Bob Marley Movies

For entertainment and managers seeking the next biggest name in comedy, The Laugh Factory has been the place to go ever since it was founded back in 1979. With such influential comics and screen stars as Jim Carrey and Chris Rock getting their start at the enduring comedy club, savvy audiences looking for a good laugh know where to go when they want to see the cream of the stand-up circuit crop. Now a new generation of comedy masterminds explodes onto the scene in the first installment of the "Live from the Laugh Factory" series featuring comics Freddy Soto, Ruben Paul, Bob Marley, John Roy, and Butch Bradley. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In 1962, Jamaica won its independence from the United Kingdom, and the island nation, which had long struggled with poverty, attempted to use its agricultural resources in order to create a sound economic base. As Jamaica's financial problems grew more severe with time, prime minister Michael Manley struck a deal in 1977 with a consortium of economic institutions through the International Monetary Fund, who would loan money to the nation in exchange for removal of trade restrictions and subsidized exports. Twenty-five years later, most Jamaicans would agree that the deal drove a stake through the island's agricultural and industrial economy; imports from America have ruined the island's dairy industry, interference from growers and merchants in the United States and Latin America have effectively ended the growing of onions, bananas, carrots, and potatoes as cash crops, the value of the Jamaican dollar has plummeted, and the island is now seven billion dollars in debt to the IMF, with interest driving that figure higher each day. Filmmaker Stephanie Black examines the sad state of Jamaica's economy in the face of "free trade" in the global economy in the documentary Life + Debt, which includes interviews with Michael Manley and IMF director Stanley Fischer; the Jamaica Kincaid novel A Small Place provides some of the text for the film's narration. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bob Marley's first professional album, Catch a Fire, introduced an enthusiastic international audience to reggae music. In this documentary, the principal collaborators on Catch a Fire recount how the album and its music were created. Featuring an in-depth interview with Wailer percussionist and vocalist Bunny Wailer, as well as archival interviews with Marley and Wailer musician, singer, and composer Peter Tosh ("Peter Mackintosh" on the album), the documentary reveals that Catch a Fire was conceived as a crossover record. Traveling to London with the eight-track tapes they had recorded in Jamaica, Marley and his band polished the recordings in Basing Street Studios, where they got advice and supervision from Island Records' honcho Chris Blackwell. White American session players like keyboard player John 'Rabbit' Bundrick and guitarist Wayne Perkins) were brought in to sweeten the sound with overdubs intended to please an international audience. Rare home movies of the Wailers in Jamaica, and performance material of tracks like "Stir It Up," "Stop That Train," and "Kinky Reggae" round out the documentary. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

Lawrence Kasdan's black comedy about a wife's ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. Kevin Kline is the pizzeria owner Joey Boca in I Love You to Death. Joey is a smooth Italian lothario, modeled after Marcello Mastroianni, who cheerfully dons his plumbers overalls to repair his female tenants' plumbing in the rental apartments the family owns. Joey feels he is justified in bedding down countless numbers of women because of all the hours he puts in day after day at the pizzeria. Plus, as he tells one of his women friends, "I'm a man. I got a lotta hormones in my body." His wife Rosalie (Tracey Ullman) sweetly ignores her husband's philandering -- that is until she visits the public library and sees Joey fondling one of tenants in the book stacks. At first Rosalie considers suicide, but finally, egged on by her mother Nadja (Joan Plowright), she determines that Joey must be the one to face the music. But the people Rosalie hires to do Joey in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod (River Phoenix), who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies -- Harlan (William Hurt) and Marlin (Keanu Reeves) -- who arrive at the home and blast at a slumbering figure in the bedroom. Then, while they report on their progress downstairs, Joey ambles into the living room, very much alive. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Bob Marley's life and career are the focus of this award-winning film. Includes some of his greatest hits. ~ All Movie Guide

In this documentary on the Rastafarians in Jamaica (homeland of the Rastafari par excellence -- the late Bob Marley), director Alan Greenberg interviews some Jamaicans whose conversations suggest that the smoking of ganja, the worship of Haile Selassie (the former Ethiopian emperor) as a god, and the goal of Jamaican self-realization is their own kind of unified field theory. A young, poverty-stricken teenager listens to the reggae music on his radio as though it will magically lead him to a better future, and a pineapple cutter living in the "baddest" area of the island dreams of fomenting tourism in his exotic surroundings. The May, 1981 funeral of Marley himself brought Christian and Rastafarian beliefs together in tribute to the island's hero, providing one of the most poignant vignettes in the Land of Look Behind. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bob Marley, Live in Concert captures Bob Marley, one of the most influential figures in all of popular music, performing his most beloved songs. The program collects performances of "No Women No Cry," "Get Up, Stand Up," "I Shot the Sheriff," and a dozen others taken from different concerts throughout Marley's legendary career. Archival footage from Marley's Jamaican funeral in 1981 adds a historical and tragic aspect to the moving concert footage. This is an outstanding film for any Marley enthusiast or popular music fan. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A personal interview is featured in this concert video shot during Marley's last complete U.S. tour. Features songs like "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Africa Unite." ~ All Movie Guide

Rastafarian Bob Marley and his Wailers are the highlight of this documentary of the One Love Peace Concert held in Jamaica and featuring many of the other singers who had performed with Marley in Europe, Africa, and America. Just coming out of a series of successful songs and international recognition, Marley is in top shape, though his reggae music, even in 1980, had yet to really catch on in the U.S. Performers include the I-Threes, Peter Tosh, Althea & Donna, and several others. Unfortunately, the technical quality of the documentary is poor, though Marley manages to outshine any such difficulties. Marley's cancer at this time was kept under wraps and is not mentioned in the documentary. He would die the following year in Miami, at the age of 36. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide