D.A. Pennebaker Movies
An innovator in the Direct Cinema style of documentary filmmaking, also known as cinéma vérité, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker got his start in the 1950s, making experimental films. He went on to make his name as one of the premier documentarians of the latter half of the 20th century, focusing his lens on subjects as diverse as Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Bill Clinton.A native of Evanston, IL, Pennebaker served a stint in the Navy, worked as an engineer, and founded Electronics Engineering (the makers of the first computerized airline reservation system) before beginning his film career. Following his directorial debut, a 1953 film called Daybreak Express that featured a score by Duke Ellington, Pennebaker joined the Filmmakers' Co-op in 1959. Working with other young filmmakers, he began making Direct Cinema documentaries, starting with his 1960 film Primary. A behind-the-scenes look at the Wisconsin Democratic Primary between Presidential candidates Kennedy and Humphrey, the documentary was the first to take a candid look at the everyday goings-on of a Presidential race. Years later, Pennebaker would use this approach to observe the various antics behind the 1992 Presidential candidacy, resulting in the critically lauded The War Room.
Following Primary, the director turned his attentions to the theater, with Jane (Fonda), a 1962 documentary that employed the behind-the-scenes tactics of his previous film to document Fonda's opening of her first role on Broadway. Broadway was a subject to which Pennebaker would repeatedly return over the years, but his next major effort, 1967's Don't Look Back, was an acclaimed account of Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour of England. The black-and-white documentary gave Dylan fans the first look at their idol since his 1966 motorcycle accident and also devoted plenty of screen time to traveling companions Joan Baez and Alan Price. The same year, Pennebaker collaborated with author Norman Mailer on the first of many projects they would do together, Beyond the Law. Acting as cinematographer for the film -- a rollicking tale of gambling, corruption, and biker bums -- Pennebaker again worked with Mailer in the same capacity on the improvisational Wild 90, also released that year.
1967 proved to be an extraordinarily busy year for the filmmaker; in addition to his previously mentioned projects, he found time to direct two other documentaries, Jimi Hendrix: Live in Monterey, 1967 and Otis Redding: Live in Monterey, 1967. The following year, he returned to the festival with Monterey Pop, and then continued documenting some of the era's most influential musicians with 1969's John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band: Live Peace in Toronto, 1969. After another collaboration with Mailer, 1970's Maidstone, Pennebaker returned to the city of Toronto the next year, with Sweet Toronto, a documentary about the 1969 rock festival that featured performers such as John Lennon, David Bowie, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Bowie was the subject of the director's next effort, David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, a filmed account of the performer's 1973 farewell concert that did not see release for another ten years.
Following a period of relative inactivity, Pennebaker returned in 1980 with Town Bloody Hall, a documentary about an infamous 1971 roundtable discussion among Mailer, Germaine Greer, Diana Trilling, and assorted feminists that disintegrated into verbal warfare. His next directorial project, the long-delayed Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1983), put him back into more glittery territory with a filmed account of Bowie's 1973 concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon Theatre. It was another seven years before Pennebaker made another documentary; in 1990, he directed Depeche Mode: 101. Two years later, the director attracted widespread acclaim and a 1993 Best Documentary Feature Oscar nomination for The War Room, a behind-the-scenes look at Bill Clinton's bid for the 1992 Presidency. He co-directed with partner and spouse Chris Hegedus, who also served as his co-director on Branford Marsalis: The Music Tells You (1992), and 1997's Moon Over Broadway. The latter recalled Pennebaker's earlier look at a Broadway production, Jane (Fonda), as it followed the progress of a production of Moon Over Buffalo from rehearsals to its eventual opening night on the Great White Way. In 1999, the director revisited the music that had inspired some of the best work of his career with the made-for-TV Searching for Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock Diary. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Sixteen years after following Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in the 1992 documentary The War Room, filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pannebaker reflect on the changes in politics over the past sixteen years by speaking with the very people whose careers were launched with that pivotal election. By speaking such familiar faces as James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Dee Dee Myers, Paul Begala, Mary Matalin, and Bob Boorstin, Hegedus and Pannebaker are able to provide an authoritative overview of the ever-shifting landscape that is American politics. