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In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel, "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imaginat β¦ion which met the spirit of the times, even as the self appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film's star. In short, the combined events would redefine the popular appeal of pornography, even as more cynical developments would lead it down other paths. (Read More)
Themes: | sexual liberationfreedommafiapoliticsreligion |
Mood: | film historyarchive footage |
Characters: | all american girlreligious fundamentalistfilm directorhusband wife relationship |
Period: | year 19721970s |
Story: | feminist filmtheoryfeminist groupfreedom of expressionfreedom of choicepathological liarsexual freedomfreedom of speechgovernment suppressed filmgovernment repressionfighting fire with fireanti choice groupsgolden age of pornreference to deep throaterotic 70ssocial engineering β¦figureheadsexual revolutionculture warpaternalismcriminal trialbanpassivenesscrime familycosa nostranotorietybig sisterpuritanism23 year oldright to choosefree spiritmedia hypeauthoritarianismcensormafiosofree lovematriarchycivil libertiesobscenitybody part in titleporn actorfree speechalternate versionadult filmmakingpart of the body in titlecoerciontaboocounter culturesexual repressionconsensual sexconsenting adulthorninessporn actressporn industryhysteriafeministcensorshipmobmobsterwhat happened to epiloguefeminismliarfbiorganized crimecontroversyfalse accusationclitorismontagethree word titleinterviewsex (See All) |
Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his porn magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.
Themes: | freedomreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | civil libertiesobscenityporn industrycensorshipmobwhat happened to epiloguefbiorganized crimecontroversymontagesex |
Characters: | film directorhusband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | golden age of pornsexual revolutionadult filmmakingcoercioncounter cultureporn actressporn industrywhat happened to epilogueclitorisinterviewsex |
The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously leak covert da β¦ta, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world's most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society-and what are the costs of exposing them? (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Mood: | archive footage |
Story: | freedom of expressionfreedom of speechsocial engineeringfree speechcensorshipliarfbimontagethree word titlesex |
In the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator 'Joseph McCarthy (II)' (qv) of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter 'Edward R. Murrow' (qv) and his producer 'Fred W. Friendly' (qv) decided to take a stand and challenge M β¦cCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history. (Read More)
Themes: | freedompolitics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | civil libertiescensorshipliarfbicontroversyfalse accusationinterview |
The mobster Jackie DiNorscio is shot by his own cousin at home while in probation but survives. Later he is arrested dealing drugs and sentenced to thirty years in prison. The prosecutor Sean Kierney proposes a deal to Jackie, immediately releasing him if he testifies against the Lucchese family and β¦ other mafia families but Jackie does not accept to rat his friends that he loves. When the trial begins, he asks the judge Finestein to defend himself without the assistance of a lawyer. (Read More)
Themes: | mafia |
Story: | cosa nostramafiosomobsterfbi |
Based on a true story of James "Whitey" Bulger, an Irish Mob godfather and FBI informant who had a "secret trading" deal with his brother, William "Billy" Bulger, a state senator and a Boston public figure, and John Connolly, an FBI agent. They planned to take down the Italian mob and mafia in Bosto β¦n, which went awry and things turned massively violent. When the credence for each other began fading out, drug dealing, murders, and extortion started to rise, and forced the FBI's Boston office to confirm that Whitey Bulger was one of the most notorious criminals in US history and also one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List criminals. (Read More)
Themes: | mafia |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | mobmobsterwhat happened to epiloguefbiorganized crime |
Writer Peter Morgan's legendary battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the story of the historic encounter that changed both their lives. For three years after being forced from office β¦, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans (as well as a $600,000 fee). Likewise, Frost's team harbored doubts about their boss' ability to hold his own. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | what happened to epilogueliarfbimontageinterviewsex |
A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. Bullied by the British police, he and four of his friends are coerced into confessing their guilt. Gerry's father and other relatives in London are also i β¦mplicated in the crime. He spends 15 years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence with the help of a British attorney, Gareth Peirce. Based on a true story. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | hysteriawhat happened to epiloguefalse accusationmontage |
In the early 1970s, Sixto Rodriguez was a Detroit folksinger who had a short-lived recording career with only two well received but non-selling albums. Unknown to Rodriguez, his musical story continued in South Africa where he became a pop music icon and inspiration for generations. Long rumored the β¦re to be dead by suicide, a few fans in the 1990s decided to seek out the truth of their hero's fate. What follows is a bizarrely heartening story in which they found far more in their quest than they ever hoped, while a Detroit construction laborer discovered that his lost artistic dreams came true after all. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | censorshipwhat happened to epilogueinterview |
A devastating two hour documentary based on Lawrence Wright's book of the same name. Scientology is laid bare by a film that skilfully knits together archive footage, testimonials from former high ranking officials and public, and dramatic reconstructions.
