Fed up with waiting for the province or municipality to carry out repairs to Highway 63, some residents of Fort McMurray are taking matters into their own hands.
Fed up with waiting for the province or municipality to carry out repairs to Highway 63, some residents of Fort McMurray are taking matters into their own hands.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has announced that it has received a major gift of nearly 2,000 photographs, including important works by Nadar, Alfred Stieglitz, and Cindy Sherman.
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The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has announced that it has received a major gift of nearly 2,000 photographs, including important works by Nadar, Alfred Stieglitz, and Cindy Sherman.
James Gray has revealed that the released version of his 2019 Brad Pitt-starring “Ad Astra” was not his cut — and was actually made longer than he wanted by the studio, 20th Century Fox. Speaking in Cannes to Brut to promote his latest film at the festival, “Paper Tiger,” the director didn’t hold back when it […]
James Gray has revealed that the released version of his 2019 Brad Pitt-starring “Ad Astra” was not his cut — and was actually made longer than he wanted by the studio, 20th Century Fox. Speaking in Cannes to Brut to promote his latest film at the festival, “Paper Tiger,” the director didn’t hold back when it […]
On today’s Crew Call podcast straight from the Cannes Film Festival, we chat with director James Gray, who returned to the Croisette with his sixth feature, the competition title Paper Tiger. Also on today’s episodes are his producers, Oscar winner Anthony Katagas and Oscar nominee Rodrigo Teixeira, who talk about mounting the filmmaker’s penchant for […]
On today’s Crew Call podcast straight from the Cannes Film Festival, we chat with director James Gray, who returned to the Croisette with his sixth feature, the competition title Paper Tiger. Also on today’s episodes are his producers, Oscar winner Anthony Katagas and Oscar nominee Rodrigo Teixeira, who talk about mounting the filmmaker’s penchant for […]
In 2027 Michael B. Jordan will direct and star in the second remake of the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair. The story is about a wealthy thief who pulls daring heists, and the romance that develops between him and a female investigator. Jordan, who won an Academy Award in 2026 for his performance in Sinners, has been wanting to play Thomas Crown since 2016.
LIFE staff photographer Bill Ray was on the set of the original movie, and he captured the chemistry that Jordan will be aspiring to e
In 2027 Michael B. Jordan will direct and star in the second remake of the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair. The story is about a wealthy thief who pulls daring heists, and the romance that develops between him and a female investigator. Jordan, who won an Academy Award in 2026 for his performance in Sinners, has been wanting to play Thomas Crown since 2016.
LIFE staff photographer Bill Ray was on the set of the original movie, and he captured the chemistry that Jordan will be aspiring to equal.
The first movie starred Steve McQueen, an iconic actor who is the subject of the three best-selling images in the LIFE photo store. His opposite number in their cat-and-mouse pursuit was Faye Dunaway, who was coming off a star-making performance in Bonnie and Clyde. McQueen and Dunaway’s scene together in a sauna was the centerpiece of Bill Ray’s photo shoot.
But while the actors were prominent in the photos that ran in LIFE, the star of the accompanying article was director Norman Jewison, who was a hot property at the time because his previous movie, In the Heat of the Night, had just won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Jewison was in his first decade of what would be a long Hollywood career that included such films as Moonstruck (1987) and The Hurricane (1999). LIFE honored Jewison’s prowess with an article formatted as if it were the script for a documentary about him.
For instance, the article included in its “dialogue” this quote from Jewison as he was in the process of directing Dunaway and McQueen in one of the movie’s steamier scenes:
The script calls for “chess with sex.” I like that…Faye, you are playing chess, but there is another game going on. Without thinking, your right hand goes up your left arm, lightly caressing, to your throat…Steve, let’s see your eyes follow her hand…You’re up to the shoulder, across to the neck. She looks up and catches you watching. (Jewison laughs). Good. You’re embarrassed. You smile and look down. Great!
The stars of the movie had relatively few lines in the LIFE story. Dunaway said of Jewison, “He’s the only man I’ve ever known who has no hostility in him. He’s all love.” McQueen, complaining about how long Jewison kept him on set in pursuit of a scene, said “I hate him, but I love him.”
