Buck Henry

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. Aided by lawyer Oliver Farnsworth, Thomas uses his knowledge of advanced technology to create profitable inventions. While developing a method to transport water, Thomas meets Mary-Lou, a quiet hotel clerk, and begins to fall in love with her. Just as he is ready to leave Earth, Thomas is intercepted by the U.S. government, and his entire plan is threatened.

Short Cuts

Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy's grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy's birthday cake.

Catch-22

A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.

The Player

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

Gloria

When a young boy's family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters want, the pair go on the run in New York.

The Absent-Minded Waiter

Bernie Cates requests the services of the most absent-minded waiter he's ever seen, who pours water before setting the glasses, endlessly repeats questions, brings wrong orders, and ruins everything- but the bill.

Grumpy Old Men

For decades, next-door neighbors and former friends John and Max have feuded, trading insults and wicked pranks. When an attractive widow moves in nearby, their bad blood erupts into a high-stakes rivalry full of naughty jokes and adolescent hijinks.

Playboy: The Story of X

The Story Of X takes you to the earliest days of adult films when men peddled stag reels and projectors out of the trunks of their cars, then through the movie house years to the arrival of the home video business, and now the Internet. Meet the men behind the camera, such as "King of Sexploitation" Dave Friedman and the preeminent breast man Russ Meyer. Considered pariahs at the time, they're now hailed as pioneers in the fight against censorship. The Story of X visits the 60s when women's rights, not nudity, became the issue and recounts porn's arrival in Hollywood, led by director Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris. In the 70s, several groundbreaking films, including Behind The Green Door featuring Marilyn Chambers and Deep Throat featuring Linda Lovelace, took the genre to a new level.

Rude Awakening

In the later 1960s, two hippies are forced to leave their friends as they are wanted by the FBI, who sees them as criminals. They hide in the jungle for 20 years, secluded from the outside world. In the later 1980s, the find out that a secret war is about to start in the US, and decide to return to New York to tell someone about it.

Heaven Can Wait

Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

A girl born with enormous thumbs in the repressive era of the 1950s learns to turn her quirks into assets.

Eating Raoul

A prudish married couple feel put upon by the swingers living in their apartment building. One night, by accident, they discover a way to both rid themselves of the “perverts” down the hall and simultaneously realize their dream of opening a restaurant.

The Real Blonde

An aspiring actor and his girlfriend handle life's frustrations, while his friend seeks fulfillment with a blonde.

Serendipity

Although strangers Sara and Jonathan are both already in relationships, they realize they have genuine chemistry after a chance encounter – but part company soon after. Years later, they each yearn to reunite, despite being destined for the altar. But to give true love a chance, they have to find one another again.

Strong Medicine

Adaptation of an avant-garde play about Rhoda, a hysterical heroine who feels oppressed by the people around her. She suffers through her birthday party, goes to see a doctor, plans a vacation, argues a lot and even breaks the fourth wall.

The Graduate

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.

Casting By

This essential new documentary pays tribute to the legacy of the late, legendary casting director Marion Dougherty and shines a light on one of the most overlooked and least understood crafts in filmmaking.

Aria

Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.

A Bird of the Air

A man in search of his past, and a woman who lives in the moment, are brought together when they pursue the origins of a stray parrot in this comedic and romantic drama.

Taking Off

Unable to deal with her parents, Jeannie Tyne runs away from home. Larry and Lynn Tyne search for her, and in the process meet other people whose children ran away. With their children gone, the parents are now free to rediscover/enjoy life.

First Family

When the First Daughter is kidnapped by an African tribe, the President must do what he can to keep them from sacrificing her.

1999

On New Year's Eve 1999, as a group of neurotic characters gather at a Greenwich Village apartment, everyone struggles to come to terms with their identities, relationships, and self-doubts before the millennium turns.

Steve Martin: Homage to Steve

This video contains three segments: First, the Oscar-nominated short The absent-minded waiter (1977), then a fake interview with Steve Martin about his art (comedians-segment) and finally a full live performance from September 28, 1979, at the Universal Ampitheater

The Troublemaker

A naive chicken farmer from New Jersey moves to Greenwich Village to open a coffee house.

Is There Sex After Death?

Driving through New York City in his Sexmobile, Dr. Harrison Rogers of the Bureau of Sexological Investigation, searches out luminary figures in the world of sex.

The Republic Pictures Story

A history of Republic Pictures studios, featuring hundreds of clips plus on-camera interviews with stars, director, stuntman, etc.

Candy

A high school girl encounters a variety of kookie characters and humorous sexual situations while searching for the meaning of life.

