#2. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003)

Storyline: Based upon Peter Biskind's book of the same name, this BBC-produced documentary traces the rise of a generation of Hollywood filmmakers who briefly changed the face of movies with a more personal approach that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on-screen. Influential directors who appear include Arthur Penn ("Bonnie and Clyde"), Dennis Hopper ("Easy Rider"), Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather"), John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy"), Bob Rafelson ("Five Easy Pieces") Martin Scorsese ("Taxi Driver"), Peter Bogdanovich ("The Last Picture Show"), and Jonathan Demme ("Crazy Mama"). Narrated by William H. Macy, the documentary features vintage clips of Coppola, Scorsese, Beatty, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Robert Altman, and Pauline Kael. It also includes original interview material with Penn; Roger Corman; Bogdanovich; Hopper; David Picker; writer/directors John Milius and Paul Schrader; actresses Karen Black, Cybill Shepherd, Margot Kidder, and Jennifer Salt; actors Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Dreyfuss; producers Jerome Hellman, Michael Phillips, and Jonathan Taplin; editor Dede Allen; production designer Polly Platt; writers David Newman, Joan Tewksbury, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck; cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond; agent Mike Medavoy; and former production executive Peter Bart. Among the films discussed are "Rosemary's Baby," "The Wild Bunch," "Mean Streets," "American Graffiti," "The Rain People," "Midnight Cowboy," "M*A*S*H," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "The Last Picture Show," "Shampoo," and "Taxi Driver."—alfiehitchie

Plot Keywords: filmmaker, film critic, film studio executive, film editor, actor, actress, confident ...

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#3. Trumbo (2007)

Storyline: Through a focus on the life of Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), this film examines the effects on individuals and families of a congressional pursuit of Hollywood Communists after World War II. Trumbo was one of several writers, directors, and actors who invoked the First Amendment in refusing to answer questions under oath. They were blacklisted and imprisoned. We follow Trumbo to prison, to exile in Mexico with his family, to poverty, to the public shunning of his children, to his writing under others' names, and to an eventual but incomplete vindication. Actors read his letters; his children and friends remember and comment. Archive photos, newsreels and interviews add texture.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: screenwriter, congressman, interrogator, film studio executive, filmmaker, actor, creative ...

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#4. Hitchcock (2012)

Storyline: In 1959, Sir Alfred Hitchcock (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and his wife, Alma Reville (Dame Helen Mirren), are at the top of their creative game as filmmakers amidst disquieting insinuations about it being time to retire. To recapture his youth's artistic daring, Sir Alfred decides his next movie will adapt the lurid horror novel, "Psycho", over everyone's misgivings. Unfortunately, as Sir Alfred self-finances and labors on this movie, 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 Sir Alfred's work, even as the novel's inspiration haunts his dreams.

Plot Keywords: director, wife, film studio executive, movie producer, actress, actor, crafty ...

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#5. Movie 43 (2013)

Storyline: Ineffectual, 'has-been' film-maker (Dennis Quaid) swindles his way into an interview with a film executive (Greg Kinnear) in order to pitch an outrageous and controversial comedy manuscript. After pitching the first of his thirteen offbeat fables, the dejected artist forces the rest of his disjointed allegory on the executive at gunpoint. He tells stories of a woman on a blind date with a man who has testicles growing from his neck, in another a smitten woman offers her neck to her boyfriend to 'poop' on -as a sign of commitment and love. In yet another two parents take home-schooling to a whole new level of indecency, striving to give their isolated teenage son all the 'regular' torment and humiliation of puberty by bullying, peer-pressuring and even seducing him themselves. An off-beat, elephant-in-the-room type film.

Plot Keywords: man, superhero, woman, love interest, teenager, film studio executive, outlandish ...

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