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | liarfbimontagesexinterview |
Biopic of billionaire 'Howard Hughes (I)' (qv), starting with his early filmmaking years as owner of RKO studios but mostly focusing on his role in designing and promoting new aircraft. Hughes was a risk-taker spending several fortunes on designing experimental aircraft and eventually founding TWA a β¦s a rival to Pan AM airlines owned by his great rival Juan Trippe. When Trippe's politico Senator Ralph 'Owen Brewster (I)' (qv) accuses Hughes of being a war profiteer, it's Hughes who gains the upper hand. Hughes also had many women in his life including a long relationship with actress 'Katharine Hepburn' (qv). From an early age however, Hughes was also germophobic and would have severe bouts of mental illness. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | film history |
Characters: | film director |
Story: | free spiritcensorshipfbimontage |
Plame's status as a CIA agent was revealed by White House officials allegedly out to discredit her husband after he wrote a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece saying that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | year 1972 |
Story: | liarfbifalse accusationmontageinterview |
In the 1960s, Richard Kuklinski is working as a porn film lab tech until his mob bosses persuade him to change his career into that of a contract killer. For years, Kuklinski gains a reputation for cold blooded professionalism even as he raises a family who are kept in the dark about his true career β¦. Unfortunately, mob politics ultimately forces him to secretly work independently with the psychopathic Robert 'Mr. Freezy' Pronge. As much as Kuklinski tries to keep his lives separate, circumstances and his own weaknesses threaten a terrible collision as the consequences of his choices finally catch up to him. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | crime familynotorietymobmobsterwhat happened to epilogueorganized crime |
In a rare and refreshing reversal of roles, filmmakers put the powerful Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA for short) under the microscope for inspection in Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick's incisive look at stateside cinema's most notorious non-censoring censors. Compelled by t β¦he staggering amount of power that the MPAA ratings board wields, the filmmaker seeks out the true identities of the anonymous elite who control what films make it to the multiplex. He even goes so far as to hire a private investigator to stake out MPAA headquarters and expose Hollywood's best-kept secret. Along the way, Dick speaks with numerous filmmakers whose careers have been affected by the seemingly random and sexual-content obsessed judgments of the MPAA, including 'John Waters (I)' (qv), 'Mary Harron (I)' (qv), 'Darren Aronofsky' (qv), 'Kevin Smith (I)' (qv), 'Matt Stone (I)' (qv), and 'Atom Egoyan' (qv). (Read More)
Themes: | religion |
Mood: | film history |
Characters: | film director |
Story: | censorshipmontageinterview |
This true story follows FBI agent Joe Pistone as he infiltrates the mafia of New York. Befriending Lefty Ruggiero, Pistone (under the name Donnie Brasco) is able to embed himself in a mafia faction led by Sonny Black. Ruggiero and Pistone become tight as the group goes about collecting money for 'th β¦e bosses'. Eventually, the group become big-time when Black himself becomes a boss; all the while, Pistone collects evidence. However, the trials and tribulations of the undercover work become more than Pistone can bear. His marriage falls apart, and to top it off, the mafia suspect a mole in the organization. The real dilemma is afforded to Pistone, who knows if he walks away from the mafia, Ruggiero will be the one punished. (Read More)
Themes: | mafia |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | mobsterfbiorganized crime |
Anthony "Swoff" Swofford, a Camus-reading kid from Sacramento, enlists in the Marines in the late 1980s. He malingers during boot camp, but makes it through as a sniper, paired with the usually-reliable Troy. The Gulf War breaks out, and his unit goes to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield. After 175 day β¦s of boredom, adrenaline, heat, worry about his girlfriend finding someone else, losing it and nearly killing a mate, demotion, latrine cleaning, faulty gas masks, and desert football, Desert Storm begins. In less than five days, it's over, but not before Swoff sees burned bodies, flaming oil derricks, an oil-drenched horse, and maybe a chance at killing. Where does all the testosterone go? (Read More)
Themes: | freedomreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | freedom of speechfree speechhorninesscensorshipinterview |
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamental β¦ists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs. (Read More)
