Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of a Kind, April 28, 2009
Harlan Ellison is a much-awarded, almost legendary writer whose prose can take you to places your feeble imagination could never dream of. Finally, there is a documentary about his life.
I saw "Dreams With Sharp Teeth" last year at a science fiction convention with Harlan Ellison present. It is an excellent movie, to be sure, but it is the uniqueness of the subject that makes it so compelling. Spectacular writing notwithstanding, there is no one (I repeat, NO ONE) who talks like Harlan Ellison. HE is THE most literate, knowledgeable, acerbic, opinionated and just plain entertaining speaker I have every heard. (Having recently seen Gore Vidal on Bill Maher's television program, I absolutely stand by that statement. If you want to be effective rather than just self-righteous, Mr. Vidal, take a lesson from Harlan Ellison.)His memory is darn near perfect (at 75, we should all be so fortunate)and his principles are unshakable. Tom Snyder called him "the last angry man" and his refusal to accept the unjust does make him an indomitable force. Do NOT under any circumstances, cross Harlan Ellison.
All these things make this movie pretty darn good and eminently watchable. It is the chronicle of a totally unique individual. If you have heard Harlan Ellison speak, you have already ordered the movie. Otherwise, this is a very reasonable alternative.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Mouth Who Could, April 24, 2009
I saw this film last night in a full theater and really liked it. I think my sister caught Harlans' eye and he would have spoken to us if not for my being in possesion of a book published without his consent that he told me to lose.
If you know anything about Harlan you know he can raise the decibel level, but what I appreciated here were the moments of Harlan speaking fondly, longingly and especially quietly of his long gone father.
HE is a man who lives by the phrase "Put up or shut up", if you can't hold your own in print or person he'll let you know because he understands what hard work and developed talent can accomplish.
He is a solid storyteller (clearly) and knows it and wants you to know it as well whether you care or not (and you should).
See this film simply for the joy of watching the dying tradition of the animated storyteller work his craft. At 75 Harlan has all the p-ss and vinegar he ever had and that is a gift for us all.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful., June 1, 2009
Dreams with Sharp Teeth (Erik Nelson, 2007)
One of the cardinal rules to making a successful documentary is to get yourself an interesting subject, and, at least to me, one of the most interesting subjects on the planet is the caustic, seemingly misanthropic, politically incorrect, and deeply, deeply funny writer Harlan Ellison, some of whose stories have become iconic in American letters ("I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream", "Shatterday", and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktock Man", one of the most anthologized stories in American history, are all Ellison works). As well as one of America's foremost writers of science fiction, Ellison has written some classic television episodes, hundreds of political essays, and, well, lord knows what else. The man's pretty much done everything.
This documentary ranges from footage of television interviews from the sixties, seventies, and eighties, footage of talks and book signings, a clip of Ellison accepting the Grandmaster title from the Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers' Association, interviews with friends and colleagues of Ellison's (including Neil Gaiman, Robin Williams, and many others), and interview footage with Ellison. All of it is fascinating, and a great deal of the reason is that Ellison is fascinating. It's not just that he's more than willing to air his cantankerousness to as wide an audience as possible, but also that Ellison is a born storyteller (since 1955, the man has published thousands of pieces). He knows how to make even the mundane interesting. Not that anything related to Harlan Ellison is mundane.
While the documentary is of obvious interest to Ellison fans (and, really, we should all be Ellison fans), I think that even those people who have never read a word that man has written would get a great deal of enjoyment out of this just because of how much fun Harlan Ellison is. (And after you're done, go find a copy of "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", and read it. Immediately.) ****
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