It has been widely pointed out that Gimme Shelter is a highly structured film, intercutting events widely separated both spatially and temporally. This is a throwback to early Drew Associates techniques (especially in Primary, Eddie, Football, The Chair, and Crisis) of sending out as many camera teams as you can to get a larger view of an event than is possible for any single witness and then wait until editing to fit all the jigsaw pieces together. By adding the dimension of filmed participants viewing themselves some time later (a la Rouch-and-Morin's Chronique d'un Été), the Maysles further complicate the levels of action. At any rate, Gimme Shelter's structure seems not so much complex as overly intricate. For some strange reason, however, no one has asked why Gimme Shelter is put together this way, especially in view of the structural simplicity of earlier Maysles work.

While it...