Themes: | freedompoliticsreligion |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | government repressioncensorshipliarfalse accusation |
SNOWDEN stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and is written and directed by Oliver Stone. The script is based on the books The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena.
Themes: | freedompolitics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | civil libertieswhat happened to epiloguefbicontroversymontagesexinterview |
Andreiv Rublev charts the life of the great icon painter through a turbulent period of 15th Century Russian history, a period marked by endless fighting between rival Princes and by Tatar invasions.
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | mobliarcontroversyfalse accusationsex |
Biopic of J. Edgar Hoover told by Hoover as he recalls his career for a biography. Early in his career, Hoover fixated on Communists, anarchists and any other revolutionary taking action against the U.S. government. He slowly builds the agency's reputation, becoming the sole arbiter of who gets hire β¦d and fired. One of his hires is Clyde Tolson who is quickly promoted to Assistant Director and would be Hoover's confidant and companion for the rest of Hoover's life. Hoover's memories have him playing a greater role in the many high profile cases the FBI was involved in - the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the arrest of bank robbers like John Dillinger - and also show him to be quite adept at manipulating the various politicians he's worked with over his career, thanks in large part to his secret files. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | notorietysexual repressionliarfbiinterview |
Oliver Stone's biographical take on the life of George W. Bush, one of the most controversial presidents in USA history, chronicling from his wild and carefree days in college, to his military service, to his governorship of Texas and role in the oil business, his 2000 candidacy for president, his f β¦irst turbulent four years, and his 2004 re-election campaign. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | controversymontage |
The rise and fall of the notorious Roman Emperor Caligula, showing the violent methods that he employs to gain the throne, and the subsequent insanity of his reign - he gives his horse political office and humiliates and executes anyone who even slightly displeases him. He also sleeps with his siste β¦r, organises elaborate orgies and embarks on a fruitless invasion of Britain before meeting an appropriate end. There are various versions of the film, ranging from the heavily truncated 90-minute version to the legendary 160-minute hardcore version which leaves nothing to the imagination (though the hardcore scenes were inserted later and do not involve the main cast members). (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | erotic 70snotorietyalternate versioncontroversyclitorissex |
In February, 2001, Robert Hanssen, a senior agent with 25 years in the FBI, is arrested for spying. Jump back two months: Eric O'Neill, a computer specialist who wants to be made an agent is assigned to clerk for Hanssen and to write down everything Hanssen does. O'Neill's told it's an investigation β¦ of Hanssen's sexual habits. Within weeks, the crusty Hanssen, a devout Catholic, has warmed to O'Neill, who grows to respect Hanssen. O'Neill's wife resents Hanssen's intrusiveness; the personal and professional stakes get higher. How they catch Hanssen and why he spies become the film's story. Can O'Neill help catch red-handed "the worst spy in history" and hold onto his personal life? (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | what happened to epilogueliarfbi |
The Final Days is the true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine brought to life. Sophie Scholl is the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. Using historical records of her incarceration, the film re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's lif β¦e: a journey from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence in 1943 Munich. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to her comrades, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless. (Read More)
Themes: | freedompolitics |
Story: | freedom of speechliar |
Steven Russell is happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life. Steven becomes open about his homosexuality and decides to live life to the fullest - even if it means breaking the law. Steven's new, extravagant lif β¦estyle involves cons and fraud and, eventually, a stay in the State Penitentiary where he meets sensitive, soft-spoken Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts Steven to attempt and often succeed at one impossible con after another. (Read More)
