The best Haskell Wexler’s movies
We present our ranking of the best Haskell Wexler’s movies. Do you love cinema? Or are you looking for a movie of your favorite actor to watch tonight? Surely you have some to see or that you did not know yet about Haskell Wexler.
Hal
7.2/10
Hal Ashby's obsessive genius led to an unprecedented string of Oscar®-winning classics, including Harold and Maude, Shampoo and Being There. But as contemporaries Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg rose to blockbuster stardom in the 1980s, Ashby's uncompromising nature played out as a cautionary tale of art versus commerce.
The Making of 'American Graffiti'
7.3/10
Documentary that features many interviews and other footage of the cast and crew for the film American Graffiti (1973)
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
8.4/10
The story of international cinema told through the history of cinematic innovation. Covering six continents and 12 decades, showing how film-makers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other.
At Sundance
2.6/10
A group portrait of filmmakers attend the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Featuring Matthew Harrison, Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Todd Haynes, Greg Araki, Abel Ferrara, Atom Egoyan, James Gray, Robert Redford, Haskell Wexler, among many others. Co-directed by Amy Hobby. [Filmed in Pixelvision and blown-up to evocatively grainy 16mm.]
Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond
7/10
A very special encounter between legendary American cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and young French director Pierre Filmon. A personal journey with the brightest shadowmaker and his friends.
Visions of Light
7.7/10
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
Underground
7/10
Underground is a 1976 documentary film about the Weathermen, founded as a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who fought to overthrow the U.S. government during the 1960s and 1970s. The film consists of interviews with members of the group after they went underground and footage of the anti-war and civil rights protests of the time. It was directed by Emile de Antonio, Haskell Wexler and Mary Lampson, later subpoenaed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to confiscate the film footage in order to gain information that would help them arrest the Weathermen. (Wikipedia)
Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
5.9/10
Rosy-Fingered Dawn is a film on Terrence Malick. It is about the making of BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE and the personal involvement of some of the most representative figures of the American culture itself. This medley of voices has given origin to a journey throughout the whole United States, from California to Colorado, from Virginia to Minnesota, passing by New York and Los Angeles. Every stop represents an ideal set in which all the characters of the films come to life once again giving place to a growing flow of memories. The narrative dimension of Malick's cinema resounds and opens a new horizon on the visible contradictions of the American culture; no easy judgement but a critical consciousness is what emerges from this coral speech, together with a definite need: the necessity of art. A need that Terrence Malick was able to satisfy.
Notfilm
6.7/10
NOTFILM is a feature-length experimental essay on FILM -- its author Samuel Beckett, its star Buster Keaton, its production and its philosophical implications -- utilizing additional outtakes, never before heard audio recordings of the production meetings, and other rare archival elements.
The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo
6.3/10
Cinematographer John A. Alonzo was one of the driving creative forces in the resurgence of expressionistic American movies of the late 1960s and '70s. Director Axel Schill's documentary explores Alonzo's work on key films of that era and beyond. Clips from Chinatown, Scarface, Internal Affairs and other movies accompany interviews with stars such as Richard Dreyfuss, Sally Field and contemporary cinematographer Haskell Wexler.
Them That Work
5.5/10
This documentary is about the impact left by John Sayles’ 1987 film MATEWAN, about a shooting between company gun thugs and union organizers in Southern West Virginia.
Along with a lasting legacy of support for union rights, the film inspired many West Virginians to become filmmakers and introduced the world to many great actors.
Turning Up the Heat: Movie Making in the 60's
Documentary featuring interviews with director Norman Jewison and others providing an in-depth look at the production of the 1967 film IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT.
The Moving Picture Co. 1914
7.7/10
In the early 1900s, Ellen, an aspiring actress, tries to find her lucky break in a studio where everything goes wrong.
Medium Cool Revisited
6.9/10
Haskell Wexler revisits the themes of his previous work "Medium Cool" on the occasion of the Occupy demonstrations in Chicago in 2012.
