Ronnie Gilbert Movies
- 2007
- PG
- Add Pete Seeger: The Power of Song to Queue Add Pete Seeger: The Power of Song to top of Queue
The reflective documentary Pete Seeger: The Power of Song explores the legacy of revered American folk singer and activist Seeger - written and directed by filmmaker Jim Brown when Seeger was in his late '80s. In lieu of recounting the narrative of Seeger's life note-for-note, however, Brown uses that individual biography as a contextual lens, through which he recounts decades of American social history. To tell his story, the filmmaker interpolates original, exclusive interviews with such Seeger contemporaries as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, archival footage of Seeger in concert, and extracts from Seeger's private home movies. In the process, Brown unveils the extent to which Seeger continually prompted societal change through his consciousness-raising music and offstage social efforts. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pete Seeger
Take a closer look at the women artists who changed the face of modern music in this documentary from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Dee Mosbacher. Before there was Ani Di Franco and Melissa Etheridge, female recording artists were struggling to shatter stereotypes and find an audience for their music. It was their sacrifices that made the careers of some of today's hottest female recording artists possible, and this is their film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Regina Louise, Linda Tillery, (more)
- 1999
- Add Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony to Queue Add Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony to top of Queue
Upon finding a written biography of pioneering women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, film producers Paul Barnes and Ken Burns (director of "The Civil War") were shocked and outraged that her story -- which is also that of Stanton's longtime friend and political partner Susan B. Anthony -- had been almost entirely omitted from their history courses. So together they began work on Not For Ourselves Alone: the story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a groundbreaking look at one of the greatest untold chapters in American history. Over a span of more than fifty years, Stanton and Anthony struggled ceaselessly to organize a movement for basic rights that would not be won until after their deaths. Their story is the story of freedom fighters everywhere, complete with tragedies, triumphs, and unconquerable hope -- but it is also the story of two passionate and talented women, whose close friendship sustained them in times of loneliness and despair. An unforgettably personal, inside look at the birth of the modern women's movement, this film is at once a study of where we have been and a profound reflection upon who and where we still are. Ideal for classroom and educational use. ~ Sarah Welsh, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sally Kellerman, Ronnie Gilbert, (more)
- 1991
The American Civil War divided the nation and produced profound and lasting changes in the lives of its people. The issues and emotions of the times are reflected in this collection of songs from the era. The longing of slaves for freedom, the defiance of the South for a dying way of life, and the cry for the Union preserved of the North were expressed in music. Folk singers including Judy Collins, Waylon Jennings, Ritchie Havens, and Kathy Mattea interpret music of the period, from the Spoon River Anthology to Underground Railroad coded message songs. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, Rovi
- 1990
In the late 1930s, Spain was embroiled in a civil war which prefigured the conflicts of World War II. A significant number of idealistic young Americans were appalled by the involvement of fascists and Nazis in that war and rushed to join a special unit fighting on the Republican side against them, called "The Abraham Lincoln Brigade." Public-spirited people of all political persuasions actively supported these efforts at the time, but in the McCarthy era of the late 1940s and early 1950s, the brigade was condemned because it had contained communists, and those who fought in it were blacklisted and even imprisoned. This documentary explores the subsequent careers of a number of those who fought in this famous group, including a 50th-anniversary reunion in Spain in 1986. Despite the hardships they endured, these aging political activists continued their activism in the U.S., and were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, among other causes. Spanish Civil War buffs will be intrigued by footage of La Passionaria (a very prominent Republican figure in the conflict) both during the war and during the 50th-anniversary reunion. This documentary was nominated for a 1991 Academy Award. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ronnie Gilbert
In this family drama from director Sidney Lumet, Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti play Arthur and Annie Pope, a pair of '60s radicals who have eluded the FBI for 16 years after bombing a napalm laboratory as a Vietnam War protest. This lifestyle involves continually moving their base of operations and establishing new identities, which is especially hard on their children, 18-year-old Danny (River Phoenix) and 10-year-old Harry (Jonas Abry), who can never amass a group of friends or an academic record. This last problem comes to the fore when they arrive in a New Jersey town where the high school music teacher (Ed Crowley) takes an interest in Danny's piano playing, encouraging him to apply for early admission to Juilliard. Danny yearns to follow this dream, but knows that separating from his parents would be a permanent break -- the aging hippies rarely even see their own parents, and can never inform anyone where they've moved. Arthur can't stand the idea of breaking up the family unit, which has provided the support that's allowed him to tolerate life on the move, but Annie sees her own sacrificed dreams in her son's prodigious musical talents, and begins pressuring Arthur to grant the boy his independence. Complicating factors, Danny has fallen in love with the daughter of his music teacher (Martha Plimpton), but can't allow himself to get too close to her, because he may have to leave again at any moment. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, (more)