Themes: | religion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | pathological liarsocial engineeringwhat happened to epilogueliarsex |
The daughter of an actor father and a social-climber mother, Domino Harvey, bored with her life, decides to join the team of Ed Moseby and becomes a bounty hunter. But she gets in trouble when the Mafia's money is stolen from an armored truck, while Moseby and his crew are participating in a reality β¦ show produced by Mark Heiss. The situation gets out of control when the sons of a rival mobster are kidnapped while the FBI is monitoring two gangs of mobsters. (Read More)
Themes: | mafiareligion |
Story: | mobsterfbiorganized crime |
Hunger follows life in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands. With an epic eye for detail, the film provides a timely exploration of what happens when body and mind are pushed to the uttermost β¦limit. (Read More)
Themes: | freedompoliticsreligion |
Story: | what happened to epiloguecontroversymontage |
Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organiz β¦es gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Period: | year 19721970s |
Story: | counter culturewhat happened to epilogueinterview |
The unconventional life of Dr. William Marston, the Harvard psychologist and inventor who helped invent the modern lie detector test and created Wonder Woman in 1941.
Themes: | freedompolitics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | year 1972 |
Story: | freedom of expressiontaboocensorshipcontroversymontagesex |
On January 23, 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is to fly from Karachi to Dubai with his pregnant wife, Mariane, also a reporter. On the day before, with great care, he has arranged an interview in a cafe with an Islamic fundamentalist cleric. When Danny doesn't return, Mariane initia β¦tes a search. Pakistani police, American embassy personnel, and the FBI examine witnesses, phone records, e-mails, and hard drives. Who has him? Where is he? There's also the why: because of U.S. abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo, because of a history of Journal cooperation with the CIA, because Pearl is a Jew? Through it all, Mariane is clearheaded, direct, and determined. (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | fbimontagesexinterview |
After Black September's assassination of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Prime Minister Golda Meir okays a black-box operation to hunt down and kill all involved. A team of five gathers in Switzerland led by Avner, a low-level Mossad techie whose father was a war hero and whose wife β¦ is pregnant. It's an expendable team, but relying on paid informants, they track and kill several in Europe and Lebanon. They must constantly look over their shoulders for the CIA, KGB, PLO, and their own sources. As the body count mounts -- with retribution following retribution -- so do questions, doubts, and sleepless nights. Loyalties blur. What does it mean to be a Jew? (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | year 19721970s |
Story: | consensual sexwhat happened to epiloguecontroversysex |
A young idealistic English filmmaker, Sue, arrives in India to make a film on Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and their contemporaries and their fight for freedom from the British Raj. Owing to a lack of funds, she recruits students from Delhi University to act in her docu-d β¦rama. She finds DJ, who graduated five years ago but still wants to be a part of the University because he doesn't think there's too much out there in the real world to look forward to. Karan, the son of Industrialist Rajnath Singhania, who shares an uncomfortable relationship with his father, but continues to live off him, albeit very grudgingly. Aslam, is a middle class Muslim boy, who lives in the by-lanes near Jama Masjid, poet, philosopher and guide to his friends. Sukhi, the group's baby, innocent, vulnerable and with a weakness for only one thing - girls. Laxman Pandey, the fundamentalist in the group, the only one who still believes that politics can make the world a better place and finally Sonia - the sole girl in the group, tomboy and vivacious spirit, engaged to Ajay - the dashing air pilot. Through her film, Sue wishes to showcase to the world the efforts of these young revolutionaries and the enormity of their contribution to the freedom movement in India. What unfolds is the inspiration behind Sue's passion for bringing their story to the world. The twist in the tale is of course the fact that more than just telling the world, Sue's film makes DJ and his friends stopβ¦ (Read More)
Themes: | freedompoliticsreligion |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | film directorhusband wife relationship |
Story: | 23 year oldmontage |
