramones went there. I can relate to those fans waiting outside of the Ramones' hotel, hoping for an autograph or a photo, as I have done the same here in my city for Roger Waters and Pearl Jam! But obviously what we see here is something else, just f****** crazy. Also there are great images of lucky Japanese fans!

I really enjoyed RAMONES RAW. I could forget the stuff I didn't like with, for instance, footage of the Ramones playing "Take It As It Comes" by the Doors with *ROBBY KRIEGER*! So enjoy, there's plenty of material, there's the always-hilarious Dee Dee (he can be also a unintentionally funny rapper!), sound-checks and Lemmy f****** Kilmister! Oh, there's also some of the Ramones in the toilet, so you have been warned.

*Watched it on February 06, 2012

Live footage and looks behind the scenes with Ramones

[imdb-14432 · 5/10 · 9 July 2006]

I liked this movie. On the other hand I didn't buy it until it became available as a budget DVD (less than $10).

I liked the Ramones before, and I like them after seeing this movie.

It have a little bit of everything and no real deep, but that wasn't what I was looking for. Live footage, backstage footage, TV appearances, goofing around, "private" shots of the band etc. all you want from a Music DVD.

If you don't like Ramones don't buy this, if you like them do buy it. It won't change your life but you get a few hours of entertainment.. It's far better than watching a bad Hollywood movie or such.

short attention span theater

[Nameless_Numberhead_Man · 22 April 2005]

Hadn't listened to the Ramones in 10 years, but caught this on Trio -- definitely made for Ramones fetishists. To call Ramones Raw "well-edited" is awfully generous ... aside from the endearing sequence dealing with Joey's death, it's a formless cut-and-splice collage. Home video footage was given a sham MTV-treatment; scenes seem to average about five seconds each. I wished they'd let more clips ride for a while, get some context for the scenes (exception -- the many mob scenes where they're trying to ditch manic fans last forever). Raw seems stingy with the performances too -- twenty-five years of touring and we see songs from only about five concerts? But if this is what Marky wanted to make, so be it -- more power to him. You definitely get to cozy up to the band.