Amy (2015), The Weather Underground (2003), Arthur Miller: Writer (2017), Uncle Howard (2016), Stevie (2002), No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005), Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (2016), Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (2002) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Archival Footage movies.
Storyline: Former corporate whiz kid Robert McNamara was the controversial Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during the height of the Vietnam War. This Academy Award-winning documentary, augmented by archival footage, gives the conflicted McNamara a platform on which he attempts to confront his and the U.S. government's actions in Southeast Asia in light of the horrors of modern warfare, the end of ideology and the punitive judgment of history.—Jwelch5742
Plot Keywords: war, documentary, vietnam war, cold war, history, politics, moral dilemma ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: It's 1974, Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the Heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a backer in Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set. A musical festival, featuring the America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King, is also planned.—Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>
Plot Keywords: documentary, boxing, sports, biography, 1970s, african culture, music ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A look at the life, work, activism and controversies of actress and fitness tycoon, Jane Fonda.
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, actress, hollywood, feminism, vietnam war, personal growth ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Using previously unreleased archival material in addition to contemporary interviews, this academy award-winning documentary tells the story of the Frank family and presents the first fully-rounded portrait of their brash and free-spirited daughter Anne, perhaps the world's most famous victim of the Holocaust.—Dawn M. Barclift
Plot Keywords: history, documentary, world war ii, nazi, holocaust, jewish, diary ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary about lesbians in Canada alternates between fiction and non-fiction. Along with interviews of real women who discuss coming to terms with their sexuality during the '40s, '50s and '60s, there are dramatized scenes based on the "Beebo Brinker Chronicles," a series of hard-boiled lesbian pulp novels by Ann Bannon published during the '50s. Meanwhile, the interviewed women talk about Vancouver and Toronto's gay scenes of the time, which were their own pulp-worthy underworlds.
Plot Keywords: documentary, lesbian, history, canada, oral history, social movement, female director ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Biography of clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw, one of the principal figures of the big band/jazz era of the late 1930s and 1940s. He discusses his constant need to seek new challenges, which led to numerous retirements and career changes including his foray into writing, which had long been his primary intention. He speaks about his difficulty in reconciling his fans' popular expectations with his personal, more esoteric musical ambitions. His many years of retreat from public life are also discussed, as well as his notorious series of unsuccessful marriages.—scgary66
Plot Keywords: documentary, music, biography, jazz, 20th century, musician, composer ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This "biography" evolves around the nearly 240 hours of film and videotape fortuitously taken by Lennon of his life. The archive footage is transformed into a fascinating life story of one of the most complex and fascinating men of the modern music era. This effort includes a 36 song soundtrack. Includes some very personal and insightful footage, never before made available to the public.—Todd Tidyman
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, music, the beatles, rock, history, interviews ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Comedian Lenny Bruce struck a subversive chord in an era of change in America. After getting his start as a conventional stand-up comic, Bruce's increasingly iconoclastic act transformed him into a leading figure of the 1960s counterculture. This is his story.
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, comedy, stand-up comedy, social commentary, counterculture, 1960s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Documentary on Charles Bukowski, author of 'Notes of a Dirty Old Man', 'Love Is a Dog from Hell', and the autobiographical novels, 'Women', 'Hollywood', and 'Post Office'.
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, writer, poet, los angeles, counterculture, alcoholism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: John F. Kennedy's years as president.
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, historical, politics, 1960s, american history, cold war ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The life and times of Muhammed Ali are shown through the lens of his numerous appearances on "The Dick Cavett Show."
Plot Keywords: documentary, interview, boxing, sports legend, historical footage, social issues, racial equality ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In the 1960s, the Beatles exploded on to the public scene, seemingly out of nowhere as the band's formative years of constant performing at home and in Hamburg, and Brian Epstein's grooming, finally paid off beyond their wildest dreams. Accompanying new interviews of the remaining Beatles, their associates and fans as well as archival interviews of the late ones, this film features footage of the heady concert years of 1963 to 66 when the band became a worldwide cultural phenomena topping them all. Furthermore, it also follows how the Fab Four began to change and grow while the excitement of Beatlemania began to sour their lives into an intolerable slog they needed to escape from to become more than what their fans wanted.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Plot Keywords: documentary, music, biography, the beatles, band, 1960s, rock ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This film recounts the people and events leading up to the one of the most despicable hate-crimes during the height of the civil-rights movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In that attack, four little African-American girls lost their lives and a nation was simultaneously revolted, angered and galvanized to push the fight for equality and justice on.—Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>
Plot Keywords: documentary, history, civil rights, racism, 1960s, bombing, african american ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary highlights the historical contexts that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders have occupied in cinema history, and shows the evolution of the entertainment industry's role in shaping perceptions of LGBT figures. The issues addressed include secrecy -- which initially defined homosexuality -- as well as the demonization of the homosexual community with the advent of AIDS, and finally the shift toward acceptance and positivity in the modern era.
Plot Keywords: documentary, lgbtq+, film history, hollywood, film industry, historical, adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, counterculture, journalism, politics, american history, 1960s ...
Movie Details Click Here !