Happy 77th birthday, Bruce Springsteen! New movie (Part 2) and a great moviemaker's quote for today

Lights, camera(s,) ACTION! - from Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour (Philadelphia Freedom Cut) [part 2 of 4]

September 23, 2026

Well, to paraphrase what he sang in theTunnel of Love outtake "Lucky Man," Bruce Springsteen's odometer rolls straight sevens today. And without a shred of the dark irony to be found in that song, we are very glad to report that he is indeed a lucky man, and we are indeed lucky fans.

There's no better way to celebrate Bruce's 77th birthday today than watching the newly released film Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour (Philadelphia Freedom Cut) [part 2 of 4]. As is the case with ...part 1..., it has been made available at no charge for streaming via YouTube, Vevo, Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, and more. (Click here to explore your streaming options.)

You also can watch the film right here, in the Vevo/YouTube version embedded below. Picking up right where ...part 1... left off, it features professionally filmed versions of the next seven songs from the tour's "Philly Phinale" on May 30, 2026: "The Promised Land," "Two Hearts," "Hungry Heart," "Youngstown," "Murder Incorporated," "American Skin (41 Shots)," and "Long Walk Home."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OU91NR559A

It's very much Bruce's "birthday gift" to us, and - more important - our latest filmed reminder that as he begins today his 78th year on the planet, Bruce Springsteen remains an active, vital, and essential figure in American music. Yet again, we are very fortunate to now have this additional footage of Springsteen and his collaborators - from only a few months ago, even! - continuing to reach multiple generations of fans around the globe with a body of work that speaks so deeply and powerfully to the best of ourselves and the worst of ourselves: our greatest joys, sorrows, hopes, and fears. It hearkens back to what he was captured saying onstage at the end of the 2018 filmed version of Springsteen on Broadway: "I wanted to know my story, your story... and where were we going together as a people... More than anything else, I wanted to tell that story well to you." At least as far as we at Letters To You are concerned, he's been doing that successfully far more often than not for many, many years now, and is continuing to do so.

And finally, while we're remembering all the movies, for this special day we also found a perfect quote about being 77 years old from the late, great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who continued making films and writing scripts until his death at age 88. In 1988, on the occasion of fellow filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's 70th birthday, the Swedish Film Institute's magazine Chaplin published a special issue saluting Bergman. Included in the issue was an open letter to Bergman from Kurosawa, which read in part:

...Your work deeply touches my heart every time I see it and I have learned a lot from your works and have been encouraged by them. I would like you to stay in good health to create more wonderful movies for us...

I am now seventy-seven (77) years old and am convinced that my real work is just beginning.

Let us hold out together for the sake of movies.

With the warmest regards,

Akira Kurosawa

Happy 77th birthday, Bruce, and thanks for giving us fans so very much over the years. May your "real work" - in music, in the movies, and in real life - continue to entertain, uplift, and inspire us for many more years to come.