The very first full-length documentary on Scorsese offers an invaluable look at how he was perceived by his colleagues, and himself, in 1977. Catching Scorsese while while he was in post-production on New York, New York and editing The Last Waltz, British filmmaker Peter Hayden gets the manically hyper Scorsese to comment on his youth, his relation to his lead characters, and most importantly, his approach to direction. The doc doesn’t quite move at the pace of Scorsese’s revved-up speed-talking, but it does offer some real insight into his productivity in the 1970s, thanks to an impressive array of talking heads. Included are Scorsese’s collaborators Jay Cocks, Mardik Martin, Brian De Palma, Steven Prince (who co-produced this doc), and his mentor John Cassavetes. Also the performers, who discuss his working methods in detail — Jodie Foster, Liza Minnelli, and, of course, Robert De Niro.
Month: July 2021
The Mexican Tapes is an acclaimed series of four videos which portray Louis Hock’s growing friendship and empathy with his Mexican neighbors in San Diego in the 1980s, his acceptance into their community, and an examination of their day-to-day struggles.
Produced at the height of Japan’s economic boom of the 1980’s, Yama documents the struggles of unionised day-labourers in the San’ya district of Tokyo, on the frontlines of a violent class war. It is a film for the workers, intended to function as a weapon in their struggle – one that cost director Sato his life. On December 22 1985, during filming, he was murdered by Yakuza gangsters whom Sato intended to expose for their criminal involvement in the restructuring of the job market. A collective of directors headed by Kyoichi Yamaoka finished the film, before Yamaoka, too, was later murdered.
Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll is the definitive story of the rock music phenomenon – a highly-entertaining chronicle of 25 years of music and youth in action. The basic ingredients of this special are those rarely-seen film performances that are the milestones of rock history – the greatest stars at their greatest moments. From the vaults of the major motion picture studios comes a wealth of classic footage on film and on tape. And, from a variety of independent sources, this visual history offers newsreel, cinema trailers, interviews, rehearsals and rare private footage.
Song-and-dance girls Curly and Stormy Tornado hide out with the guys at Bristol College when they know they can identify the killer of a fellow performer at their San Francisco cabaret. But they rather stand out in their stage costumes and soon all sorts of trouble is heading their way.
Deke, a 17 year-old itinerant orphan from a boy’s home, is arrested by the authorities after he stops Art Finney, a trainer for a wealthy California dog breeder, Andrew Garrett, from shooting “Rock”, a renegade English setter and alleged animal killer. Garrett has Deke remanded to his custody and gives him a job assisting an uncooperative Finney and also working with Rock, whom Deke asserts can become a fine hunting dog.
A Sydney newspaper reporter has a problem: women find him irresistible. Separated from his wife and daughter, he has an ongoing relationship with a colleague and numerous other affairs. Juggling this complicated life, he encounters further difficulty when a pompous political writer becomes editor of his newspaper.