‘I was definitely on another planet at the time,” Keith Richards now says of the aftermath of the disastrous 1969 Altamont concert, referring to his excessive drug use.

In the transfixing new 50th anniversary documentary “Crossfire Hurricane,” Richards and the other Rolling Stones recall their early years, from 1962 to 1978, as an otherworldly blur of nonstop drugs, alcohol, touring, and fan worship. And the HBO movie’s remarkable footage, with its steady images of snorting and drinking and toking, backs them up. In one glimpse backstage before a show, we see Mick Jagger change into a skintight onesy with waist sash and then snort powder from the sharp point of a switchblade.