The best Edward James Olmos’s documentary movies
Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in Miami Vice (1984–1989), actor in and director of American Me (1992), William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009), teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988), and Detective Gaff in Blade Runner (1982), and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017). In 2018, he played the father of two members of an outlaw motorcycle club in the FX series Mayans MC.
For his work in Miami Vice, Olmos won the 1985 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. For his performance in Stand and Deliver, Olmos was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
He is also known for his roles as patriarch Abraham Quintanilla in the film Selena, narrator El Pachuco in both the stage and film versions of Zoot Suit, and the voice of Chicharrón in Coco.
Over the course of his career, Olmos has been a pioneer for more diversified roles and images of Hispanics in the U.S. media. His notable direction, production, and starring roles for films, made-for-TV movies, and TV shows include Wolfen, Triumph of the Spirit, Talent for the Game, American Me, The Burning Season, My Family/Mi Familia, Caught, 12 Angry Men, The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca, Walkout, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, American Family, and Dexter. Description above from the Wikipedia article Edward James Olmos, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Unity
7.3/10
Despite the advent of science, literature, technology, philosophy, religion, and so on -- none of these has assuaged humankind from killing one another, the animals, and nature. UNITY is a film about why we can't seem to get along, even after thousands and thousands of years.
The Earth Day Special
5.8/10
The Earth Day Special is a television special revolving around Earth Day that aired on ABC on April 22, 1990. Sponsored by Time Warner, the two hour special featured an all-star cast addressing concerns about global warming, deforestation, and other environmental ills.
LA 92
8.2/10
Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.
Zapatista
6.5/10
"Zapatista" is the definitive look at the uprising in Chiapas. It is the story of a Mayan peasant rebellion armed with sticks and their word against a first world military. It is the story of a global movement that has fought 175,000 federal troops to a stand still and transformed Mexican and international political culture forever.
Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
8.2/10
The definitive 3½-hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic 'Blade Runner', culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.
Every Night's a Saturday Night
8.3/10
The Life & Times of Bobby Keys ... decades-long Sax player with The Rolling Stones, best friend to Keith Richards, and session player with John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie, George Harrison, Dr. John, Joe Cocker, Harry Nilsson, Ian McLagan, Keith Moon, Etta James, Ronnie Wood, Sheryl Crow, Ringo Starr, Joe Ely, Warren Zevon, Billy Preston, Donovan, Marvin Gaye, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, John Hiatt, Yoko Ono and B.B. King.
The Blade Runner Phenomenon
6.7/10
Ridley Scott's cult film Blade Runner, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick and released in 1982, is one of the most influential science fiction films ever made. Its depiction of Los Angeles in the year 2019 is oppressively prophetic: climate catastrophe, increasing public surveillance, powerful monopolistic corporations, highly evolved artificial intelligence; a fantastic vision of the future world that has become a frightening reality.
Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage
Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage is a warm and revealing portrait of the charismatic, groundbreaking actor’s journey from his native Puerto Rico to the creative hotbed of 1960s New York City, to prominence on Broadway and in Hollywood. Filled with passion, determination and joy, Juliá’s brilliant and daring career was tragically cut short by his untimely death at age 54.
L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later
7.8/10
Documentary film exploring the lives of the people at the flashpoint of the LA riots, 25 years after the uprising made national headlines and highlighted the racial divide in America.
Carlos Almaraz: Playing With Fire
7.8/10
This is the intimate untold story of the legendary painter, Carlos Almaraz. It chronicles the life of an extraordinary artist and his impact on the Chicano Art Movement; the challenges, the demons, the struggles, the travels, the explorations through sexuality and art movements around the globe. A new and essential perspective shares the artist's full dimensionality in his unique and often humorous voice. It offers a complete view of the complex man, artist, activist, husband, and father. Offering an intimate portrait of a precocious East Los Angeles youth, struggling New York artist, spiritual seeker, intellectual, cultural worker, activist, charismatic leader of the Chicano Art Movement, comrade to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union and an artist pursuing his dreams. It also shines a light upon the insidious dimensions of the AIDS epidemic during the 80's.
Battlestar Galactica: The Last Frakkin' Special
7.6/10
The Cast of Battlestar Galactica, as themselves, discuss the series.
The Eyes of Martin Castillo
An exploration of the faces and spaces of Lieutenant Martin Castillo, as portrayed by Edward James Olmos, on the television series Miami Vice.
A Bridge Apart
7.4/10
The journey of the thousands of people from Central America and Mexico who leave their homes and families and suffer extraordinary brutality -or loss of life itself- in search of the American Dream.
A Class Apart: A Mexican American Civil Rights Story
Built around the landmark 1954 legal case Hernandez v. Texas, the film interweaves the stories of its central characters with a broader story of the civil rights movement. It also brings to life the heroic post-World War II struggle of Mexican Americans fighting to dismantle the discrimination targeted against them.
Agave is Life
AGAVE IS LIFE is an exploration of the history of the agave plant in the cultures of Mexico and the American Southwest. Starting thousands of years ago when hunter-gatherers viewed the hardy desert succulent with it's myriad uses as a gift from the gods, agave's story is told through the lens of archaeological, ethnographic and modern day vignettes, closing with concerns about threats to the plant's future