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Born in 1936, Hugh Romney was an improvisational actor and stand-up comic who befriended Lenny Bruce and Bob Dylan when he settled in New York's Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. Romney's career took him to the West coast in the mid-60s, where he fell in with Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and became a key figure in the early days of the hippie movement. Adopting the nickname Wavy Gravy, he embraced the persona of a playful clown, in part because he observed that hippies got arrested at protest marches, but clowns in parades did not. Wavy Gravy and his wife formed a commune in Berkley, California called the Hog Farm, and members of the group were hired to help with security at the Woodstock rock festival in 1969, with Romney dubbing his group "The Please Force." Wavy Gravy became one of the more visible figures in the 60s counterculture scene, but unlike some of his peers, he never lost track of the ideals that came to symbolize the decade; well into his seventies, Wavy Gravy continues to work on behalf of environmental concerns, operates a camp (Camp Winnarainbow) that teaches clowning to homeless and underprivileged children, helps run a charitable organization (the Seva Foundation) that funds eye care for the poor in the Third World, and works with children living with brain injuries. Described by his friend Paul Krasner as "the illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Theresa," Hugh Romney's remarkable life story is brought to the screen by filmmaker Michelle Esrick in the documentary Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie. The film had its world premiere at the 2009 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2008
In 1960, filmmaker Robert Drew began work on a documentary called Primary which concerned that year's presidential campaign; one of the candidates, John F. Kennedy, gave Drew and his crew free access to film both their public campaign events and their private strategy sessions, and it was the beginning of a close working relationship between Drew and Kennedy. Drew would go on to make three more films about Kennedy after he was elected president -- Adventures on the New Frontier, Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment and Faces of November -- with the cooperation of Kennedy and his staff, and in 2008 Drew revisited his footage of the late president to create a cinematic portrait of one of the most iconic figures in American politics. Narrated by Alec Baldwin, A President To Remember: In The Company Of John F. Kennedy was edited from Drew's archival footage of Kennedy, and captures the president both at work and with his family, offering an insight into both the leader and the man. A President To Remember: In The Company Of John F. Kennedy was an official selection at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin
- 2007
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Monterey captures the entire set performed by the legendary guitarist at the one and only Monterey Pop Festival. The setlist includes "Wild Ting," "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone. Jimi concludes the set memorably by lighting his guitar on fire. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Robet Wuhl: Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl features a combination stand-up routine/history lecture performed before a classroom of attentive college students. His goal is to expose the stories about America, and the stories America makes up about itself. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wuhl
The documentary Al Franken: God Spoke follows the comedian-turned-pundit as he goes about his daily business. Through the course of the film, Franken discusses his transformation from comedy to politics, and discusses his ambitions. Franken also takes every opportunity to jab at his political opponents in the right wing. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Franken
- 2004
While she never became a household name for her film and television work, Elaine Stritch is one of the true living legends of the New York stage, with a career that's spanned a remarkable seven decades and seen her work side by side with some of the greatest names in the American theater. In 2002, Stritch collaborated with playwright John Lahr to create Elaine Stritch at Liberty, a Tony award-winning one-woman show in which Stritch shared the ups and downs of her private and professional life with her audience as she sang some of her favorite songs (including tunes by her friends and collaborators Noël Coward and Stephen Sondheim), talked about her partners on-stage (Ethel Merman) and off-stage (Marlon Brando, Ben Gazzara), and recounted her long battle with alcoholism. Andy Picheta directed this film adaptation of Elaine Stritch at Liberty (in collaboration with Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker), in which highlights from the show are intercut with archive material shot throughout Stritch's career, as well as rehearsal footage documenting how the show took shape. Produced for the premium cable television service HBO, Elaine Stritch at Liberty was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elaine Stritch
Roger Friedman is an entertainment journalist and music fan with a particular love for R&B and soul music from the mid-'50s to the pre-disco era of the early '70s. Owing in part to segregated booking policies and simple lack of proper archiving, Friedman discovered there is little or no surviving film footage or videotape of many of the greatest artists of the era performing on-stage. However, a large number of the performers in question were still active and performing on a regular basis, and with the help of documentary filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker, Friedman set out to capture some of his favorites on film while they were still in good form. Only the Strong Survive features knockout performances from such R&B legends as Wilson Pickett, Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, Carla Thomas, Mary Wilson, Ann Peebles, and many more, as well as interviews in which the artists discuss the ups and downs of their lives in music. Only the Strong Survive also features performance footage of Memphis R&B pioneer Rufus Thomas, who had passed on at the age of 84, less than two months before the film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Bell, Jerry Butler, (more)
Two men discover the perils of going into business with their friends as they observe the rise and fall of their Internet firm over the course of its first (and only) year in this documentary produced by D.A. Pennebaker. Tom Herman and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman first met while they were in high school; they studied business together in college, and they remained close friends after graduating, often bandying about the idea of working together. In May of 1999, they made their dream a reality and opened Govworks.com, a Web-based firm devoted to helping people deal more efficiently with local governments (it began as a notion to pay parking tickets online). Govworks.com soon exploded, going from a one-room office with a tiny staff to over 200 employees and a bankroll of $50 million. However, like many other Internet firms of their day, Govworks.com was not destined to succeed, and by January of 2001, the company had let nearly all its employees go, and was eventually swallowed up by a larger firm, with Herman and Isaza Tuzman having little to show for their efforts. Just as significantly, after their initial burst of enthusiasm, Herman and Isaza Tuzman found themselves locking horns, as they displayed their naivete about the nuts and bolts of making an Internet start-up work; Herman's gentle nature clashed with Isaza Tuzman's all-business approach, and eventually Herman was forced out of the company he had helped to found by his longtime friend. Directors Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus shot Startup.com using digital video equipment, and to keep the film as timely as possible, screened a digital copy of the film, which went through its final edit only days before its premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
For their film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, set in the American South during the 1930s, filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen collaborated with musician, songwriter, and producer T-Bone Burnett to compile a score that reflected the rich variety of musical influences of the rural South during the Depression. Burnett brought together a veritable who's who of American roots music for the project, and while the film was a moderate success, the soundtrack album to O Brother, Where Art Thou? was a surprise hit, topping the country charts for several weeks and helping to open the ears of a new audience to the beauty and rough-hewn poetry of bluegrass, traditional country, rural blues, and gospel music. Shortly before the film's release, Burnett assembled many of the artists who appeared on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack for a special concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium (the original home of the Grand Ole Opry) to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum; the evening was filmed, and Down From the Mountain documents this very special night of music that celebrates America's musical past as it points to the future. Performers include Emmylou Harris, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, the Cox Family, the Fairfield Four, the Whites, Chris Thomas King, and Gillian Welch. Holly Hunter, one of the stars of O Brother, makes a cameo appearance, as does noted country music enthusiast Billy Bob Thornton. Songwriter, musician, and historian John Hartford served as master of ceremonies for the concert (and the film); sadly, he died after a long bout with cancer less than two weeks before Down From the Mountain premiered in New York and Nashville in June 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hartford, Ralph Stantley, (more)
- 1999
Such documentary filmmaker legends as Jean Rouch, Frederick Wiseman, and Barbara Kopple appear in this loving tribute to cinema verite and its profound influence on film. Director Peter Wintonick, whose previous efforts include the acclaimed Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1993), makes a compelling case that Canada's National Film Board was at the vanguard of the cinema verite movement. The movie also features vintage footage of teen heart-throb Paul Anka and a behind the scenes look at John F. Kennedy's primary run for president. Both interviews and clips attest to the absorbing vitality that cinema verite brought to film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, (more)
Directed and edited by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker (one of the key figures of the cinema verite style of documentary-making) and filmed in 1995, this documentary offers an intimate look at the staging of a major Broadway show from casting through endless rehearsals to the almost anti-climactic opening night. The production is Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo and stars Phil Bosco and comedienne Carol Burnett. Though producers Elizabeth Williams and Rocco Landesman seem relatively laid back about the show, the director Tom Moore, playwright Ludwig, and the stars are all on edge during a lengthy rehearsal schedule that takes them from New York to Boston back to New York. In between, all must suffer through previews and rewrites before the show is fit for the Great White Way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
