Behind the Scenes

It's been determined that it would be a conflict of interest for me to review "Prairie Home Companion," so read Citypages or the New York Times to get a review. I'll take this chance to rave about my favorite "behind the scenes" movies:

"Day for Night" Truffaut's lovely film about filmmaking. Moving, warm and funny. Makes being in charge of script continuity look like a dream job.

"Topsy Turvy" I was baffled when I heard Mike Leigh was making a period movie about Gilbert and Sullivan since he's better known for his biting satire about modern life. But Leigh's generosity and perfect sense of the absurdities of humans is timeless. Yes, those folks in the nineteenth century weren't so different from us. Once again, this shows how a group of technicians, artists and egos come together to create something beautiful.

Robert Altman's "The Player" could be construed, in some respects, as a "Behind the scenes" movie, as could parts of "Get Shorty".

Those are two more great movies. Don't, don't see "Be Cool" though...

I should add "Living in Oblivion"

What ever happened to Tom DiCillo? (For the answer, we turn to imdb.com) He appears to have a movie he wrote and directed ready to go., To video? To the theaters? We'll have to wait and see.

I like "Bowfinger;" it points at Hollywood and laughs.

"Mistress" is worth a spot on anyones Netflix list and "The Last Shot" is an interesting take on the meta-movie.

I heard bad bad things about Be Cool, so I am going to stay far away from it and pretend Get Shorty never had a sequel. :)

Day for Night is my favorite, but I sure liked 8 1/2 & Singing in the Rain. Ed Wood is probably closer to reality than we realize.

Day for Night
8 1/2
Singing in the Rain
Ed Wood
Boogie Nights
Bowfinger
Adaptation
Shadow of a Vampire
Get Shorty
The Stunt Man
The Player
Burn Hollywood Burn!
State and Main
The Cameraman (Keaton)
Contempt
Peeping Tom
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Non-movies:
All About Eve tops the behind the scenes in theater list
Waiting for Guffman
Bio-pics like Yankee Doodle Dandy
The Mickey Rooney/ Judy Garland flicks
Summer Stock

In TV-
My Favorite Year
Network

In dance,
I prefer Altman's The Company to The Turning Point or The Red Shoes

In radio:
Radio Days