Customer Reviews

Z Channel - A Magnificent Obsession

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This documentary about Jerry Harvey, the innovative and obsessive program director of Z Channel, was just fascinating. The film maker did a very thorough job of piecing together the unique phenomenon that was Z Channel once Jerry Harvey infused it with his incredibly eclectic and knowledgeable zest for offbeat, under-appreciated films. The lengths he would go to to retrieve uncut versions of many films that had been butchered by inept studio-mandated editing were extreme; he became a true hero to a number of directors whose uncut work would never have reached an audience but for his efforts. The documentary is punctuated by clips from many of the films shown on Z channel, which are big fun to see. I found myself rewinding, pen and paper in hand, to make notes about all the films I wanted to see in full. The film maker also does a good job of piecing together the context of events that led to Harvey's tragic end. Media types and film students will be enthralled by this superb documentary, but I think it would be of great interest to anyone even remotely interested in film.

I couldn't resist writing a review for this fabulous documentary that was featured on IFC a few months ago. This is a "must see" for film buffs.

The Z Channel was the first movie channel to play independent, little seen, and foreign films (basically it was the first IFC or Sundance channel). Featuring interviews with directors Quentin Tarantino, Robert Altman, and Alexander Pane, "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession" focuses on the effect the channel had on the film industry. For example James Woods credits his Oscar nomination to the Z Channel's constant playing of Salvador to the right people!

As a film geek I also enjoyed the generous amount of film clips by director Alexandra Cassavetes (John Cassavetes daughter). The film is packed with film clips from the various movies Z Channel played over the years. I was turned on to movies like Bad Timing and F is for Fake.

Clips featured include Andrei Rublev, Attilas '74, La Notte, Black Orpheus, The Leopard, Turkish Delight, Fingers, Berlin Alexanderplatz, and the list goes on!

If you consider yourself to be a "film geek" like me, "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession" is a must own.

I enjoyed the film, but it is truthfully lacking in that it has nothing from Z Channel. Where are the promos? Where are the intros to their festivals? What was it like to watch this special channel during its heyday? I would have enjoyed film clips if they were like the "coming attractions" run on the channel.

This documentary can be made into a magazine article. But I do recommend it for viewing. I just wish it was more than talking heads and film clips.

Z Channel (a pay channel in 70's/80's L.A. which played an eclectic array of the world's finest cinema) sounds like a paradise for film lovers. Unfortunately this overly talkative documentary isn't so much about Z Channel itself as it is Jerry Harvey, the main guy behind the channel. I appreciate the fact that he put so much effort into the channel and had such a true love for cinema, but honestly he came off as an annoying, abusive type of guy who ended up murdering his wife before killing himself.

The film clips are the best part (especially THE MOON'S OUR HOME and LE MAGNIFIQUE) and the interviews are fun, even Quentin Tarantino who flails around like he's having a seizure, but there's never any actual footage from Z Channel itself. Why not? Personally they could have cut the time about Jerry Harvey down to 5 minutes and had the rest about the films.

As a child living in the San Fenando Valley, we were unable to get the Z Channel through most of its heyday. But having divorced parents my weekends were spent at my father's house in the Hollywood Hills where the Z Channel was always a fixture.

Watching this documentary reminded me how much I was shaped by the Z Channel. Being exposed to such a wide variety of films (both "art" and "commercial") opened my mind in ways that transcended simply becoming a film buff. It was one of the many factors in my world that made me ask real questions about life. I'm convinced I'd have been poorer for it had I never had those weekend days and nights.

I think it is a mistake to see this film as either a glorification or condemnation of Jerry Harvey personally. His story is clearly a horrible tragedy that cannot be reconciled. But his work certainly had value. I don't think one cancels out the other. We live in a morally complicated universe. I learned that watching movies every weekend at my father's house.

Anyhow - I loved this film.

Z Channel is an interesting docu about LA's first cable station and its programer. It has interesting interviews with famous and not so famous celebrities. In the end I learned a lot about a channel I knew nothing about.

This is almost certainly the best movie I've seen this year, and it's definitely my favorite.

It's a documentary that serves many different functions. First and foremost it tells the little-known tragedy of Jerry Harvey, a guy who did some great and wonderful things during his life, but also, near his end, committed two horrible acts.

Harvey was the programming director for Z-Channel which, during the late 70s and 80s, broadcast films so ecclectic, it's hard to believe they were actually aired anywhere: Sam Fuller films, the complete "1900," the complete "Das Boot," the complete "Heaven's Gate," both versions of "Once Upon a Time in America," Altman movies, obscure foreign films, mainstream fare, soft core porn, etc, etc, etc....

Even in an era when most people have hundreds of television viewing options, Z Channel remains impressive. That it existed during the early days of pay cable is mindboggling, and the movie also does a great job of explaining those early days, and what it took to keep a channel running and how that channel eventually failed, which is another fascinating branch of the film's narrative.

