HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT

(1986) Director: Jeff Krulik, John Heyn

DVD
NETFLIX

SUMMARY:

Shot in 1986 in the parking lot of a Maryland arena before a Judas Priest concert, this cult classic captures some of the most devoted metalhead fans in all their unbridled, mulleted splendor. In addition to its quotable musings on the rock 'n' roll lifestyle's allure, the profanity-peppered film also serves as a time capsule of bad 1980s fashion, complete with acid-washed jeans, Spandex, teased-out perms and badass muscle cars.

VIDEO: VARIOUS CLIPS









REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

Official site
Interview with director Jeff Krulik
Interview with director John Heyn

NOTES:

In 2004, Trio aired the TV series Parking Lot, which expanded on the 1986 documentary. Created & co-produced by the original filmmakers, John Heyn & Jeff Krulik, eight episodes were broadcast before Trio TV went off the air in 2006. Parking Lot webisodes are available HERE.

HARLAN COUNTY USA

(1976) Director: Barbara Kopple

NETFLIX
DVD

SUMMARY:

This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA.

VIDEO: TRAILER



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

Roger Ebert review
AV Club review
Video interview with director Barbara Kopple

NOTES:

• Other Barbara Kopple credits: American Dream (Director), Shut Up & Sing (Director), Winter Soldier (Producer), Gimme Shelter (Production Assistant)
• When filming began, the film was intended to be about the 1972 campaign by Arnold Miller and Miners For Democracy to unseat UMWA president Tony Boyle, in the aftermath of Joseph Yablonski's murder; but the Harlan County strike began and caused the filmmakers to change their principal subject, with the campaign and murder becoming secondary subjects. (From Rogerebert.com)
• 1977 winner Best Documentary Academy Award
• It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten. "I found out later that they planned to kill us that day," Kopple said later, in a discussion I chaired at the Filmmakers' Lodge. "They wanted to knock us out because they didn't want a record of what was happening." But her cinematographer, Hart Perry, got an unforgettable shot of an armed company employee driving past in his pickup, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. (From Rogerebert.com)
  
• "I accept any and all kinds of documentaries," she said. " 'Harlan County' came out of the tradition of Albert Maysles and Leacock and Pennebaker, documentarians who went somewhere and stayed there and watched and listened and made a record of what happened. That is one approach. There are others, just as valid. All that matters is making a good film." (From Rogerebert.com)

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS

(2006) Director: James Longley

DVD
NETFLIX

SUMMARY:

Iraq in Fragments illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Filmed in verité style with no scripted narration, the film explores the lives of ordinary Iraqis to illustrate and give background to larger trends in Iraqi society.

VIDEO: FULL FEATURE



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

A.O. Scott New York Times review
Noel Murray A.V. Club review
Video interview with director James Longley

NOTES:

• 300 hours of material was filmed in Iraq over a period of more than two years for this production. 1600 pages of typed transcripts, translations of material from Arabic and Kurdish, were made before picture and sound editing could begin.
  
• The film was originally intended as a multi-part series on Iraq but was later shortened into a single film when the country became too dangerous to work in.
• Four complete chapters were edited for the film, but only three chapters are included in the final version. The missing chapter deals with the struggle of an Iraqi woman whose 10-year-old son is dying of AIDS.
  
• James Longley traveled to Iraq twice prior to the 2003 war but was unable to begin principal photography until the Saddam Hussein regime collapsed in April 2003.
• Nominated for Best Feature Documentary at 2007 Academy Awards
• Also by James Longley: Gaza Strip (Trailer)
  

NIMROD NATION

(2007) Directors:
Matthew Akers, Benjamin Wolf, Jeff Fisher, Erica Forstadt, Todd Lubin, Brett Morgen, Christo Garcia

DVD
Netflix

SUMMARY:

A documentary about the Watersmeet high school basketball team--and the people who intensely support it...

“Nimrod Nation” loosely follows the fortunes of the Watersmeet boys’ basketball team through the 2005-2006 season. Along the way it paints an unvarnished portrait of everyday life in a rugged northwoods town, the good, the bad, the indifferent.

