The Real Bob Dylan

Pitting Bob Dylan's screen appearances against those who've played him in movies.

Dylan as Renaldo, “Renaldo and Clara” (1978) vs. Ronnie Hawkins as Bob Dylan, “Renaldo and Clara” (1978)

Sam Shepard co-wrote the balladeer’s little-seen, schizophrenic tangle of concert footage (from his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour), home-movie indulgence, doc footage about Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and half-stoned fictional bits played by famous backstagers — including ex-wife Sara Dylan, ex-lover Joan Baez and Harry Dean Stanton as an escaped convict. Like a poor man’s Robert Downey Sr. film, it’s a countercultural curiosity at best, not least for having the last known footage of activist folkster Phil Ochs. Bearded, burly bluesman Hawkins “plays” Dylan after a clueless announcer accidentally mistakes him in a genuine caught moment, but his subsequent scenes have little to do with the fleeting joke. The Real Dylan, on the other hand, couldn’t come off any more pretentious, but who cares? He doesn’t just sing, he sermonizes “Isis,” rejiggers “It Ain’t Me Babe” to pulsate, and starts the show in a plastic Halloween mask over a face full of clown white.

Winner: Real Bob Dylan

[Additional photos: "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid," MGM, 1973; "Factory Girl," Weinstein Co., 2006; "Masked and Anonymous," Sony Pictures Classics, 2003; "Tunnel Vision," International Harmony, 1976]

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