But the main function of the movie is to run through a thick cross-section of the films that were shown on the channel, and why these films were important to the people behind the scenes (including Z Critic F.X. Feeney, former Fox head Bill Mechanic and Harvey himself), to the people who made the movies that were shown (Paul Verhoeven, James Woods and Robert Altman, who gets the movie's best, most poingnant line, "I like him!") and to the channel's old audience itself (we see great, bubbly interviews with guys like Alexander Payne, Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino, who gets a fine line too: "And then they didn't go in the bedroom.... And I was pissed!").

It all coagulates into a dizzying, complex story that's both awe-inspiring and heartbreaking. If you have any interest at all in film, this is a documentary that's right in the league with "Visions of Light," "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" and Martin Scorsese's "Journey" and "Voyage" films -- which is to say, "essential."

DVD Notes:

The commentary, with all the key production figures, including director Xan Cassavetes is excellent: A big, talky, messy swirl of details that somehow explains how everything was done, from the licensing of the clips shown to the dreamy interludes of scenes from around L.A.

Deleted scenes include solid asides about "3 Women," "Touch of Evil" and other films, portions that didn't make the final cut.

There's also some expendable footage from an AFI tribute.

Particularly good is the complete "Castaway's Choice" interview with Jerry Harvey, though listening to it somewhat diminishes the otherworldly effect Cassavettes sought (and got) when she used snippets of it in the finished film.

Some reviewers have complained that there should be more material from Z Channel itself -- complete pages from the program guide, cover galleries, old commercials. And they're 100% right, and the scrolling supplement that shows a few, old, terribly copy-edited reviews is just enough to whet one's appetite for more. But the movie is such a huge buffet, that's almost like gorging yourself on a gourmet meal and then being disappointed with the dessert.

One thing was certain after I finished watching this interesting documentary for the Independent Film Channel, Jerry Harvey had some serious issues. Mental issues that lead to the murder of his wife and his suicide. He was a very intelligent man who loved movies, maybe too much. I enjoyed the retrospect from directors Robert Altman & Paul Verhoven about how their early movies were discovered by Harvey, aired on the channel and influenced Hollywood, thus made them much more successful. Other interviews I enjoyed in this film were by Oscar winners Alexander Payne (Sideways) and Quentin Tarantino. One things for certain. Z Channel influenced Hollywood and made movies that were unfairly singled out for failure given a second chance. IFC and the Sundance Channel continue the tradition that Z Channel started. We can only wonder what would have happened if the court case against HBO went to trial.

I grew up watching the "Z" and it was ground-breaking in many ways...even more so than this "documentary" lets on. There is a lot that is NOT in this film. But honestly, this documentary can't be a finished product, can it? There is no real cohesive thread throughout. It seems more like a film student's first attempt, than a finished work. It's nothing more than some scrounged interviews (albeit at times, interesting ones...all except for the LONGEST and most torturous interview with Jerry himself on KCRW at the very end of the documentary), film clips and stills with very little narrative as to what we are seeing exactly, or why? Nothing is really tied together in a way that tells anything resembling a story.

And it ends as abruptly as it began, with no explanation of what happened to Jerry and why...which in itself, I'm sure, is a fascinating if not terrible story. The man committed suicide after murdering his wife. Suicide ran in his family. Two sisters had also previously killed themselves...how can anyone miss telling such a story as part of this documentary!?

Alas, this DVD was a pretty big disappointment. Taken on the whole, it leaves you asking more questions than it answers. :-/

I first caught this documentary on IFC not knowing what I was seeing but fascinated by the incredible array of clips. Imagine my surprise when this seeming ode to movie-love turned very dark indeed and Jerry Harvey went over the edge killing his wife and himself. I knew I had to chase this movie down and get the whole story.

In some ways the story of Z Channel and Jerry Harvey is the story of cineaphilia going mainstream, from the art house to your house. It was a movie channel programmed by people who love movies and the joy of helping to bring these movies to a wider public comes alive in the interviews and in the commentary track. It's a delightfully unsnobbish love, too; one that encompasses Antonioni, Fassbinder and Silver Streak.

Of course, that's the Magnificent part. The tragic obsession lay within the troubled mind of Jerry Harvey. It's an all to familiar story of a person who appears to be perhaps a bit eccentric yet overall a decent guy. The sad affection in which many interviewees still hold Harvey is palpable. Many remain bewildered by his ultimate tragic acts but they don't give him a pass, their anger is present too.

Cassavettes tells this story simply with interviews with people who worked at Z, were impacted by Z, and/or knew Jerry Harvey. Intercut among the interviews are small clips of Z Channel movies and, most eerily, a radio interview with Jerry Harvey.

One interviewee remarks that perhaps this story has gone untold for so long because no one want to risk creating a hero where perhaps none was warranted. To my mind Cassavettes does a fine job of honoring Z Channel while painting the darkness that inevitably swallowed up Harvey. What caused that darkness will probably never be fully known, only that it lead to a tragedy that no amount of great programming could ever excise.

Highly recommended for film buffs and documentary fans.

Note: If you can, get the 2 Disc version. It features two extra "chapters", a montage of Z Magazines and the complete Desert Disks interview with Jerry Harvey.