Lou Reed Movies
Rock singer-songwriter; Reed has appeared a few times onscreen since 1980. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1966
This Andy Warhol art film was first released in 1966. It is his chronicle of the Velvet Underground jamming while blonde German model Nico sits on a stool. Unlike other Warhol art films, the camera becomes an active participant in the film as it zooms in, pans, and moves chaotically around the performers Lou Reed, John Cale and other Undergrounders. The film is not really edited and includes a scene where the police burst in to stop the noise. Warhol himself also appears briefly. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Jimi Hendrix was one of the most prodigiously gifted electric guitarists in rock music history, leaving behind a remarkable body of work after his death in 1970. Jimi Hendrix combines live footage of Hendrix in concert with interviews with Hendrix's friends and contemporaries. Also known as A Film About Jimi Hendrix. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
The struggle of a has-been singer to work his way back up the charts is the focus of this drama by Robert M. Young with screenplay and music by Paul Simon. Simon plays Jonah, a once-popular singer who now opens for punk rock bands. In the ten years since he had a hit song, Jonah's wife has divorced him, but he still sees his young son as often as he can. With his record company on his back to come up with something that sells, Jonah begins to compromise his own talent when he listens to the advice of a trendy producer. Whether or not he can straighten out his personal life and steer his own ship may depend on his ability to trust his own judgment and adjust to the changing times. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Simon, Blair Brown, (more)
- 1983
As the man himself once put it, "I do Lou Reed better than ANYBODY," and this live video shot at New York's Bottom Line club makes good on that boast. Featuring perhaps the best band of Reed's solo career -- Robert Quine on guitar, Fernando Saunders on bass and Fred Maher on drums -- A Night With Lou Reed captures the ultimate New York rocker letting loose on Don't Talk To Me About Work, Kill Your Sons, Waiting For The Man, Waves Of Fear and White Light/White Heat. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- PG
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The July 3, 1973 concert by David Bowie at London's Hammersmith Odeon Theatre is the subject of this documentary by director D.A. Pennebaker, best known for the earlier rock films Don't Look Back and Monterey Pop. Framed by a smattering of behind-the-scenes footage, the bulk of the film concerns the actual concert, notable as the final time that Bowie would perform under the Ziggy Stardust persona -- an announcement that, at the time, led many fans to mistakenly believe Bowie was retiring altogether. This "final" performance features numerous songs from Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane and other Bowie albums, including "Ziggy Stardust," "Moonage Daydream," "Changes," and "Space Oddity," as well as a cover of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat." Though a shortened version of the film was broadcast on television in 1974, the film did not receive a full theatrical release until 1983. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
A rock & roll singer searches for eternal life in this animated musical fantasy set in a post-nuclear dystopia. Similar to the earlier Heavy Metal (1981) in tone, this film attempts to incorporate mythical themes and mutant beings with music by Cheap Trick, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, and other popular acts of the time, with mixed success. Clive Smith's film was a disappointment at the box-office, but has since attracted a minor cult following. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Francks, Paul Le Mat, (more)
- 1983
- R
Director Allan Arkush knew whereof he spoke in Get Crazy. A longtime employee of Fillmore East, a popular rock-concert locale of the 1960s and 1970s, Arkush brought a great deal of insider's savvy to this comedy about the concert circuit and its denizens. Malcolm McDowell stars as a Mick Jagger-type rocker who is one of several acts lined up for a big New Years' Eve show. If villains Ed Begley Jr., Bobby Sherman and Fabian have their way, however, the show will never get off the ground. The supporting cast is dotted with such cult-flick icons as Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph and Mary Woronov. The musical portion of the program is handled by the likes of Malcolm McDowell, Lou Reed (as a Bob Dylan type) and Bill Henderson (as a Muddy Waters takeoff). In case it hasn't been made clear already, the main "joke" of Get Crazy is the presence in the cast of actors as musicians and musicians as actors; it is to the film's credit that this one joke never wears out its welcome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Daniel Stern, (more)
- 1986
This 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Sam Kinison and features musical guest Lou Reed. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Kinison, Lou Reed, (more)
- 1987
Music and comedy share the stage in this performance film, which records a four-night variety show presented in 1987 as a benefit for the human rights organization Amnesty International. A handful of top British comedians were on hand for the revue, including Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, Lenny Henry, Ben Elton and Phil Cool, with special appearances by John Cleese of Monty Python and the puppet troupe Spitting Image. (American comic Emo Phillips also performs his standup act.) Several leading musical stars of the day also contributed their talents to the event, including Peter Gabriel, Duran Duran, Kate Bush with David Gilmour, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne with Paul Brady, Mark Knopfler with Chet Atkins, Bob Geldoff, Youssou N'Dour and Nik Kershaw. As the title suggests, The Secret Policeman's Third Ball was preceded by two other Amnesty International benefit shows coordinated by John Cleese, with several more to follow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Joan Armatrading, (more)