Playboy's 25th Anniversary Celebration

A salute to Playboy Magazine on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, hosted by founding publisher Hugh Hefner and an all-male guest list.

I Miss Sonia Henie

One camera in one setting, one attic and eight young directors – the result is a unique Dadaistic collage of seven short sketches. The original task for each filmmaker was to keep each short under three minutes, to set it in one hotel room, and to include the sentence “I miss Sonja Henie." This experimental film was shot over a single night at the international film festival FEST in Beograd in 1971.

The Day of the Dolphin

A marine biologist teaches his dolphins to communicate in English but shady characters plan to kidnap the trained mammals for a more sinister purpose.

Mary Woronov: Cult Queen

The documentary explores the enigma of actress and artist Mary Woronov and chronicles her colorful career trajectory as a ground breaking female performer starting from her work with Andy Warhol to Roger Corman, that sealed her reputation as a "Cult Queen".

The Linguini Incident

A waitress, a barman and an underwear designer try to rob the New York restaurant where two of them work.

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise journeys through Brooks’ early years in the creative beginnings of live television — with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows — to the film genres he so successfully satirized in Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs — to the groundbreaking Broadway musical version of his first film, The Producers. The documentary also delves into his professional and personal ups and downs — his childhood, his first wife and subsequent 41-year marriage to Anne Bancroft — capturing a never-before-heard sense of reflection and confession.

Defending Your Life

Is there love after death? After he dies suddenly, the hapless advertising executive Daniel Miller finds himself in Judgment City, a gleaming way station where the newly deceased must prove they lived a life of sufficient courage to advance in their journey through the universe. As the self-doubting Daniel struggles to make his case, a budding relationship with the uninhibited Julia offers him a chance to finally feel alive.

Harrison Bergeron

"All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.

Kiss Kiss Fingerbang

A nice guy discovers his dark side when his girlfriend reveals her secret weakness.

American Swing

Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.

Keep the Change

A struggling artist visits his family on their Montana ranch and finds that his former flame, daughter of a family foe, is now married to an old friend.

The Last Shot

A movie director-screenwriter finds a man to finance his latest project but soon discovers that the producer is actually an undercover FBI agent working on a mob sting operation.

Old Boyfriends

When her marriage falls apart, a psychiatrist seeks out those of her former boyfriends who left the biggest impact on her life, mostly in a bad way.

Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary

A TV special celebrating the 15th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. Before a celebrity audience, many of the former cast members and guest hosts return to perform their signature monologues and present a look back at some of the best comedy skits and musical numbers of the past 15 years.

Passion for Snow

What do Daniel Webster, Dr. Seuss, C. Everett Koop, Robert Frost and 100+ Winter Olympians have in common? They all spent time at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH where winters are long and snowy. Passion for Snow traces over 100 years of ski history in the United States with a focus on the many contributions of Dartmouth College and its alumni to the formation, growth and ongoing innovations in all aspects of snowsports. Passion for Snow combines firsthand accounts from early ski pioneers, veterans of the 10th Mountain Division, Olympians, members of the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame and top ski industry and resort executives, who explain how the most remotely located college in the Ivy League helped spawn a $25 billion industry, and continues to shape it today.

Mastergate

A "play on words" about a fictional political scandal concerning covert arms deals and double-dealing government operatives, satirizing the Watergate hearings of 1972-1973.

'The Graduate' at 25

A 1992 featurette on the making of "The Graduate."

Students of 'The Graduate'

This short documentary from 2007 features filmmakers, critics and historians discussing the cinematic achievement and ongoing influence of "The Graduate."

To Die For

Suzanne Stone wants to be a world-famous news anchor and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in cold determination and diabolical wiles. As she pursues her goal with relentless focus, she is forced to destroy anything and anyone that may stand in her way, regardless of the ultimate cost or means necessary.

It Came from Kuchar

It Came from Kuchar is the definitive, feature documentary about the legendary, underground filmmaking twins, the Kuchar brothers. George and Mike Kuchar have inspired two generations of filmmakers, actors, musicians, and artists with their zany, "no budget" films and with their uniquely enchanting spirits.

Shakespeare's Plan 12 from Outer Space

William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", re-imagined in a child's vision of Hell. "Shakespeare's Plan 12 from Outer Space" is a festive yarn, comprised of the most homely and vulgar materials, while shamelessly thwarted buy the Bard's coarsest of jokes and grossest buffoonery.

