Todesspiel - FANTASTIC documentary about the German/Palestinensian terror plot in the fall of 1977 - especially the plane hijacking is powerfully re-enacted, and this is one of the few documentaries where the surviving terrorists are interviewed to relay their view of the events.

Roger and Me

Walt Disney - the Man behind the Myth

Another vote for Hell House and for Errol Morris's Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Actually, double votes for both. Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (also Errol Morris) had some great moments, but wasn't quite there.

Even if you don't agree with Mr. Moore's politics (I don't), Roger and Me is quite good as well (even if much of it was staged). Much better than The Big One (essentially just a few TV Nation bits with really poorly done handheld camera work) or Bowling for Columbine (I found it a bit unfocused).

On Criterion, both Salesman and Gimme Shelter are excellent (Grey Gardens, also by the Maysles brothers, just didn't do it for me, although I should probably watch it again).

What is the best, I do not know, but I sure can list the ones I have.

Beyond the Mat
Bowling for Columbine
Cinemania (don't know if this has been listed yet or not, but it's an EXCELLENT film about five unemployed kooky people who do nothing but go to the movies all day in New York City)
Go Tigers! (hilarious and sad, this film's about a small town in Ohio where high school football is absolute LIFE)
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leutcher, Jr.
Roger & Me
Spellbound

Anddddddddddddddddddd the box set of The Awful Truth, the incredibly wonderful TV show Michael Moore did for Bravo ("right between Cartoon Network and the Playboy Channel!")

Later.

RJS

Agreed - I was thinking of this one the entire way through the thread; it is the best wrestling documentary because of how amazingly lucky they were to be filming at that time and catch the volatile events that were occurring in the WWF .

It's great that I come across this topic. I was just wish-listing documentaries I plan on getting - so I'll have to add a few more. Anyone here see either Mandela or the docu on the Angola prision system?

I think there's a good chance we'll see this released on DVD when the WWE releases the Bret Hart set in the near future.

ELVIS: That's The Way It Is
Beyond The Mat

Still waiting for Hearts of Darkness...
edit Wrestling with Shadows is another that needs to hit DVD.

I have to second this one. Just an awesome look at Ali. I really enjoyed Essence of Combat : Making of Black Down on the BHD 3 disc set.

Don't forget May 25th, The Weather Undergound, is released on DVD.

For All Mankind (Criterion)

People with multi-region players (and/or European members) should really get the UK dvd of this doc: it contains the complete tv broadcasts of "The Rumble in the Jungle" and "The Thrilla in Manilla" as bonus features.

Thanks. I could get it for $32 this weekend, and despite the fact that that's still pretty expensive, I have ordered it....

Also bought/ordered The Wonderful Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl (the cheaper European version), Grey Gardens (Criterion) and The Blue Planet (all 8 episodes, again the cheaper (R0) European PAL version), so that will be plenty documentary viewing the coming weeks....

I took a great course on documentary film in college, and it made me an unapologetic snob... I stick to the classics. Of them, my favorite is probably Harlan County USA. It won the Best Doc Oscar in the early 70s, about the mining strike there, one of four counties in the US where there was no draft for Vietnam. Unfortunately, it isn't available on DVD (yet...).

I should add the bravery shown by the woman who made it, Barbara Kopple, makes all other documentary film makers look like a bunch of vaginas.

Shaven?

Two I haven't seen mentioned:

A Decade Under the Influence - about 70's film scene
Hands on a Hardbody (not a porn title!) - about a small Texas car dealership contest - be the last one with your hand on the car to win it


By the way, if you're on Netflix, you can click on the "documentary" tab and get a huge listing of documentaries that are split up by sub-categories - "bio-documentaries", "crime-documentaries", etc.

It also has a list of award-winning documentaries, though sadly, only a small percentage of them are on DVD.