Best Documentary Movies of 1996

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 willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."

Back in Town is George Carlin's ninth HBO special. It was also released on CD on September 17, 1996. This was also his first of many performances at the Beacon Theater in New York City. He rants about Abortion, The death penalty, prison farms, fart jokes, free floating hostility and words.

It happened more or less by accident; the people who made it happen were amateurs; and for the most part they still are. From his own Silicon Valley garage, author Bob Cringley puts PC bigshots and nerds on the spot, and tells their incredible true stories. Like the industry itself, the series is informative, funny and brash.

Oingo Boingo's Farewell Concert at the Universal Amphitheatre

This documentary highlights the historical contexts that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals 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.

This documentary examines the Seattle scene as it became the focus of a merging of punk rock, heavy metal, and innovation. Building from the grass roots, self-promoted and self-recorded until break-out success of bands like Nirvana brought the record industry to the Pacific Northwest, a phenomenon was born.

Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also as a relative complete bio of Hearst.

Christopher Lee talks about his film career, while showing clips from some of his best films.

The lives of random children from different parts of the Philippines, facing the same predicament of living life of arduous labor to cope with the harsh realities of poverty.

A documentary following Terry Gilliam through the creation of "12 Monkeys"

Alice in Chains returned to the popular music eye with this live, acoustic performance in New York on 10th April, 1996. After an absence from the stage of three years the band performed a 13-song set, including 'Heaven Beside You', 'Rooster' and 'Would?'.

Riverdance Show is a cultural phenomenon that defies criticism for the enthusiastic and leaves everyone else scratching their heads. The wonderfully talented cast, headed by the Riverdance Irish Dance Company, bewitchingly spins (and stomps) its Celtic folk choreography featuring numerous breathless solos by Michael Flatley (since departed) and Jean Butler. The mellifluous Riverdance Orchestra boasts Davy Spillane, who coaxes plaintive lamentations out of a peculiar instrument that resembles a bagpipe in a metal leg brace. For Enya fans, there is the sound-alike choral group Anuna, who casts a similarly New Age-style vocal spell. Also thrown into the mix are such disparate folk traditions as American gospel and Spanish flamenco. Though it's only 70 minutes long, Riverdance is repetitive by half. But judging from the ecstatic audience ovations and the continued foot-stomping during and after the curtain calls, too much is still not enough.

Before he won the Academy Award for Documentary for Man on Wire, director James Marsh made this lighthearted film about the artery-clogging cravings of Elvis Presley. Marsh’s portrait of Elvis is constructed from the recollections of friends, relatives and Elvis’s favourite cook, Mary Jenkins, who, with help from Elvis’s father, perfected those infamous fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches. The resulting film traces Elvis’s taste from his humble Mississippi start to his Vegas finale with stops along the way in the school cafeteria and army mess hall. Known for his gustatory excess, Elvis was a picky eater whose success manifested itself in quantity not quality. Marsh’s talent is in full effect in this stylish blend of form and content. Lit like an all-night diner, with a colour palette reminiscent of a sparkly Formica countertop, it’s a perfect backdrop for the King and his southern fried fare.

In 1994, New Zealand mountaineer, Mark Whetu, summitted Mt Everest with climbing partner and friend Mike Reinberger. However it was late in the day and after a freezing night on the summit, Whetu was faced with a terrible decision...to leave Reinberger or stay with him forever.

The beautiful gay erotic superstar Johan Paulik is enthusiastically celebrated in this jam-packed compendium of Johan's greatest on-screen performances, plus an exclusive interview with the charming boy himself and previously unseen out-takes which reveal the charm and humor of this much admired adult model.

The film documents, in an often dramatic and humorous fashion, Gray's investigations into alternative medicine for an eye condition (Macular pucker) he had developed.

Portrait of the last year of the life of famous New York drag queen Consuela Cosmetic.

Footage of Tina Turner's amazing three-night stint at the Amsterdam Arena in September, 1996, where she performed all her biggest hits in a spectacular visual production.

Every September Sydney's inner-suburban Leichhardt Council re-elects it mayor. Incumbent Larry Hand was popular with the citizenry but they don't vote for mayor - the 12 councillors do - and after three years of Larry, at least four councillors were after his job. When film-makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson settled in at Leichhardt Council in early 1994 the knives were already being sharpened. A battle royal was in the making, and so it came to pass. By the end of September Larry had fought the fight of his life, with Connolly and Anderson documenting every bit of it on film. Ambition, courage, envy, hatred, loyalty, betrayal, disaster, triumph... in other words, a classic study in politics.

This was an HBO special, a filmed performance of Jay's Broadway show, directed by his friend, David Mamet. It is literate, intelligent, and better than any magic performance you have ever seen.

This documentary examines the 80 year career of journalist George Seldes, his encounters with Lenin and J. Edgar Hoover, his long battle against press censorship, the tobacco lobby, and his eventual blacklisting.With Ben Bagdikian, Jeff Cohen, Daliel Ellsberg, Ralph Nader, and Marian Seldes

"Michael Jordan Above and Beyond" provides a much-needed look at Michael Jordan's fantastic return from retirement in 1995. The first 20 minutes or so recap his retirement, attempt at minor league baseball, and his dealing with his father's murder. It picks up when it starts looking at the huge frenzy that was his return to the NBA in the Spring of 1995. It covers his mediocre first game back against the Pacers, his Friday night Chicago return against the Magic, and his subsequent return to form with a game-winning shot against Atlanta, and a career night dropping 55 on the Knicks.

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Richard Dreyfuss hosts a celebration of the 80 year history of Universal Studios. Founded as IMP by Carl Leammle to oppose Edison's Motion Picture Tust, it soon grew under the leadership of 21 year old production head Irving Thalberg with classic silents from artists like John Ford, Erich Von Stroheim, and Lon Chaney and prospered further in the Sound Era under the leadership of Carl Leammle Jr. with such classics as "All Quiet on The Western Front," "Showboat," and the studio's signature monster franchises, "Frankenstein" and "Dracula."

This documentary deals with the popularization and commercialization of Native American spiritual traditions by Non-Indians. Important questions are asked of those seeking to commercially exploit Tribal rituals and sacred ceremonies...and those vested with safeguarding sacred ways. The film represents a wide range of voices from Native communities, and speaks to issues of cultural appropriation with humor, righteous anger, and thoughtful insight.

Director Alan Berliner takes on his reclusive father as the reluctant subject of this affecting and graceful study of family history and memory. Ultimately this complex portrait is a meeting of the minds -- where the past meets the present, where generations collide and where the boundaries of family life are stretched, torn and surprisingly, at times, also healed. Berliner has transformed a story of a troubled man who has sealed himself off from life's pain into a work of universal resonance.

In only 15 minutes with some 30 people Jane Elliott manages to build up a realistic microcosmos of society today with all its phenomena and feelings. As already known from the ill reputed Milgram experiment, even participants who knew the "rules" are unable to remain uninvolved. What starts as a game turns into cruel reality which causes some participants' emotions to erupt with unforeseen intensity

25 Million Pounds details the collapse of Barings Bank in the mid 1990s primarily by a broker called Nick Leeson, who lost £827 million ($1.3 billion) by speculating on futures contracts. The film contextualises the downfall as the history of Barings Bank was one of the oldest and most prestigious merchant banks in Britain, run by the same family for decades with extensive ties to Britain's elites. But in the late 19th century Barings almost went bankrupt after investing heavily in South American bonds, including backing the construction of a sewer system in Buenos Aires. The bank was saved by The Bank of England, but Edward Baring, the head of the bank, was financially ruined and never recovered.

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No overview found.

