Dear Zachary

Do not google anything about the film prior to seeing it or the story will be spoiled. This doc will blow your mind. No joke.

Netflix synopsis:

Stevie was pretty interesting as well

Netflix Synopsis:

The Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris. Actually, anything by Errol Morris, like Gates of Heaven which Roger Ebert put onto his list of the Top 10 films ever made.

A good place to start on your search for good documentaries is to just look at the lists of documentaries nominated for academy awards.

Stevie, mentioned above, is definately worth watching. As I remember it, and don't read this if you haven't seen the documentary:


My favorite quote from The Thin Blue Line: "Prosecutors in Dallas have said for years - any prosecutor can convict a guilty man. It takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man. "

The Mayor of Sunset Strip

The People's Temple

Overnight
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390336/

Harlan County U.S.A.

A/K/A Tommy Chong

+1 for Harlan County U.S.A.
+1 for The Thin Blue Line (probably the most important doc ever)

also
The Sorrow and the Pity
Mr. Death
Grey Gardens
Gimme Shelter

just a few, all terrific

Young at Heart - thought it was going to be sappy and boring, I was riveted.

The Parrots of Telegraph Hill - Really loved this one.

The Weather Underground - Crazy radical students, pale in comparison to the RAF, but still interesting

Cinemania - Every movie geek should watch this.

DiG! & We Live in Public - 2 docs by Ondi Timoner, both worthwhile

Hearts of Darkness - Apocalypse awesomeness

Little Dieter Needs to Fly - Doc later turned into Rescue Dawn, both by Herzog

My Best Fiend - Also by Herzog, on his rocky relationship with Klaus Kinski

Murderball - I remember liking this quite a bit.

The Times of Harvey Milk - sooo good.

Gimme Shelter - I want to keep listing hundreds of docs, so many good ones out there....

'Alone in the Wilderness', 'Alaska: Silence and Solitude', and 'The Frozen North' are excellent.

'Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie'.

'Burden of Dreams'.

"Mein Liebster Feind' aka 'My Best Fiend'.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk/37...aries-dvd.html

Fantastic! Thanks for all the great suggestions.

Oh, and thanks for that link, dugan. Much appreciated!!

I recommend:

American Movie - one of my all time favorite movies, nevermind documentaries

The Rock-A-Fire Exploision - if you liked King of Kong I think you'll like this, it's very good and bizarre, in a good way.

Lipstick and Dynamite - doc about women wrestlers from the 50s until the 90s, fascinating

Hell's Highway -doc about the people who made many of the highway safety films, really shocking and interesting

Edgeplay: A Film about the Runaways - really great, sad, interesting music documentary

Home Movie - by the same team who did American movie, about people with unusual homes

HEARTS AND MINDS - 1974, Oscar-winning docu about the Vietnam War
RUSH TO JUDGMENT - 1966, about the Kennedy Assassination
NO VIETNAMESE EVER CALLED ME ****** - 1966, about blacks protesting the Vietnam War
MILLHOUSE - 1969, about Richard Nixon
F FOR FAKE - 1975, Orson Welles' treatise on forgery, fakery and illusion
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK - 1984, much better than the movie version
SANS SOLEIL - 1983, Chris Marker's globetrotting docu about...I can't for the life me tell you, but it was beautiful.

Yeah Big Rec for Burden of Dreams.

and of course for the film Fitzcarraldo which it documents the making of.

I forgot to give an honorable mention to The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and the ultra-creepy Jesus Camp. Thought-provoking stuff in both docs.

If you're in the mood for a light-hearted doc that'll probably make you laugh, you can't go wrong with

The Power of Nightmares
Forbidden Lie$

Thin Blue Line (agree w/ the those above, it's like watching a thriller, great score by Glass)
Hoop Dreams
Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2 (about the West Memphis 3)
Waco: Rules of Engagement

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

There's a fantastic documentary called Power Trip which is about an american company going into a former soviet republic and trying to set up an electric company. The topic sounds droll but it's amazingly well done and really captivating, as you see the trouble they run up against with trying to get people who received free electricity under Soviet/Russian rule to now pay for electricity.

Highly recommended.

Sorry, too many great ones to remember. I'd have to look at my list, and I don't feel like that right now. There's an old thread somewhere about documentaries.
But one I recently saw for the first time that was terrific was The Battle of Chile.

I also heartily add my voice to these, already cited:
The Times of Harvey Milk
The Power of Nightmares
Hoop Dreams
Hearts of Darkness

Hoop Dreams

This.

Also:

Capturing the Friedmans
Mondovino (if you are interested in wine)
Troutgrass (especially if you have any interest in flyfishing)
Word Wars
Life and Debt (strong progressive bias but easy to see past it to the ample substance that remains)

Radiant City
Moog
Control Room
The Agronomist

Dreams on Spec
The Bridge
Jesus Camp
Heart of the Game

If you are a sports fan check out some of the upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries. They will also be released on DVD later on.