The history of the irreverent "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and the content battles it fought with its television network.
Social & External
The people behind it
Tom Smothers
Self
Dick Smothers
Rob Reiner
Bill Maher
Joan Baez
Jack Benny
Self (archive footage)
George Burns
Bette Davis
Pete Seeger
Harry Belafonte
Self (uncredited)
Although Gainsbourg and Birkin had appeared in a string of films since their magnetic collision in Pierre Grimblat’s Slogan, Melody was a bit of diversion from their collaborations since it’s a series of interwoven videos inspired by the Gainsbourgalbum. For '71 it’s a novel concept to bring visual life to an LP, but even more surprising are the short film’s amazing visuals that director Averty crafted using a wealth of video filters, overlays, camera movements and chroma key effects. Averty applies these in tandem with the increasing tone of Gainsbourg’s songs, which more or less chronicle an older man's affair with a young girl. Each song is comprised of steady, sometimes brooding poetic delivery, with refrains timed to the phrase repeats of each song, while Alan Parker’s buzzing guitar accompanies and wiggles around Gainsbourg’s resonant voice. The bass is fat and groovy, the drums easy but steady, and the periodic use of strings or rich vibrato makes this short a sultry little gem.
A poetic journey through the life and work of a filmmaker, where the mix between reality and fiction creates new and surprising stories.
A documentary on Israel's disengagement from Gaza from the point of view of several Israeli Army officers and members of the police border unit.
Zenon Kar is 15 and lives on a space station which the military has taken over and is dismantling. She receives a mysterious signal and must convince everyone that it's from aliens who have come to help them.
Three women of one family must learn to break their old patterns in order to find themselves.
A shy young woman receives a heart transplant and undergoes a personality change that may be connected to the murdered donor.
A collection of film clips from horror movies and interviews with the actors and directors who made them.
A wry look at the effects of sexual repression on lesbian and gays in former Czechoslovakia. After the Revolution explores the impact of the new gay movement, combining personal accounts and rarely seen propaganda film. After 40 years of totalitarian silence about sexuality, lesbian, gay and transsexual contributors reveal how they reacted to exclusion from communist norms of heterosexuality and parenthood, including in the case of some women, by changing sex.
A group of military brats uncovers a plot to steal base equipment.
Zezolla and her family live mid 20th century, where fashion is practically everything. As her father is won over by a selfish woman named Claudette, Cinderella must keep her new step-mother from murdering the only family she has left. Add in an anti-social mermaid literally living in a cave, a bored prince with an ear for rock n' roll, and the glamour of the 1950's and one'll find that this story can't grow old.
Two middle aged German brothers - one New Age and recently divorced, the other uptight and sceptical - travel to a Zen monastery in Japan in search of enlightenment, or perhaps just in search of themselves.
Jenny is sent to a women's reform school. It is run by evil warden Sutter and her henchwoman Edna. Jenny will stop at nothing to escape but she also has to deal with Charlie the bully.
"I decided to make a film at my kitchen table, there is nothing like knowing my table. The high art of the housewife. You take prisms, glass, lights and myself to it. 'The Housewife is High.' Water Sark is a film sculpture, being made while you wait."
SHADOWS FROM MY PAST interweaves the tragic fate of one Austrian Jewish Family from Vienna. Letters written from 1939 - 1941 as they were trying to save their children and each other reverberate to today. SHADOWS features many face-to-face, unrehearsed interviews with contemporary Austrians and near past contemporary interviews including Simon Wiesenthal, Kurt Waldheim, President Heinz Fischer, Theodore Bikel, Jorg Haider, survivors and many others. SHADOWS interweaves the memories of Gita Kaufman's family with Austria's present perceptions with Austria's present perceptions of its role in the persecution and deportation of Jews during World War II. SHADOWS underlines the need for Holocaust memory preservation, tolerance education, and serves as a warning for today.
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…
Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control when her secret letters to every boy she's ever fallen for are mysteriously mailed out.
Documentary film that follows Silvana Castro, a woman who works at the National Congress Library in Argentina where the books that were forbidden during the military dictatorship are kept. After the exhibition of the books is suspended, she'll try to open it again.
