Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (film)

1983 documentary by D. A. Pennebaker
the 1983 soundtrack album to the film

The full length 90 minute film spent years in post production before finally having its theatrical premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival on 31 August 1979. Prior to the premiere, the 35 mm film had been shown in 16 mm format a few times, mostly in United States college towns. In 1983, the film was finally theatrically released worldwide, corresponding with the release of its soundtrack album entitled Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture. The following year, in 1984, the film was released to home video under the title, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture. It was first released on DVD in 1998. A 4K remaster, which re incorporates Jeff Beck's performances, was released in July 2023.

Early in 1972, Bowie had taken the stage persona of Ziggy Stardust, a science fiction based, theatrical, enigmatic, androgynous character, and produced two hit albums during this period. By July 1973, the Ziggy Stardust Tour had taken Bowie to promote his albums for nearly a year without a break. The 3 July show at the Hammersmith Odeon was the last show on the tour, which also promoted his 1973 album Aladdin Sane and the 60th gig in a tour of Britain that had started on 12 May, though an American tour was already being booked for the autumn. Very few people knew that Bowie had decided to drop the Ziggy persona and stop performing for a while. Within his own entourage, Bowie had told only his then manager Tony DeFries and one member of his band, Mick Ronson. Near the end of the evening, in a "Farewell Speech" aptly just before the song "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide", Bowie announced, "Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do." The phrasing was deliberately ambiguous, but most of the audience and many newspapers and magazines took it to mean that Bowie was retiring from music. In fact, he had killed off his Ziggy persona but not his music career. Pennebaker had only scant knowledge of Bowie's music, apart from Space Oddity, and initially thought he was going to be filming Marc Bolan. After seeing Bowie's 2 July London show and the next morning's rehearsal, Pennebaker was impressed by Bowie's onstage charisma and the range of his songs. He quickly prepared to film the entire 3 July show, realising that "there was a full length film here asking to be made". MainMan, Bowie's management company, reportedly "paid a small fortune" to finance the film, which they hoped to recoup through a theatrical release soon after the tour. Pennebaker stated in a 2016 interview and on the commentary track for the 2003 DVD film release that he did not have advance knowledge of Bowie's "last show" announcement (called the "Farewell Speech" in the track lists for the film and soundtrack album). Recording the sound also presented challenges, with Pennebaker having to conceal additional microphones onstage and in the mixing board, and integrate the sound of the audience, recorded with a stereo pair of microphones, with the audio from the concert stage. Despite these techniques, Pennebaker has acknowledged that the resulting film was "very sloppy". Jeff Beck accepted an invitation to appear with the band, without knowing the show would be filmed. He played guitar on three songs, two of them forming a medley. Beck appeared in the version of the film shown on ABC TV in 1974, but was removed from the final cut of the film at his own request, Sources have variously said that Beck was not happy with his performance and/or his clothes, and that he was concerned about possible harm to his image from appearing in a glam rock film. Pennebaker had experimental filmmaker Robert Breer rotoscope Bowie for possible inclusion into the film. The rotoscoping was completed, but not used in the film.

After completing the film, the filmmakers arranged some screenings of a 16 mm version, mostly in American college towns, but did not release the film to theatres. Pennebaker has said that he had difficulty finding a distributor for the Ziggy Stardust film, which was necessary because RCA had commissioned the film as a short product test with no plans to distribute it, and Pennebaker at that time lacked the knowledge or ability to distribute the film himself. According to Pennebaker, distributors disliked handling this type of film, and changes in the distribution system had made it more difficult to get an independent film into theaters. The film also features a brief cameo by Ringo Starr.

The complete track listing below appears on the 2003 30th Anniversary DVD release. and poor audio. Bowie's performance in the film, especially during the first part of the show, has also been criticized as being stiff and lacking in enthusiasm, perhaps due to his loss of interest in his Ziggy persona. Others have complained that the intercutting between audience and stage is distracting and that too much footage of the fans, particularly emotional teenage girls, was included in the finished film. The 2023 remaster received a five out of five star rating from The Guardian Peter Bradshaw, commending the film for presenting a "new raw intimacy" in the "familiar" songs. The initial 1983 home video release of the film was popular with viewers, reaching number 1 on the UK video charts The 2002 theatrical re release of the film grossed approximately $162,500 domestically.