I Tivo'd it over the weekend and finally got to watch Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004).

I had no idea what the Z channel was or who Jerry Harvey was (that man behind Z channel) before watching the documentary. It was a very interesting film, sometimes funny, and pretty sad considering what became of Jerry Harvey. I'm sure the documentary would appeal to several posters here (talking about you Dolce). The Z channel was a pay cable channel in LA during the 1970's and 1980's that not only influenced the current pay cable systems today like HBO, but helped to get European and smaller films on the American radar. Many famous actors and filmmakers are interviewed including Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne, Robert Altman, Paul Verhoeven, James Woods, Jim Jarmush, and Penelope Spheeris.

The Z channel was a cinephile's wet dream. Some of the films showcased on the documentary:

Dog Day Afternoon
Mahogany
Black Bird
Marathon Man
Chinatown
Big Bad Mama
Carrie
Lipstick
Attila 74
In a Lonely Place
Empire Strikes Back
Dr. Strangelove
A Safe Place
Images
Welcome to LA
400 Blows
Madchen in Uniform
Peau d'ane
Dance of the Vampires
Overlord
Poltergeist
Eye of the Needle
Flashdance
Aliens
Life of Brian
Silver Streak
Fingers
Andrei Rublev
Heaven's Gate
The Decline of Western Civilization
Bad Timing
The Important Thing is to Love
Dead Pigeon
Fixed Bayonets
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
The Delinquents
Shoot the Piano Player
3 Women
Journey Among Women
The Ploughman's Lunch
Rules of the Game
Throne of Blood
St Ives
Le Magnifique
The Deep
Fritz the Cat
Naked Kiss
Vampyr
Boccaccio 70
Rocco and his Brothers
Iceman
This Island Earth
Los Olvidados
Greasers Palace
Putney Swope
El Norte
The Harder They Come
Out of the Past
The Home and the World
The Passenger
L'Avventura
The Moon's Our Home
400 Blows
1900 (5:20 hour version)
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Scarface
Seduction of Mimi
All Screwed Up
Femme La Infidele
This Man Must Die
Das Boot (6 hour version)
Once Upon a Time in America
Ride the High Country
The Leopard
The French Woman
La Cicala
The Boarding School
Daughters of Darkness
Emmanuelle
Lady on the Bus
Wifemistress
Turkish Delight
Flesh and Blood
Spetters
Keetje Tippel
Salvador
Something of Value
My Darling Clementine
Fitzcarraldo
The Wild Bunch
Sicilian

I am definately going to try to see this doc. I will check rental places for it. Was the movie itself any good, or was the content so inherently interesting that even with the doc doing a poor job it was passable. Anyone who brought Madchen and L'Avventure to this country deserves some loving.

The doc was good. My only issue was the "talking head" syndrome. It really hampered the films ability to keep the subject interesting. Half of the heads weren't very engaging. Also, the film had problems sorting out its subject. It's either really about the Z channel and what it meant for film or its about Harvey and what ulimately happened to him. You can't really do justice to both if you're switching back and forth.

That said, I would still give it a solid B.

We were just talking about the fact that New Hope, Empire Strikes back, were not guaranteed massive popcorn blockbusters, last night. Insteresting to see how Empire actually got their television release through the same channels the imports and indies did. Kind of interesting to reflect back on it now. The most financially successful franchise was getting attention from small start-up television channel pay=per-view. I wonder how well they did afterwards, as alot of these movies went on to be huge in the domestic market?