High school student Alan Boyce has it all: looks, charm, popularity, excellent grades, a promising future. So why does Boyce abruptly commit suicide? As the shock waves of the boy's death reverberate through the halls of his school, the other students--particularly Boyce's best friend Keanu Reeves--ask themselves if they, too, are capable of self-destruction. As for the adults, Boyce's suicide is one more of a myriad of mysteries concerning "Generation X" (though it was not yet so labelled in 1988). While the film offers no easy answers, either for the characters or the audience, Permanent Record ultimately demonstrates that there are ways to cope with the pressures of life other than taking one's own life. An added bonus: the teenagers in the film act like genuine teenagers, not like TV sitcom wisecrackers or oversexed cretins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Boyce, Keanu Reeves, (more)
- 1989
This musical compilation features the talents of Lou Reed and Aaron Neville, along with bassist Rob Wasserman. "Stardust," is done by Neville, and Reed solos on "One For My Baby." ~ All Movie Guide
- 1990
- NR
Fascinating documentary of artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol, combining rare footage with interviews with his friends and colleagues, including Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, Taylor Mead, and Sylvia Miles. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
A yuppie and a hippie are the offbeat pairing of this character comedy in the tradition of earlier mismatched buddy films such as Midnight Run (1988). Kiefer Sutherland is uptight, 26-year-old FBI agent John Buckner, who's been assigned to escort an aging counterculture radical named Huey Walker (Dennis Hopper) to Oregon for trial on a charge that's decades old. Buckner finds Huey's lifestyle and beliefs irresponsible. Once the two are bound for their Pacific Northwest destination, Huey begins to play psychological mind games with the straight-arrow Buckner, convincing him that he's tripping on hallucinogenic drugs, getting him drunk, and setting him up with a hooker named Sparkle (Kathleen York). Huey trades places with his captor and soon a game of cat-and-mouse is afoot as the agent pursues the one-time radical, with surprising revelations abounding regarding Buckner's childhood and Huey's motivations for allowing himself to be captured. Flashback also stars Carol Kane, Cliff De Young, Richard Masur, Michael McKean, and Paul Dooley. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
- 1992
In the United States, government funding for the arts has never been popular among the more conservative members of Congress, and to populists it has an unappealing odor of elitism. Nonetheless, at one time the arts were held in sufficiently high esteem that the National Endowment for the Arts was created and funded. In the late '80s and early '90s, the efforts of avant-garde members of the art community to shock the sensibilities of the American mainstream succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. The resulting furor elicited frenzied and at times foolish-looking denunciations from the religious and social right, and vapid self-righteous posturings from the art community, who were unable to admit the possibility that the (publicly funded) excesses of artists like Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe, whatever their purely artistic merits, were damaging the cause of public funding for the arts, which relies on popular support or at the very least popular acceptance. This documentary gives the very conservative Rev. Donald Wildmon a chance to speak freely, along with responses from the pro-arts funding community by Christie Hefner (Hugh's daughter) and others. Other notable figures involved in the controversy whose views are aired include Senator Alfonse D'Amato and Jesse Helms. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Wim Wenders revisits his masterpiece Der Himmel Uber Berlin in this film which picks up several years after the original left off. Cassiel (Otto Sander) is an angel who watches over the lives of the people of recently reunified Berlin with Raphaella (Nastassja Kinski). Damiel (Bruno Ganz), Cassiel's former partner who opted to return to the land of the living in the first film, now lives happily as a pizza chef with the woman he loved and married, circus performer Marion (Solveig Dommartin). While angels are forbidden to directly intervene in the lives of humans, Cassiel impulsively breaks this rule when a little girl falls from the balcony of an apartment block, and he swoops down to catch her. Suddenly made flesh and blood, Cassiel has earned the enmity of Emit Flesti (Willem Dafoe), a sort of overseer of the angels on the physical plane. Emit makes it his business to make things difficult for Cassiel now that he's living among the humans, and after a period of alcoholism and imprisonment, Cassiel finds himself working for gangster Tony Baker (Horst Buchholz), who distributes weapons and pornography on the black market. However, Cassiel has a change of heart and decides to destroy Tony's stockpile in a bid to make the world a better place. Peter Falk, who played himself in Der Himmel Uber Berlin, makes a return appearance when a gallery shows the sketches that he was making in the first film; rock singer Lou Reed and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev also appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Sander, Peter Falk, (more)
- 1993
The Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Co. authorized this documentary commemorating the 90th anniversary of the company. Shown are film clips from news footage, movies and television shows that featured the company's motorcycles, and such stars as James Caan, Peter Fonda and Larry Hagman are interviewed and talk about their fascination with, and ownership of, Harleys. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
