| Director | James Mangold |
|---|---|
| Genre | biographical film, drama film, musical film |
| Runtime | 141 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $140.5 million |
In 1961, Bob Dylan hitchhikes to New York City to meet his music idol, Woody Guthrie, who is dying slowly of Huntington's disease. Dylan meets Guthrie in the hospital with Guthrie's friend, the folk singer and activist Pete Seeger. Dylan performs "Song to Woody," a song he had written for Guthrie, impressing Guthrie and Seeger, who invites Dylan to stay with his family, introducing the young musician to New York City's folk scene.
Following a performance by Joan Baez, Seeger introduces Dylan at an open mic club attended by industry executives. Dylan flirts with Baez and impresses the crowd, prompting the music manager Albert Grossman to take him on as a client. Dylan begins work on an album but is forced by his label to record mostly covers and traditional folk songs. The record's sales are poor, frustrating Dylan.
Dylan meets Sylvie Russo at a church folk music night, charming her with his contrarian opinions and tales of working at a carnival. The two begin a relationship, and he moves into her apartment. Before she leaves on a 2-month college trip to Rome, they argue; Sylvie is upset by his aloof and opaque nature, especially about his past. Despite this, she encourages him to record his original music.
Influenced by political and social unrest, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and John F. Kennedy's assassination, Dylan produces a series of socially conscious folk songs. This draws significant attention, including from Joan Baez and Johnny Cash. Dylan's album begins to sell well, and he receives his first royalty check for $10,000. Baez and Bob begin an affair and collaboration, while Cash becomes his "pen pal."
Dylan brings Sylvie to the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, hoping to rekindle his relationship with her. Upon watching Dylan's duet with Baez on "It Ain't Me Babe", Sylvie realizes she will never be comfortable in their relationship and breaks off their relationship.
Having achieved fame but not artistic freedom, Dylan laments that he is beholden to the expectations of the industry and fans. On tour with Baez, Dylan and Baez argue over his ego and his refusal to play his popular songs instead of new material, and Dylan walks offstage mid-performance.
Dylan experiments with electric guitar and a young rock band, a controversial direction within the folk scene. He pieces together his band and begins recording Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan's new direction concerns some on the planning committee for the upcoming 1965 Newport Folk Festival, as they hired him to headline the event.
The committee demands Dylan play only folk music, and Seeger reminds Dylan that his own life's work is on the line. An intoxicated Johnny Cash encourages Dylan to play the electric show, and Dylan goes through with his plan. The crowd reacts with vitriol. The committee, including Seeger, attempts to cut the sound but is stopped by Grossman and Seeger's wife Toshi. Dylan refuses a request from the festival organizers to perform a folk song as an encore but relents when Cash offers him his own acoustic guitar.
The next morning, as Dylan is leaving Newport, Baez catches him and remarks that he has won the freedom he wanted. Dylan visits Guthrie and listens to a recording of "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh," one of Guthrie's songs, before leaving town on his motorcycle.
Onscreen text reveals that Dylan released Highway 61 Revisited a month later, which topped the charts. Seeger and Dylan reunited in 1968, and Seeger continued to play folk music and advocate for civil rights until his death in 2014, as did Baez. Since 1965, Dylan has released 55 albums and is the only songwriter in history to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, though he did not attend the ceremony.