Sucker Punch Blues: A Look Back on John Huston's 'Fat City'

Sucker Punch Blues: A Look Back on John Huston's 'Fat City' 2017

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This brand new documentary takes a closer look at the production history, unique style, and lasting appeal of Fat City, as well as Leonard Gardner's novel that inspired it. Included in it are new interviews with actors Stacy Keach and Candy Clark, casting director Fred Roos, and camera assistant Gary Vidor.

2017

Cinema Redefined: Jacques Rivette's L'Amour Fou Revisited

Cinema Redefined: Jacques Rivette's L'Amour Fou Revisited 2024

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Robert Fischer’s CINEMA REDEFINED: JACQUES RIVETTE’S L’AMOUR FOU REVISITED features new interviews with star Jean-Pierre Kalfon; writer/director and Rivette collaborator Pascal Bonitzer; Rivette biographer Antoine de Baecque; critic/historian Sylvie Pierre; and archival footage of Jacques Rivette

2024

The Cinema and its Double: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 'Despair' Revisited

The Cinema and its Double: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 'Despair' Revisited 2011

6.50

This absolutely top-notch documentary by Robert Fischer is a fascinating look back at not just the film in question, but Fassbinder's meteoric career which ended all too soon with his untimely death. Archival footage of Fassbinder is utilized (including several fascinating snippets culled from interviews he did at the disastrous Cannes premiere of Despair), as well as many others involved in the film and its release. Even if you're not a particular fan of Despair, or even in fact of Fassbinder, this is stellar documentary film making and is an intriguing look at one of the most enigmatic masters of the New German Cinema.

2011

The Poet and the Filmmaker: Volker Schlöndorff on Baal

The Poet and the Filmmaker: Volker Schlöndorff on Baal 2015

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In this feature-length interview, conducted by Robert Fischer in February 2015, Volker Schlöndorff talks about the making of his film BAAL (1969), based on the first play ever written by Bertolt Brecht. He describes his working relationship with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his group of actors and how the Brecht family hated the film when it first came out, resulting in BAAL’s inavailability for over 40 years.

2015

Fassbinder in Hollywood

Fassbinder in Hollywood 2002

5.90

Though he never actually worked in Hollywood, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who died in 1982 at the age of 36, was influenced greatly by Amercian studio films of the 1950s and the convention of melodrama (the link most often mentioned is Douglas Sirk).

2002

Ted Kotcheff's Gourmet Cinema

Ted Kotcheff's Gourmet Cinema 2011

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Documentary interview the director Ted Kotcheff on his film 'Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?'

2011

Swan Song: The Story of Billy Wilder's Fedora

Swan Song: The Story of Billy Wilder's Fedora 2014

6.00

In retracing the making of FEDORA, Robert Fischer’s documentary SWAN SONG: THE STORY OF BILLY WILDERʼS FEDORA adds yet another layer of comment and reflection on the film’s very own subject matter: 35 years after playing the romantic leads in FEDORA, Marthe Keller and Michael York look back at working with Billy Wilder – and their careers. Additional testimonies come from acclaimed cinematographer Gerry Fisher, producer Harold Nebenzal, Paul Diamond (son of Wilder’s writing partner I.A.L. Diamond), and German actor Mario Adorf.

2014

Last of the Independents: Don Siegel and the Making of 'Charley Varrick'

Last of the Independents: Don Siegel and the Making of 'Charley Varrick' 2015

5.00

Don Siegel’s classic crime thriller "Charley Varrick," made in 1972 in the wake of the immensely successful "Dirty Harry," stars Walter Matthau in what is probably the actor’s finest dramatic role, airshow pilot turned crop duster turned bank robber turned mob target Charley Varrick. This feature-length documentary takes the viewer back to the time of the shooting of this cult item and features original interviews with Siegel’s son, Kristoffer Tabori, actors Andy Robinson and Jacqueline Scott, stunt driver and actor Craig R. Baxley, composer Lalo Schifrin and Howard A. Rodman, whose father co-wrote the screenplay.

2015

Cop Stories: The Making of Richard Fleischer’s ‘The New Centurions’

Cop Stories: The Making of Richard Fleischer’s ‘The New Centurions’ 2016

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Joseph Wambaugh wrote his first novel 'The New Centurions' while still active as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, and his fact-based, painfully realistic book became a nation-wide bestseller when it came out in 1971. Replacing heroic cops with struggling, psychologically damaged characters, Wambaugh changed crime literature forever. Richard Fleischer’s filming of Wambaugh’s novel, also called THE NEW CENTURIONS, followed a year later and, in turn, revolutionized crime movies. Featuring newly filmed interviews with writer Joseph Wambaugh, star Stacy Keach, technical advisor Richard E. Kalk (Wambaugh’s real-life LAPD partner) and assistant cameraman Ronald Vidor, COP STORIES: THE MAKING OF RICHARD FLEISCHER’S THE NEW CENTURIONS chronicles the production of that landmark film in all its stages from script to screen.

2016