Can an independent, contemporary woman find happiness with a guy who sells pickles? Isabelle Grossman (Amy Irving) is an attractive, intelligent Jewish woman in her early 30s. She has a good job and a nice apartment on the Upper West Side, and she values her independence; she often visits her grandmother Bubbie (Reiz Bozyk), who lives on the Lower East Side and wants Isabelle to meet a nice Jewish man and settle down. Bubbie goes so far as to obtain the services of Hannah Mandelbaum (Sylvia Miles), a matchmaker who finds the "perfect" man for Isabelle: a pickle salesman named Sam Posner (Peter Riegert). Isabelle thinks Sam is a nice enough guy, but she has a hard time imagining herself spending her life with the pickle man, and she isn't sure if she wants to pursue the relationship. However, Sam is taken with Isabelle and goes out of his way to change her mind. Crossing Delancy was directed by Joan Micklin Silver, whose breakthrough film Hester Street also examined Jewish culture on the Lower East Side, albeit from the vantage point of the 1890s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amy Irving, Reizl Bozyk, (more)
- 1985
- R
King of the City died on the vine when it was released under its original title in 1985; conditions hardly improved when it was reissued a year later as Club Life. Merely a recycling of the disco films of the 1970s, King of the City is lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing: one prominent TV reference book gave up on reciting its plot line, choosing instead to review the neon lighting! For what it's worth, the story involves Tom Parsekean (the idol of millions), who comes to LA to be an actor but winds up a bouncer in a disco owned by Tony Curtis. If you remain awake during the first minutes of King of the City, you'll get a kick out of Pat Ast, playing a lesbian bar owner. What Dee Wallace, who still had a career in 1985, is doing in this film is anybody's guess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1982
- PG
This is a tribute film to the first folk music group to break through to a wider audience, the Weavers, formed in the late '40s by Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert. In 1950, the group made history with their recording of the Leadbelly song "Goodnight, Irene," which stayed on top of the pop charts for an astonishing 13 weeks. Two years later, the Weavers ran afoul of anti-communist politicians and activists dedicated to rooting out all entertainers with affiliations or associations with that party. The Weavers were blacklisted for several years, then made a stunning comeback with a New Year's Eve 1955 concert at Carnegie Hall, which became their most popular recording. Seeger left the group in 1958 for a solo career, and the Weavers carried on with several lineups for another five years. For this film, the original quartet re-formed in 1981 and performed a final show at Carnegie Hall, with the ill Lee Hays in a wheelchair. He died before the film was released, and it's clear that, although Seeger went on to the greatest fame among the original members, Hays' spirit guided the group throughout its existence and fuels this film. Director Jim Brown mixes footage of the group in their heyday with reminiscences by the members as they prepare for their last waltz together. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, (more)
- 1968
Vanessa Redgrave stars in this film biography of the free-spirited modern interpretive dancer Isadora Duncan. Trained in classical dance, Duncan shattered the traditional conformities in her art and her personal life. The film begins at the end of her life as she recalls the past while dictating her memoirs to her male secretary. Her uninhibited sexuality and insistence on personal freedom and expression shocked more conservative and narrow-minded patrons and audiences. She brought in elements of classic Greek dance during the height of the jazz age and had children in and out of wedlock. Married to sewing-machine heir Paris Singer (Jason Robards) and the Russian poet Sergei Essenin (Ivan Tchenko), her life was a rollercoaster ride of success and tragic failures. Two of her children drowned when her chauffeur left the car unattended and the vehicle plunged into a river. Duncan lived by her own rules, often shunned by the very people who had so passionately embraced her pioneering efforts in dance, women's liberation and free thinking. Redgrave was nominated for an Oscar for her performance. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, John Fraser, (more)
- 1968
Inasmuch as Windflowers was also released as The Story of a Draft Dodger, it isn't difficult to figure out when it was filmed. This 1960s time capsule stars John Kramer as Paul Ramsey, who assumes an alias and goes on the run when Uncle Sam sends him "greetings." The film covers six years in Ramsey's life, charting his disenchantment with the Establishment and his gradual radicalization. Surprisingly, the word "Vietnam" is not mentioned once. Written, directed and edited by Adolfas Mekas, Windflowers sometimes resembles an experimental project cooked up by a college drama department. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pola Chapelle, Ronnie Gilbert, (more)
- 1946
Stalwart Universal contractees Don Porter and Brenda Joyce are afforded rare starring roles in Danger Woman. Porter plays scientist Claude Ruppert, who hopes to harness atomic energy for commercial purposes. Ruppert is in love with secretary June (Brenda Joyce), but is forced to end the relationship when his long-missing wife Eve (Patricia Morrison) makes a return appearance. Eve is in cahoots with a criminal cartel, intending to steal her husband's atomic secrets for an unnamed foreign power. But before one can say "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg", the villains are foiled by cunning Claude and dainty June. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Don Porter, Brenda Joyce, (more)
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