In the mid-'80s, saxophonist Branford Marsalis emerged as one of the most acclaimed (and most popular) new artists in jazz. A member of a distinguished musical family and a stylistic innovator as comfortable working with pop and rock musicians as fellow jazz artists, Marsalis brought challenging contemporary jazz to a mass audience as the bandleader of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; he also toured and recorded with Sting and the Grateful Dead, as well as recording and performing with his own ensemble. Branford Marsalis: The Music Tells You is a 1992 documentary about Marsalis' life and career that explores the challenges and the realities of life as a jazz artist, as well as featuring Marsalis and his group performing several of their compositions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Branford Marsalis, Robert Hurst, (more)
A look inside the 1992 presidential race, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hedgus' documentary The War Room explores the backstage side of national politics by examining the day-to-day operations of Bill Clinton's campaign staff. The behind-the-scenes leader of the group is James Carville, the demonstrative, charismatic campaign manager who relies on a plain-speaking manner and emotional appeals to motivate his subordinates. He is complemented by the quieter, smoother personality and photogenic looks of young press spokesman George Stephanopoulous. The filmmakers follow these two contrasting personalities from the January New Hampshire primary to Clinton's eventual victory, as they attempt to cling to an overall strategic plan while dealing with unforeseen problems and negative press, as their candidate is saddled with accusations of adultery and draft-dodging. Subplots include the rivalries between Democratic campaign staffs -- which can become amusingly petty, as when they accuse each other of tearing down campaign posters -- and the romantic relationship between Carville and Mary Matalin, chief strategist for George Bush's campaign. Co-director D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, Don't Look Back, Primary) is renowned as an innovator in the use of cinema-verite, used here to show both the mundane complications and the emotional highlights of the modern political process. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- Add Jerry Lee Lewis: The Story of Rock & Roll to QueueAdd Jerry Lee Lewis: The Story of Rock & Roll to top of Queue
Directed by D.A. Pennebaker (Don't Look Back), this is a close look at the life and career of Jerry Lee Lewis, a man whose life seemed to mirror the flavor and content of the songs he chose to sing. Full-length performances are woven with segments detailing his rise and ultimate fall from rock stardom, culminating with his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin. Lewis performs 13 of his classic hits, captured during a 1969 performance. ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide
- 1989
This release collects a number of songs performed live in 1967 by soul legend Otis Redding. Taken from European tour stops, as well as his landmark set at that year's Monterey Pop Festival, this title includes renditions of "Try a Little Tenderness," "Hold On! I'm a Comin'," and "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)." ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Booker T. Jones, Al Jackson, (more)
This music documentary is produced and directed by the same filmmaker who brought Monterrey Pop to the screen. It features performances from a 1969 Toronto rock 'n roll festival. The film shows performers Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Alan White, Klaus Voorman and John Lennon and Yoko Ono with the Plastic Ono Band. Although many other people appeared in the 12-hour-long festival, the filmmaker chose to record the whole performances of these few, rather than give highlights of the entire festival. Festival-goers booed and walked out on a performance by Yoko Ono and her brand new Plastic Ono Band. Film reviewers at the time were similarly affected. Latterly, though, both her performance and this film have grown in interest and watchability, particularly given the rarity of such thorough documentation of these key performers' work in concert. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
In 1988, moody synth pop band Depeche Mode had managed the remarkable feat of becoming a major draw in the United States without the benefit of mainstream radio play or more than token exposure on MTV, and as the band was gearing up for a show at Pasadena's Rose Bowl they were being followed by a camera crew led by famed documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker. At the same time, Pennebaker's associates were focusing on a group of Depeche Mode fans, who, after winning a contest to see their heroes, traveled by bus to California as they debated the finer points of the band's music and dealt with the daily minutia of their lives. Depeche Mode: 101 cross-cuts the daily adventures of the group and their fans, climaxing with the band's Rose Bowl concert. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Depeche Mode
- 1987
The directors took three years to complete this 96-minute documentary of the works of Italian filmmaker Luca Comerico (1874-1940). The court photographer filmed the landing of Italian marines in Libya in 1911. Animal safaris to the South Pole, India, Russia, and Africa are also shown. The time-consuming task of the directors involved taking still photographs of more than half a million frames from the original film negative. This feature appeared in 1987 at the Chicago and Edinburgh Film Festivals. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- PG
- Add Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars to QueueAdd Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars to top of Queue
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