Marshall, Texas, described by James Farmer, Jr. as "the last city to surrender after the Civil War," is home to Wiley College, where, in 1935-36, inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and his clandestine work as a union organizer, Professor Melvin Tolson coaches the debate team to a nearly-undefeated s β¦eason that sees the first debate between U.S. students from white and Negro colleges and ends with an invitation to face Harvard University's national champions. The team of four, which includes a female student and a very young James Farmer, is tested in a crucible heated by Jim Crow, sexism, a lynch mob, an arrest and near riot, a love affair, jealousy, and a national radio audience. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | mobmontagethree word titlesex |
Biograpical epic of Malcolm X, the legendary African American leader. Born Malcolm Little, his father (a Garveyite Baptist minister) was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Malcolm became a gangster, and while in jail discovered the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. He preaches the teachings when β¦ let out of jail, but later on goes on a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, there he converts to the original Islamic religion and becomes a Sunni Muslim and changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. He is assassinated on February 21, 1965 and dies a Muslim martyr. (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | fbicontroversy |
In 1767, the British Princess Caroline is betrothed to the mad King Christian VII of Denmark, but her life with the erratic monarch in the oppressive country becomes an isolating misery. However, Christian soon gains a fast companion with the German Dr. Johann Struensee, a quietly idealistic man of β¦the Enlightenment. As the only one who can influence the King, Struensee is able to begin sweeping enlightened reforms of Denmark through Christian even as Caroline falls for the doctor. However, their secret affair proves a tragic mistake that their conservative enemies use to their advantage in a conflict that threatens to claim more than just the lovers as their victims. (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | sexual repressioncensorshipmob |
Balls-out "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman sniffs a story when a former research biologist for Brown & Williamson, Jeff Wigand, won't talk to him. When the company leans hard on Wigand to honor a confidentiality agreement, he gets his back up. Trusting Bergman and despite a crumbling marriage, h β¦e goes on camera for a Mike Wallace interview and risks arrest for contempt of court. Westinghouse is negotiating to buy CBS, so CBS attorneys advise CBS News to shelve the interview and avoid a lawsuit. "60 Minutes" and CBS News bosses cave, Wigand is hung out to dry, Bergman is compromised, and the CEOs of Big Tobacco may get away with perjury. Will the truth come out? (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | censorshipliarfbicontroversyinterview |
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was Hollywood's top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs. TRUMBO (directed by Jay Roach) recounts how Dalton used words and wit to win two Academy Awards and expose the absurdity and injustice under th β¦e blacklist, which entangled everyone from gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) to John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | film history |
Characters: | film directorhusband wife relationship |
Story: | fbiinterview |
In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned t β¦he simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. As the trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son. (Read More)
Story: | civil libertieswhat happened to epiloguefalse accusationmontage |
This film details the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, as played by Cate Blanchett. The main focus is the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Story: | feministmontagesex |
Based upon a real-life story that happened in the early seventies in which the Chase Manhattan Bank in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was held siege by a bank robber determined to steal enough money for his male lover to undergo a sex change operation. On a hot summer afternoon, the First Savings Bank of Broo β¦klyn is held up by Sonny and Sal, two down-and-out characters. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds that there's actually nothing much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Police Captain Moretti, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city's entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees' safety. (Read More)
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | mobwhat happened to epiloguefbisexinterview |
During the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire.
