Acting
Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.
How LA Learned to Love Modern Art. A lesson in how a few renegade artists built an art scene from scratch.
Friends, family, co-stars and admirers of actor Steve McQueen talk about his life and his movie career.
"It must schwing!" was the motto of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German Jewish immigrants who in 1939 set up Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Blue Note, the most successful movie ever made about jazz, is a testimony to the passion and vision of these two men and certainly swings like the propulsive sounds that made their label so famous.
"Jazz Seen" is an exploration of the life of William Claxton, whose photographs turned the world of jazz on its keen and perceptive ear. Various jazz artists, photographers, and actors recount memories they had with Claxton and explore his work, while parts of his life are re-enacted by actors.
Trumpeter and vocalist Jack Sheldon, best known to younger viewers for Schoolhouse Rock, tries to "get good." Recovering from many years of substance abuse and overcoming personal tragedy, he continues on his musical journey.
Often cited as the “first fashion film,” Claxton used this is an experiment of women’s imaginative ways of creating self-image. In the sixties, while defining female sexuality through fashion and the world of power in art.