The Woodstock music festival was one of the signature moments the 1960s. Site owner Max Yasgur, a farmer and the concert site owner, memorably declared that the gathering proved that “a half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music.”
Woodstock’s success naturally inspired imitators, but the magic was hard to recapture. The Altamont concert later that year famously turned deadly when a member of Hell’s Angels, who had b
The Woodstock music festival was one of the signature moments the 1960s. Site owner Max Yasgur, a farmer and the concert site owner, memorably declared that the gathering proved that “a half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music.”
Woodstock’s success naturally inspired imitators, but the magic was hard to recapture. The Altamont concert later that year famously turned deadly when a member of Hell’s Angels, who had been hired for security, stabbed an audience member near the stage as the Rolling Stones performed.
Another music festival, the Celebration of Life in June 1971, is not as well-remembered as Altamont, but it was such a disaster that it helped put an end to the music festivals for a while.
The Celebration of Life had to change locations three times due to local resistance before finding a last-minute home on a remote tract of land in McCrea, Louisiana, about 60 miles north of Baton Rouge. The festival was scheduled for eight days but started late and shut down halfway through, with the IRS placing a tax lien that froze the organizers’ bank accounts. Performers who did get on the stage included Chuck Berry, the Stephen Stills Band, and Ike & Tina Turner. But others who had been promoted on the bill but never made the stage included Pink Floyd, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers and Miles Davis.
Most tragically, multiple attendees drowned in a river that bordered the festival site while seeking refuge from Louisiana’s summer heat.
Even before it opened, last week’s rock festival in McCrea, La., was a disaster. The stage collapsed while it was under construction, and when it was fixed, the sound system failed. Most of the previously advertised talent didn’t show up, food was overpriced, water was scarce, and sanitation facilities inadequate. The temperature soared over 100 degrees. Within four days there had been five deaths—four drownings and a drug overdose—and what the crowd wanted most was to go home.
While some later reports lowered the number of confirmed deaths to two, this was a brutal event by any accounting.
LIFE staff photographer Bill Ray appears to have arrived in McCrea after the music stopped, but he captured some of the aftermath of the Celebration of Life, including concertgoers, many of them nude, trying to cool down in the river. Ray also took many shots of people looking to hitch a ride home, holding up signs requesting transport to such locations as Virginia, Miami and New Mexico—a testament to how far people had traveled to get there. The happiest images he shot were of people who had been picked up and were on their way home.
In 2013 a 32-minute documentary called McCrea 1971 reviewed what went wrong with Celebration of Life, and the problems began with its hasty setup. In one historic clip a promoter said, “It takes about a month to set up a festival, but we’ll try to do it in about three days.” A local who attended the festival talked about the folly of festival goers swimming in a river that people from the area knew to be a “death trap.” He said, “I know of no one I have ever met who would willingly get in and swim in the Atchafalaya River.”
In 2018 Rolling Stone magazine ran its own retrospective on the Celebration of Life and talked about how out of hand things got. Because of the heat performances that were originally planned to start during the day shifted to the overnight, leaving attendees with nothing to do all day. Makeshift boulevards called “Smack Street” and “Cocaine Alley” cropped up on the festival site. Stunningly, given what happened at Altamont, festival organizers hired the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club for security and its members reportedly became abusive with attendees.
LIFE magazine’s wish that music festivals go away for a while came to fruition. And while festivals have made a major comeback in recent years, they now look very different, with stronger organizations behind them. Some complain about how corporate they have become, with special bleachers for VIPs and so on. However you feel about that, it’s worth remembering that a more loosely organized gathering can come with its own hazards—sometimes big ones.
The ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival, after several late location changes, took place in McCrea, Louisiana, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers sought relief from the sweltering heat at the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers sought relief from the sweltering heat at the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrea, Louisiana, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrea, Louisiana, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers looked for rides home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers caught a ride home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Concertgoers caught a ride home after the ill-fated Celebration of Life music festival in McCrae, Louisiana was cut short, 1971.
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