David Maysles

Horowitz: The Last Romantic

David Maysles

Vladimir Horowitz, Wanda Toscanini Horowitz

A stimulating study which features concert footage and interviews with the master pianist. Includes many of his favorite pieces.

Ozawa

Deborah Dickson, David Maysles

Seiji Ozawa, Rudolf Serkin

This intimate portrait of the legendary conductor Seiji Ozawa focuses on the Japanese master and teacher's career, his advocacy of modern composers and the behind-the-scenes world of the symphony orchestra.

Journey to Jerusalem

David Maysles

This color documentary chronicles the musical concert on Mount Scopus in Israel a mere three weeks after the Six Day War. Leonard Bernstein and Isaac Stern join the Yoi Yisrael Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Tel Aviv Philharmonic Choir for stirring classical renditions by Mahler and Mendelssohn. The concert was recorded by Columbia records for release at a later date and accurately captured the live music in all its classic splendor. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sits proudly in the front row as the symphonies play to a capacity crowd. Scenes of the war, the Wailing Wall, schools and hospitals are also included as Bernstein and Stern tour the country and meet the people of Israel.

Gimme Shelter

David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Salesman

David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

Paul Brennan, Charles McDevitt

This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.

Grey Gardens

Muffie Meyer, David Maysles

Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Running Fence

David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

Christo, Jeanne-Claude

Second in the series by the Maysles brothers documenting the monuments/sculptures of Christo, whose art projects are landscape-scaled, and more "pop" performance art designed to question how we relate to art in the public sphere, especially when it's as oblique, non-political (at least, that is what he would claim), and neutral as running a fence through a landscape.

Christo in Paris

Deborah Dickson, David Maysles

Christo, Jeanne-Claude

Documentary about conceptual artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude's attempt to "wrap" the Pont-Neuf in Paris.

Meet Marlon Brando

David Maysles, Albert Maysles

Marlon Brando, Rex Morgan

Journalists from all over America meet Marlon Brando in a New York hotel room to interview him about his new film, Morituri. Seeing this as an opportunity to let the legendary actor promote the film, they find Brando unwilling to talk about it, instead he is more interested in larking about and turning on the charm when being interviewed by a former winner of the Miss USA competition.

A Visit with Truman Capote

David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

Truman Capote

At his Long Island beach house, and on the occasion of the publication of his masterful nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, reporter Karen Dennison interviews celebrated writer Truman Capote, who displays his exuberant personality, makes witty jokes, shares his thoughts on writing, reflects on various aspects of the book and, in a sweet and endearing voice, reads and explains some of its highlights.

IBM: A Self Portrait

David Maysles, Albert Maysles

Told in the Maysles’ intimatible style, IBM: A SELF PORTRAIT captures the future corporate juggernaut at an early stage of their development. The emphasis here is on the human ingenuity behind the technology industry-- the colorful technicians and executives working together to create a future design for living.

What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A.

David Maysles, Albert Maysles

John Lennon, Paul McCartney

New York, USA, February 1964. Five grueling days in the life of George, John, Paul and Ringo, the Fab Four, The Beatles: the hysterical fan reception at JFK airport; several press conferences; in their rooms at the Plaza Hotel; in the backstage at the Ed Sullivan Show; hanging out with the legendary DJ Murray the K; and the frantic return home.

The Beales of Grey Gardens

David Maysles, Albert Maysles

Edith Bouvier Beale, Albert Maysles

Mother and daughter - Big Edie and Little Edie Beale - live with six cats in a crumbling house in East Hampton. Little Edie, in her 50s, who wears scarves and bright colors, sings, mugs for the camera, and talks to Al and David Maysles, the filmmakers. Big Edie, in her 70s, recites poetry, comments on her daughter's behavior, and sings "If I Loved You" in fine voice. She talks in short sentences; her daughter in volumes. The film is episodic: friends visit, there's a small fire in the house, Little Edie goes to the shore and swims. She talks about the Catholic Church. She's ashamed that local authorities raided the house because of all the cats. She values being different.

Islands

David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

Christo, Jeanne-Claude

The Maysles' third film about the artists sees them trying to get three projects off the ground: wrapping the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris; wrapping the Reichstag; and surrounding eleven man-made islands in Florida with pink plastic sheets. As the latter is the only one that gets approval, it gets the bulk of this film.

The Gates

David Maysles, Antonio Ferrera

Christo, Jeanne-Claude

A documentary on New York City’s biggest public art project ever, an installation called “The Gates” by Christo and Jeanne Claude.

Orson Welles in Spain

David Maysles, Albert Maysles

Orson Welles

Orson Welles pitches to potential investors his vision of a largely improvised bullfighter movie about an existential, James Dean type troubadour who sets himself apart from other matadors. In front of an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles pontificates on the state of cinema, the filmmaking process, and the art of bullfighting.