The best Martin Sheen’s documentary movies
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is a film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979), and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006. In film he has won the Best Actor award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival for his performance as Kit Carruthers in Badlands. His portrayal of Capt. Willard in Apocalypse Now earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Sheen has worked with a wide variety of film directors, such as Richard Attenborough, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone. He has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1989. In television he has won both a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild awards for playing the lead role of President Bartlet in The West Wing, and an Emmy for guest acting in the sitcom Murphy Brown. Born and raised in the United States to immigrant parents, a first-generation Irish mother, Mary-Anne Phelan from Borrisokane in County Tipperary and a Galician father, Francisco Estévez from Vigo in Galicia (Spain), he adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts. He is the father of actors Emilio Estevez, Ramón Estevez, Carlos Irwin Estevez (Charlie Sheen), and Renée Estevez. His younger brother Joe Estevez is also an actor. Although known as an actor, he has also directed one film, Cadence (1990), appearing alongside sons Charlie and Ramon. He has also narrated, produced and directed in documentary television, earning two Daytime Emmy awards in the 1980s. In addition to film and television, Sheen has also become notable for his activism in liberal politics.
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Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
8.6/10
For decades, Freddy Krueger has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films.
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.
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
8.1/10
A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.
Who Killed the Electric Car?
7.6/10
In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust, and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed.
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
7.9/10
Real-life letters written by American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof augment the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.
Salinger
6.7/10
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
6.9/10
In his early days as an actor, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was a shy young man with theatrical ambitions, like many others; but his charisma and superb acting skills made him truly unique, so that the doors to the starry sky of Hollywood opened for him. However, his peculiar manners, political commitment and complicated love life always overshadowed his artistic success.
Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot
7.4/10
Actors, crew and executives who worked at Warner Bros. Pictures recall their days at the studio.
The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun
6.8/10
Documentary about the making of director Steven Spielberg's film Empire of the Sun
Rite of Passage: The Amazing Spider-Man Reborn
7.2/10
A documentary on the making of The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), featuring interviews with the cast and crew, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.
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.
Secrets of the Titanic
7.4/10
Dr. Robert Ballard of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and his research team become the first undersea explorers to locate, photograph, and explore the wreckage of the ill-fated HMS Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage 2 1/2 mile deep in the icy waters of the Atlantic in 1912, taking 1500 passengers and crew with it to a watery grave. Utilizing dazzling state-of-the art equipment and cutting edge expertise they record the decaying remains of the ocean liner once thought "unsinkable."
Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed
6.3/10
Benedict Arnold is not the villain of American history most people were taught to believe. New facts and never before presented material illuminate his heroic contributions to the American Revolution and explains his later change of allegiance.
Mexico
8/10
Using text from Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes and ancient Aztec and Mayan poetry, narrators Martin Sheen (in English) and Enrique Rocha (in Spanish) lead viewers on a visual journey through this country's rich and varied past and present. Stunning Giant Screen images and a dramatic musical score by Daniel Valdez create a vivid, insightful portrait of the Mexican people and their culture.
Notes on an American Film Director at Work
7.1/10
Filmmaker Jonas Mekas follows his friend, film director Martin Scorsese, and his cast and crew, through various locations during the shooting of his film The Departed, released in 2006.
Hearts of Hot Shots! Part Deux—A Filmmaker's Apology
7.7/10
Spoof documentary
The Garden
7.3/10
From the ashes of the L.A. riots arose a lush, 14-acre community garden, the largest of its kind in the United States. Now bulldozers threaten its future.
Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey
8.9/10
Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain is an icon of American theater. Since first walking on stage in 1954, Holbrook has performed his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight! for millions on and off Broadway, in all fifty states, in twenty countries, before five U.S. presidents and behind the Iron Curtain. Countless actors and Twain scholars have been influenced by Holbrook's work and his Tony and Emmy Award-winning masterpiece.
White House Revealed
6.7/10
In this eye-opening documentary about the inner workings of the White House, the most famous residence in America opens its doors for a behind-the-scenes tour and a meet-and-greet with the staff who keep it running in tip-top shape. Highlights include bird's-eye musings from White House workers who've seen it all and an interview with former President George H.W. Bush, who shares his memories about living in Washington, D.C.
Making 'Badlands'
An overview of the making of Badlands (1973).