VIDEO:

Episode 1 preview
Episode 2 preview
Episode 3 preview
Episode 4 preview
Episode 5 preview
Episode 6 preview
Episode 7 preview
Episode 8 preview

REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Interview with director Brett Morgen at filmstew.com
• Other films by Brett Morgen:

• On the Ropes (TRAILER)
  
• The Kid Stays in the Picture (FULL FEATURE)
• Chicago 10 (TRAILER)

NOTES:

Nimrod Nation was spun out of some ESPN commercials that aired during Super Bowl week, 2003. The idea behind that ad campaign was to underscore how much athletic competition means in American life.
Freelance producer Brett Morgen looked for high schools with unusual mascot names, and, not surprisingly, seized on the Nimrods. “Without sports,” the ads asked, “who would cheer for the Nimrods?”
Rooted in the Book of Genesis, the figure Nimrod is a mighty hunter. More recent colloquial use has, of course, twisted the name to mean bumbling idiot. These days the term has produced plenty of attention for Watersmeet Township School. After the commercials aired, team members and Coach George Peterson appeared on CBS’ Early Show, then The Tonight Show.
Since 2004, more than $550,000 worth of Nimrod apparel has been sold--not bad for a K-12 program with 79 high school students. And those sales were racked up without even trying--enterprising customers tracked down Watersmeet Schools through the web.

MUSTANG: THE HOUSE THAT JOE BUILT

(1978) Director: Robert Guralnick

Not Available on DVD. Post a comment for info on how to see the film.

SUMMARY:

The inside story of America's first and biggest legal brothel!

The State of Nevada in the U.S. permitted legal prostitution beginning in 1970. This '76 documentary explores the lifestyle of the denizens of the largest brothel in that state, the Mustang Bridge Ranch, founded by the colorful entrepreneur Joe Conforte. Off-duty girls talk about all but their kinkiest customers in a revealing way and discuss their own backgrounds. Several clients also discuss the ranch. Mr. Conforte (who okayed the film) is shown living extravagantly and happily on the proceeds of their labors.

VIDEO:



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Review from Shock Cinema magazine

NOTES:

• The original 'Cathouse'
  
• Nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Documentary
• Music composed by Carmine Coppola
• History of the Mustang Ranch

ROLLING STONES DOCUMENTARIES

SUMMARY:

THE ROLLING STONES ROCK AND ROLL CIRCUS is a film released in 1996 of a December 11, 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage, and included acts such as Eric Clapton, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a supergroup called The Dirty Mac, along with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards. It was originally meant to be aired on the BBC, but the Rolling Stones withheld its airing and release. MORE

FULL FEATURE

COCKSUCKER BLUES is an unreleased documentary film directed by Robert Frank chronicling The Rolling Stones' North American tour in 1972 in support of their album Exile on Main Street. MORE

FULL FEATURE
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6

SHINE A LIGHT is a 2008 film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting two 2006 performances that took place during rock and roll band The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour. It also includes archive footage from the band's career. The film takes its title from the song of the same name, featured on the band's 1972 album Exile on Main St. MORE

FULL FEATURE

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL is the title of a producer's edit of a 1968 film by Jean-Luc Godard whose own original version is called One Plus One. The film, a depiction of the late 1960s American counterculture, also featured the Rolling Stones in the process of recording the song in the studio. On the filming, Jagger said in Rolling Stone: "... [it was] very fortuitous, because Godard wanted to do a film of us in the studio. I mean, it would never happen now, to get someone as interesting as Godard. And stuffy. We just happened to be recording that song. We could have been recording 'My Obsession.' But it was 'Sympathy for the Devil,' and it became the track that we used." MORE

FULL FEATURE

GIMME SHELTER is a 1970 documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, chronicling the Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour, which culminated in the disastrous Altamont Free Concert. The film is named after "Gimme Shelter", the lead track from the Rolling Stones' 1969 album Let It Bleed. MORE

FULL FEATURE

THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS

(1981) Director: Robert Fortier

DVD

SUMMARY:

Devil at Your Heels, traces the trials of stuntman Ken Carter who attempts a death defying aerial jump in a car. Not content with a normal jump, Ken Carter attempts a jump from Canada to the USA.

VIDEO:

Opening



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Review of THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS from The Australian
• Rotten tomatoes reviews

NOTES:

Ken Carter quotes:

• "I'm looking for the ultimate statement: 'Ken Carter, World's Greatest Daredevil.'
• "I still believe Evel Knievel is the second best daredevil in the world.'

AMERICAN BOY: A PROFILE OF STEVEN PRINCE

(1978) Director: Martin Scorsese

Not Available on DVD. Post a comment for info on how to see the film.