Themes: | politics |
Mood: | archive footage |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | what happened to epilogue |
The United States of America is notorious for its astronomical number of people killed by firearms for a developed nation without a civil war. With his signature sense of angry humor, activist filmmaker 'Michael Moore (II)' (qv) sets out to explore the roots of this bloodshed. In doing so, he learns β¦ that the conventional answers of easy availability of guns, violent national history, violent entertainment and even poverty are inadequate to explain this violence when other cultures share those same factors without the equivalent carnage. In order to arrive at a possible explanation, 'Michael Moore (II)' (qv) takes on a deeper examination of America's culture of fear, bigotry and violence in a nation with widespread gun ownership. Furthermore, he seeks to investigate and confront the powerful elite political and corporate interests fanning this culture for their own unscrupulous gain. (Read More)
Themes: | politics |
Story: | civil libertiescontroversythree word titleinterview |
Bill Maher interviews some of religion's oddest adherents. Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. Maher goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. He talks to truckers at a Truckers' Chapel β¦. (Sign outside: "Jesus love you.") He goes to a theme park called Holy Land in Florida. He speaks to a rabbi in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic. (Read More)
Themes: | politicsreligion |
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | religious fundamentalist |
Story: | hysteriacontroversymontagesexinterview |
Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is tasked with learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life, a mission that pulls him toward a village ruler who has made a dark pact with evil forces.
Themes: | religion |
Story: | matriarchyfeministfalse accusation |
Brian Wilson is the creative soul of the Beach Boys, but he paid a heavy price for his talent. That especially shows during his peak artistic years in the 1960s, as his inner demons and obsessions trying to please his abusive father drive him to a mental breakdown that would plague him for years. In β¦ the 1980s, with Brian barely functional under the domination of the unscrupulous Dr. Landy, Brian meets and falls in love with Melinda Ledbetter. As their relationship grows, she observes Brian's crippling subservience to the abusive psychotherapist with growing alarm. Ultimately, she must take action with a love willing to stand up to oppression she cannot ignore. (Read More)
Mood: | archive footage |
Characters: | husband wife relationship |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | what happened to epilogueliarmontagethree word title |
The biography of Charlie Chaplin, filmmaker extraordinaire. From his formative years in England to his highest successes in America, Charlie's life, work, and loves are followed. While his screen characters were extremely hilarious, the man behind "The Little Tramp" was constantly haunted by a sense β¦ of loss. (Read More)
Characters: | film director |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | what happened to epilogueinterview |
This film tells the story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an African-American man who rose above his troubled youth to become a top contender for the middle-weight boxing title. However, his dreams are shattered when he is accused of a triple murder, and is convicted to three natural-life terms. Despit β¦e becoming a cause celebre and his dogged efforts to prove his innocence through his autobiography, the years of fruitless efforts have left him discouraged. This changes when an African-American boy and his Canadian mentors read his book and are convinced of his innocence enough to work for his exoneration. However, what Hurricane and his friends learn is that this fight puts them against a racist establishment that profited from this travesty and have no intention of seeing it reversed. (Read More)
Themes: | freedom |
Mood: | archive footage |
Period: | 1970s |
Story: | false accusation |
In 1959, 'Alfred Hitchcock (I)' (qv) and his wife, 'Alma Reville' (qv), are at the top of their creative game as filmmakers amid disquieting insinuations about it being time to retire. To recapture his youth's artistic daring, Alfred decides his next film will adapt the lurid horror novel, _Psycho ( β¦1960)_ (qv), over everyone's misgivings. Unfortunately, as Alfred self-finances and labors on this film, Alma finally loses patience with his roving eye and controlling habits with his actresses. When an ambitious friend lures her to collaborate on a work of their own, the resulting marital tension colors Alfred's work even as the novel's inspiration haunts his dreams. (Read More)
Mood: | film history |
Characters: | film directorhusband wife relationship |
Story: | censorshipwhat happened to epilogue |
On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. β¦A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history... but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications. (Read More)
Story: | what happened to epiloguefalse accusationmontagethree word titlesex |