THE TITANTIC DOCUMENTARY She was the pride of the White Star Line. Nicknamed "The Wonder Ship" and "The Millionaire's Special," theTitanic steamed out of Southhampton, England with a gala send-off that made headline news. Bound for new York, the hulking ship cillides with an iceberg ripping a gash over 300 feet into the hull of the ship. Shocking the world, "The Unsinkable" descends to its legendary resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic. As the massive ship slowly slips into the mercy of the icy waters, Captain Edward J. Smith orders the lifeboats readied. With room for only half the passengers, they were quickly filled with women and children. Take a look back in time at this historic event, the event that still remains a great mystery the actual causes related to the sinking of the Titanic.

The documentary short of Toy Story of why and how the feature length blockbuster sleeper movie became a success and helps to boost Pixar's popularity of making one of the few animation movie production companies in the world today, especially in North America.

Sigmund Freud's revolutionary ideas transformed our conception of the mind. Yet, fears and obsessions wracked the father of psychoanalysis. His theories continue to inspire debate, even as the discipline he invented drifts farther from his work. Through personal letters, diaries and interviews with biographers, psychiatrists and Freud's grandchildren, this documentary explores the life of the man who was once derided as the doctor of love.

Often called the worst director in the history of cinema, Ed Wood is nevertheless a beloved figure among cult-film aficionados for his oddball productions. This documentary takes a look back at Wood's unique career at the margins of 1950s Hollywood, speaking to those who loved him and hated him. Bela Lugosi Jr. discusses his father's work in the abysmal "Plan 9 From Outer Space," while a Baptist reverend recalls how he was tricked into financing the film.

A fascinating glimpse into Truffaut’s creative process and how his life informed his art, told from the perspectives of those who knew him best.

A fascinating glimpse into Truffaut’s creative process and how his life informed his art, told from the perspectives of those who knew him best.

A documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money.

Video Essentials on DVD was assembled by the early part of 1997 as a tool to help measure and adjust your audio/video system. The program was released at the beginning of the DVD format in order to help the industry in the development of DVD. It is a source of signals for system calibration, including Dolby Digital, test tones, and anamorphic video test patterns.

A documentary on the life and career of actor Lon Chaney, with clips from his films and interviews with people who knew him.

A collection of short films made by the Lumiere brothers, a team of pioneering filmmakers in turn-of-the-century France, narrated by Bertrand Tavernier.

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Steven Spielberg's 1982 film "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.'

Tupac Shakur’s final performance, the July 4, 1996 concert at the House of Blues. Tupac: Live at The House of Blues is an all out hip house party on stage and a final chance to catch Tupac at the top of his game before his untimely death. Aided by appearances from Snoop Dogg and a booming lossless soundtrack, this one should please hip hop lovers for sure.

Exploring the reputation of Stanley Kubrick by means of extracts from his work and contributions of people with whom he worked.

A dedicated music teacher in East Harlem instructs a gaggle of underprivileged children in the art of the violin. In the climax, they play Carnegie Hall with some of the world's foremost fiddlers.

The retired life in Florida rescued, the Epstein brothers do again what they do best and have practiced for a lifetime music. A Tickle in the Heart captures the past, present, and future of the remarkable Epstein brothers - Max, Julie and Willie - Klezmer music legends on a joyous international comeback tour. This is a cinematic party with three of the funniest men in the show business. The Epsteins are natural performers, and their sense of life, music and family as they tour through places they love.

NOVA accompanies famed test pilot Darryl Greenamyer and his intrepid crew on a perilous mission to repair and re-fly a B-29 bomber stranded on the Greenland icecap since 1947. In the face of incredible hardships, the team struggles to bring the old warbird back to life.

Oscar nominated "Making of" documentary about Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch.

The Academy Award® nominee Cosmic Voyage combines live action with state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery to pinpoint where humans fit in our ever-expanding universe. Highlighting this journey is a "cosmic zoom" based on the powers of 10, extending from the Earth to the largest observable structures in the universe, and then back to the subnuclear realm.