Town & Country

Porter Stoddard is a well-known New York architect who is at a crossroads... a nexus where twists and turns lead to myriad missteps, some with his wife Ellie, others with longtime friends Mona and her husband Griffin. Deciding which direction to take often leads to unexpected encounters with hilarious consequences.

The Lounge People

Louis and Cynthia Lewis are an insanely rich couple suffering from an acute case of boredom on their private island estate. Louis produces his own version of "Moby Dick" to end the tedium and to get his mind off his recently-discovered ill health; meanwhile, his wife and the three-person staff engage in several sexual escapades with each other.

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-85), an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick to surprise his audience, a romantic and legendary figure who lived only for cinema.

Shotgun Freeway: Drives Through Lost L.A.

Before "L.A. Confidential", there was "Shotgun Freeway" -- the groundbreaking 1995 documentary about Los Angeles coming to grips with it's own history. Against a backdrop of never-before-seen archival footage, Shotgun Freeway presents a diverse group of "Angelinos" who guide the film through their own past as well as the city's. We get crime scribe James Ellroy reliving his youth as a burglar, Actor/writer Buck Henry's tour of Hollywood fakery, Jazzman Buddy Collette's trip down Central Avenue, Historian Mike Davis' tour of LA's eventual Armageddon, and writer Joan Didion's take on LA's own ephemerality. From the Beaches to the Valley, "Shotgun Freeway" will show you a Los Angeles you never knew existed.

A Fuller Life

Friends and admirers of iconoclastic film director Sam Fuller read from his memoirs in this unconventional documentary directed by Fuller's only child, Samantha.

Breakfast of Champions

A millionaire car salesman who runs the biggest dealership in Midland City, Dwayne Hoover is a celebrity, loved and trusted by everyone. Then one day, he wakes up and realizes that his life is a total mess! But between the headaches posed by his pill-popping wife, a mistress who won't leave him alone, and a cross-dressing sales manager, Dwayne has picked a bad week for a midlife crisis.

Lisa Picard Is Famous

A documentarian decides to follow the career of New York actress Lisa Picard, believing she is on the brink of fame. Instead, he bears witness to Lisa's continued, humorous, struggles as an actress, as well as the conflict that arises when Lisa's best friend Tate hits it big with an off-Broadway one-man show.

SEGAL

From a shy kid on Long Island to Hollywood Leading Man, during its most prolific decades, legendary entertainer George Segal shares his life story.

The Secret War of Harry Frigg

When 5 allied generals are captured in Italy in WWII, it is a propaganda nightmare for the allies. The generals are all 1 star and refuse to take orders from each other in order to plan an escape. Harry Frigg is a private who has escaped from the guard house dozens of times. He is promoted to Major General and ordered to get the generals out once he is captured. Harry is willing to escape, but then he meets the countess...

Curtain Call

A bachelor afraid of marriage angers his long-time girlfriend by buying a splendid townhouse just for himself, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of a famous theatrical couple, who teach him about love and commitment.

The Owl and the Pussycat

Meek, owlish Felix and strident, catty Doris live in the same apartment building. His incessant typing bothers her; her gentlemen callers bother him. Felix informs the landlord of her activities, so Doris moves in on Felix. When they both get thrown out, they move in with Barney... until they drive him out! That's when Felix and Doris finally decide to put theory into practice. But do opposites attract?

Tune in Tomorrow...

Martin works at the local radio station, which just hired a new scriptwriter with a reputation for great drama, Pedro Carmichael. Martin’s aunt Julia, not related by blood, returns home after many years away and Martin falls for her. Once Pedro finds out about this romance, he starts incorporating details of it into the script of his daily drama series. Soon, Martin and Julia are not only hearing about their fictional selves over the radio, but about what they are going to do next.

Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film

illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel Radicals" features clips from such seminal films as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967); Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" (1967); Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (1969); John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962); Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968); John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" (1969); Richard Brooks' "Elmer Gantry" (1960) and "In Cold Blood" (1967); and Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) and "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968). Frankenheimer, Jewison, Hopper, Schlesinger, Penn, Buck Henry, Paul Mazursky, Roger Corman and Arthur Hiller are among the filmmakers who discuss the decade.

The Directors: Milos Forman

Documentary about the Chzech director, Milos Forman.

I'm Losing You

Based on Bruce Wagner's best selling novel, "I'm Losing You" is the gripping tale of a wealthy Los Angeles family and their journey from profound loss to love, hope and redemption. On the verge of his 60th birthday, patriarch and TV producer Perry Krohn is diagnosed with inoperable cancer and is told he has only months left to live. He delays telling his thirtysomething children, has-been actor Bertie and adopted daughter Rachel.