Mismatched travellers are stranded overnight at a lonely rural railway station. They soon learn of local superstition about a phantom train which is said to travel these parts at dead of night, carrying ghosts from a long-ago train wreck in the area.
One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.
A look at the history of the American comedy publication and production company, National Lampoon, from its beginning in the 1970s to 2010, featuring rare and never before seen footage, this is the mind boggling story of The National Lampoon from its subversive and electrifying beginnings, to rebirth as an unlikely Hollywood heavyweight, and beyond. A humour empire like no other, the impact of the magazines irreverent, often shocking, sensibility was nothing short of seismic: this is an institution whose (drunk stoned brilliant) alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture. Both insanely great and breathtakingly innovative, The National Lampoon created the foundation of modern comic sensibility by setting the bar in comedy impossibly high.
What does it mean to be a successful comedian? How far can the boundaries of taste be pushed to get a laugh? Four top comics, Ricky Gervais, Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, discuss and debate their craft.
The comedic stylings of four sort-of famous funnymen are brought to the big screen courtesy of this 2002 documentary.
An inspiring, triumphant and wickedly funny portrait of one of comedy’s most enigmatic and important figures, CALL ME LUCKY tells the story of Barry Crimmins, a beer-swilling, politically outspoken and whip-smart comic whose efforts in the 70s and 80s fostered the talents of the next generation of standup comedians. But beneath Crimmins’ gruff, hard-drinking, curmudgeonly persona lay an undercurrent of rage stemming from his long-suppressed and horrific abuse as a child – a rage that eventually found its way out of the comedy clubs and television shows and into the political arena.
Comedy Central's best roasters and stand up comedians take a whack at actor/model Pamela Anderson.
Patton Oswalt delivers a fresh hour plus of stand-up, covering everything from misery to defeat to hopelessness. It's his most upbeat special to date.
In his final comedy special, Norm Macdonald ponders casinos, cannibalism, living wills and why you have to be ready for whatever life throws your way.
Jim explores multiple aspects of life including religion, marriage and his own sanity. This stand-up special was taped at Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, Canada, in front of a live audience.
Bruce Willis goes from "Die Hard" to dead on arrival as some of the biggest names in entertainment serve up punches of their own to Hollywood's go-to action star. And with Roast Master Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the helm, nobody is leaving the dais unscathed.
Kevin, Joe and Nick face down quick wits and deep cuts in this comedy special featuring Pete Davidson, John Legend and more. Hosted by Kenan Thompson.
Comedian Kevin Hart performs in front of a crowd of 50,000 people at Philadelphia's outdoor venue, Lincoln Financial Field.
A primetime special with performances from the superstar including Adele’s first new material in six years plus her chart-topping hits. The special will also feature an exclusive interview with Adele by Oprah Winfrey from her rose garden, in Adele’s first televised wide-ranging conversation.
The cast of Friends reunites for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of the hit series, an unforgettable evening filled with iconic memories, uncontrollable laughter, happy tears, and special guests.
A look at the work of two stand-up comics, Jerry Seinfeld and a lesser-known newcomer, detailing the effort and frustration behind putting together a successful act and career while living a life on the road.
2002 HBO Stand-up Special starring Robin Williams. Recorded and broadcast live from New York City's Broadway Theater at the culmination of his historic 2002 sold-out tour, this special finds the Oscar-winning actor/writer/comedian returning after 16 years to his stand-up roots to deliver what the Washington Post calls "...in its madcap way, a seminal cultural event."
The house is rockin' and the laughs are rollin' as comedians Steve Harvey (The Steve Harvey Show), D.L. Hughley (The Hughleys), Cedric The Entertainer (The Steve Harvey Show) and Bernie Mac (Life) meet in this riotously comedy summit directed by Spike Lee.
A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.
Time to hassle the Hoff at the rudest, raunchiest television event of the year--The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff. From running in slo-mo on the beach to inspiring Germany with the power of cheesy pop--it's almost too easy.
It's Charlie Sheen's turn to step in to the celebrity hot seat for the latest installment of The Comedy Central Roast.