Billy Wilder Speaks
The wit and wisdom of one of Hollywood's most acclaimed filmmakers
Genres
Overview
In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Did You Do It?)
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
72 min
Release Date
2006-06-22
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
18
Vote Average
7
Billy Wilder
Self - Filmmaker
Volker Schlöndorff
Self - Filmmaker / Interviewer
Hellmuth Karasek
Self - Writer / Interviewer
6.8
Shine a Light
Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones unite in "Shine A Light," a look at The Rolling Stones." Scorsese filmed the Stones over a two-day period at the intimate Beacon Theater in New York City in fall 2006. Cinematographers capture the raw energy of the legendary band.
2008-04-04 | en
6.7
Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers
Documentary about filmmakers of the New German Cinema who were members of the legendary Filmverlag für Autoren (Film Publishing House for Authors). Among them are Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Wim Wenders.
2008-02-11 | de
6.6
The Capote Tapes
A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.
2021-09-10 | en
0.0
Yesterday's Witness
For the first 50 years of film history, the newsreel was a fixture in American movie theaters. From 1911 to 1967, these shorts proved an influential source of information – and misinformation – for generations of American moviegoers. Television news and public affairs programs became a great improvement over the scanty information offered by the newsreels. This documentary offers insight into a medium which has disappeared.
1976-11-01 | en
5.0
Kathryn Bigelow: Hollywood Adrenaline
For more than 40 years Kathryn Bigelow has been making films that explore male violence. With movies like Blue Steel, Point Break, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, the Oscar winning American filmmaker has impressed with hard-hitting moviemaking that holds a mirror up to contemporary America and the world.
2023-09-28 | fr
6.0
Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West
An immersive journey into the world of wild horses, Wild Beauty illuminates both the profound beauty, and desperate plight faced by the wild horses in the Western United States. Filmmaker Ashley Avis and crew go on a multi-year expedition to uncover the truth in hopes to protect them, before wild horses disappear forever.
2022-11-07 | en
7.3
Catherine Deneuve, in the eye of the camera
She worked with the world’s greatest actors and directors: Buñuel, Mastroianni, Lellouche, Depardieu... The film guides us throughout her career with the filmmakers with whom she invented herself not to be a “cold blonde actress”, thanks to great interviews of many artists who crossed her path.
2023-10-22 | fr
7.0
Grisha
An up-close look into the life of the often misunderstood movie director Grigori Kromanov through the lens of old friends and colleagues.
1996-11-08 | et
6.5
Robert Redford: The Golden Look
More than anyone in the cynical film industry, legendary artist Robert Redford embodies the United States' brightest side: perseverance, independence, idealism, and integrity. A champion of active environmentalism and the right to openly criticize any institutional abuse, he has put his artistic work at the service of his political commitments, whether as an actor, director, producer, or founder of the Sundance Festival, a formidable forum for his struggles since 1985.
2019-07-28 | fr
0.0
A Brief History of Slasher Films
Writer Adam Rockoff provides a basic overview of the slasher movie genre.
2011-01-01 | en
0.0
Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors
A two-hour documentary special Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors which gives viewers an intimate look at his life from his childhood in the suburbs of Chicago to small comedy clubs in Los Angeles, his breakthrough role on the TV show Happy Days as Mork from Ork and his big screen triumphs.
2016-08-28 | en
5.7
John Ford Goes to War
When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."
2002-01-01 | en
7.1
The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
1896-06-30 | fr
8.0
Lex Barker - Westernheld und Playboy
He is the most sought-after man in Europe in the 1960s. Lex Barker embodies the flawless hero in his films and, as Old Shatterhand, becomes a role model for generations of fans. Revered in Europe, misunderstood and almost forgotten in his native America. But who was this American who rode through Yugoslavia in a leather costume for the European audience? In 1973, Lex Barker died of a heart attack on the streets of Manhattan in New York. But no one recognizes the man who was Tarzan in Hollywood. Nobody knows him or cares about that he, as Winnetou's friend, is revered as an icon in Europe. Lex Barker's European western adventures are just a footnote in American film history. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, the documentary tells the story of one of the most beautiful men who ever flickered across Europe's cinema screens, for whom European cinema proved to be a stroke of luck and for whom a failed Hollywood career took him via Italy to Germany.
2023-10-01 | de
5.0
The British Touch: Bond Arrives in London
Documentary short that covers the airplane sequence in the James Bond movie Die Another Day (2002) and its filming at Heathrow Airport.
2006-01-01 | en
6.3
The March on Rome
The fascinating story of the rise to power of dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) in Italy in 1922 and how fascism marked the fate of the entire world in the dark years to come.
2022-10-20 | it
5.8
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
This is not a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy. It is about a humane and groundbreaking masterpiece and the flawed but gifted people who made it. It is about a troubled era of cultural ferment, social and political change, about broken dreams and strivers, then and now. It is about an era that made a movie and a movie that made an era.
2023-06-23 | en
7.0
Visions of Light
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
1992-09-17 | en
6.4
Deep Throat: When Porn Makes Its Premiere
Deep Throat, a pornographic film directed by Gerard Damiano, a film-loving hairdresser, and starring Linda Lovelace, a shy girl manipulated by a controlling husband, was released in 1972 and divided audiences, who began to talk openly about sex, desire and female pleasure; but also about violence and abuse; and about pornography, until then an almost clandestine industry, as a revolutionary cultural phenomenon.
2022-01-29 | fr
5.0
Not a War Story
Hollywood collides with a group of veterans who are tired of the typical PTSD and valor-portrayed movies and decide to make an original dark humor zombie apocalypse film all on their own.
2017-06-30 | en