SUMMARY:

In the home of actor George Memmoli, Steven Prince (best known for his small role as Easy Andy, the gun salesman in 'Taxi Driver') discusses his past before an audience including Martin Scorsese, Memmoli and several of their friends. Prince is a raconteur telling wild stories about his life as an ex-drug addict and road manager for Neil Diamond. Scorsese intersperses home movies of Prince as a child as he talks about his family.

VIDEO:

Full Feature



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• 'It's Not Just You, Marty - Scorsese and meatballs: Classic '70s docs illuminate the director's persona and themes' Village Voice article

NOTES:

• When talking of his years as a heroin addict, Prince tells a story about injecting adrenaline into the heart of a woman who overdosed, with the help of a medical dictionary and a Magic Marker. This story was re-enacted by Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction.
• Photographed by Michael Chapman whos credits with Martin Scorsese include 'Taxi Driver', 'The Last Waltz' and 'Raging Bull'
• Steven Prince also appears in Richard Linklater's 'Waking Life'
• The film was shot over the course of one night at the home of George Memmoli. Due to injuries sustained in an accident during the production of the movie 'The Farmer', Memmoli had to decline the part of the disturbed passenger in 'Taxi Driver' that was ultimately played by the film's director Martin Scorsese.
• Neil Young - Time Fades Away (Featured in film)
  

WERNER HERZOG DOCUMENTARIES 1968 - 1984

Director: Werner Herzog

DVD

SUMMARY:

One of the greatest and most original of documentary filmmakers - a celluloid conquistador with an extreme and tragic sense of life. - Village Voice

Werner Herzog is a cinematic hero, a true documentary cinema artist and one of the planet's most important post-war European filmmakers. - IDFA

VIDEO:

• Last Words 1968
• Measures Against Fanatics 1969
• Fata Morgana 1971
• Land of silence and darkness 1971
• Great ecstasy of the sculptor Steiner 1974
• How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck 1976
• God's angry man 1980
• Ballad of the little soldier 1984

Other films from this period (No video)

• The Flying Doctors of East Africa 1969
• Handicapped Future 1971
• La Soufrière 1977
• Huie's Predigt 1980

REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• IDFA Masterclass with Werner Herzog (VIDEO interview 2 hours)

NOTES:

• 'Minnesota declaration: truth and fact in documentary cinema'
• Herzog, who dismisses "so-called cinema vérité" as "the truth of accountants," maintains that his own documentaries are predicated on "imagination" and "fabrication."
• "Perhaps I seek certain utopian things, space for human honour and respect, landscapes not yet offended, planets that do not exist yet, dreamed landscapes. Very few people seek these images today." - Werner Herzog
• Health - "Heaven" music video made from footage taken from 'Great ecstasy of the sculptor Steiner'
  

LONG GONE

(2003) Directors: Jack Cahill, David Eberhardt

Not Available on DVD. Post a comment for info on how to see the film.

SUMMARY:

David Eberhardt and Jack Cahill spent seven years riding the rails, asking for spare change and swapping stories around campfires with train hoppers. Their labors are repaid with a mesmerizing documentary full of touching characters and beautiful landscapes.

Dog Man Tony is known for his unwavering honesty and fierce temper. New York Slim speaks in great parables. Joshua Long Gone and Horizontal John are a gray-bearded Huck and Tom. As these real-life characters and many others make their way to nowhere in particular, breathtaking cinematography (which earned top honors at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival) captures a perspective of the United States -- spectacular sunsets over rocky peaks, vibrant green plains, desolate cityscapes -- that could only be seen from a rail car and sets it to haunting original songs by Tom Waits.

The promise of freedom is as romantic as a Beat Generation travelogue, but real life for the train hoppers is far from ideal. They have run-ins with family members and police; they pick food from trash cans; and way too may are alcoholics and addicts. Yet they know they've been discarded by mainstream society, which makes their bond to one another that much stronger. Many are also former military men, and that experience is born out in the stories, rituals, and honor among them as their paths cross beside the tracks.

Long Gone poignantly captures a marginalized homeless group for which misconceptions have far too often prevailed and shows that the yearning for community doesn't change much from person to person, even if the definition of community does. -Sean Fowler for the Tribeca Film Festival

VIDEO:

A scene from LONG GONE



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Film Threat magazine review
• The Independent Film & Video Monthly November 2003

NOTES:

NPR audio interview with directors Jack Cahill and David Eberhardt