Bob Gruen Movies
- 2011
This unconventional concert film captures a September 3, 2010 show from Iggy & the Stooges, captured by six fans who were randomly selected before the show began. The amateur footage of the band ripping through all the songs from Raw Power helps augment the band's signature sound. The setlist includes "Raw Power," "Search and Destroy," "Death Trip," "Fun House," and "I Wanna Be Your Dog." ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Williamson, Scott Asheton, (more)
- 2008
In the mid-1990's, when Rudy Guiliani took over as mayor of New York City, he began a campaign to clean up the city, shutting down many of New York's sex clubs and wilder nightspots while turning the Times Square area into a Disney-friendly tourist destination. However, not every New Yorker was happy about the heavy hand being put upon the city's libertine community (especially given the cleanup's emphasis on gay clubs), and Michael Schmidt, a Big Apple party promoter, began staging regular parties at a Tribeca club called Don Hill's as an act of defiance against the new PG-rated New York. "Squeezebox" was originally intended to be a night where drag queens would give up lip-synching to records for the night and belt out their favorite tunes to the accompaniment of a rock band, but in time it grew into an "anything goes" showcase in which gays, straights, punks and club kids mingled in a party that celebrated freedom and self-expression for all as well as a wild good time. John Cameron Mitchell's acclaimed show Hedwig and the Angry Inch began as a workshop production at Squeezebox, and performers who graced the Squeezebox stage included Deborah Harry, Boy George, Jayne County and Antony Hegarty (who would later gain fame with his group Antony and the Johnsons). Filmmakers Steve Saporito, Zach Shaffer and Sean Pierce tell the story behind New York's wildest party and talk to a number of the people who made it possible in the documentary SqueezeBox, which received its world premiere as a special Midnight attraction at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld offer a compelling look at the efforts of the United States government to silence one of rock & roll's most outspoken war critics in this documentary detailing the Vietnam-era struggle between the Richard Nixon administration and iconic peace activist John Lennon. The Vietnam War was raging and the nightly news was filled with stories of failed offensives and massacred U.S. troops. As anti-war protests back home gained momentum, it was the hopeful voice of former Beatle Lennon that served to perfectly encapsulate the frustrations felt by many citizens that the U.S. had gotten caught up in an quagmire from which there was seemingly no end in sight. There's a high price to be paid for standing strong in your beliefs and openly criticizing the ruling elite, though, and now, through interviews with those who knew him best and revealing glimpses into an era where all hope seemed lost, filmmakers finally uncover the truth behind the Nixon administration's highly classified efforts to isolate and eventually deport the man whose powerful words threatened to actually make sense in a world slowly suffocated by the grip of insanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stew Albert, John Lennon, (more)
Big Apple glam-punk godfathers The New York Dolls hit the stage in this documentary featuring footage shot by rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya during the band's early-1970s heyday. In addition to offering footage from east-coast performances at Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City, this release also showcases highlight footage from such legendary west coast venues the Whiskey-A-Go-Go and the E-Club, including rousing renditions of such classic New York Dolls tunes as "Personality Crisis", "Who Are the Mystery Girls", "Vietnamese Baby", and more. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2003
- Add End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones to Queue Add End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones to top of Queue
Filmmaker Michael Gramaglia's years-in-the-making biography of the legendary punk band the Ramones entitled End of the Century traces nearly all the various and sundry peaks and valleys which the seminal rockers experienced over the course of its 20-plus year career before disbanding in 1995. Beginning with the band's first concert performances in the mid-'70s, Gramaglia explores the eccentric and highly volatile band members -- in all the various line-ups that were presented over the years -- as the Ramones slowly gained fame for their high energy and high-tempo style of music that would later influence generations of punk rockers around the world. Mixing archival interviews with new interviews of the various surviving bandmembers, as well as interviews with a number of the Ramones' contemporaries, End of the Century encapsulates the East Coast underground music atmosphere of the 1970s and '80s that the band inadvertently shocked into existence. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, (more)
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