1988 Documentary Movies

36 movies found (page 1/2):

The Thin Blue Line(1988)

3.9/5 (with 153 votes)

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.

Directed by Errol Morris - With Randall Dale Adams, Marianne Leone Cooper

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

Powaqqatsi(1988)

| 1h 39min | Documentary

3.7/5 (with 65 votes)

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

Directed by Godfrey Reggio - With Cheryl Tiegs

Buy Apple / iTunes Store

Imagine: John Lennon(1988)

1h 40min | Documentary, Music

3.6/5 (with 31 votes)

The biography of former Beatle, John Lennon—narrated by Lennon himself—with extensive material from Yoko Ono's personal collection, previously unseen footage from Lennon's private archives, and interviews with David Bowie, his first wife Cynthia, second wife Yoko Ono and sons Julian and Sean.

Directed by Andrew Solt

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years(1988)

| 1h 33min | Documentary, Music

3.4/5 (with 28 votes)

An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..

Directed by Penelope Spheeris - With Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Megadeth, Faster Pussycat, ...

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

Let's Get Lost(1988)

2h | Music, Documentary

3.6/5 (with 21 votes)

Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.

Directed by Bruce Weber - With Chet Baker, William Claxton, Chris Isaak, Lisa Marie

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser(1988)

PG-13

| 1h 30min | Documentary, Music

3.5/5 (with 7 votes)

A documentary film about the life of pianist and jazz great Thelonious Monk. Features live performances by Monk and his band, and interviews with friends and family about the offbeat genius.

Directed by Charlotte Zwerin - With Jimmy Cleveland, John Coltrane, Ray Copeland, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, Johnny Griffin

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

A Tale of the Wind(1988)

1h 20min | Documentary

3.3/5 (with 13 votes)

It is an autobiographical fiction starring Ivens as an old man who has spent his life trying to "tame the wind and harness the sea" by capturing them on film.

Directed by Joris Ivens, Marceline Loridan-Ivens - With Joris Ivens

Comic Book Confidential(1989)

| 1h 30min | Documentary

3.4/5 (with 12 votes)

In the 20th century, no artistic medium in North America with so much potential for creative expression has had a more turbulent history plagued with less respect than comic books. Through animated montages, readings and interviews, this film guides us through the history of the medium from the late 1930s and 1940s with the first explosion of popularity with the superheroes created by great talents like Jack Kirby and hitting its first artistic zenith with Will Eisner's "Spirit". It then shifts to the post war comics world with the rising popularity of crime and horror comics, especially those published by EC Comics under the editorshiop of William B. Gaines until it came crashing down the rise of censorship with the imposition of the Comics Code. In its wake of the devastation of the medium's creative freedom, we also explore EC's defiant survival with the creation of the singular "Mad Magazine" by Harvey Kurtzman.

Directed by Ron Mann - With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, William Gaines, Stan Lee

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

Radio Bikini(1988)

56min | Documentary

3.7/5 (with 7 votes)

It starts with a live radio broadcast from the Bikini Atoll a few days before it is annihilated by a nuclear test. Shows great footage from these times and tells the story of the US Navy Sailors who were exposed to radioactive fallout. One interviewed sailor suffered grotesquely swollen limbs and he is shown being interviewed with enormous left arm and hand.

Directed by Robert Stone

Rent Apple / iTunes Store | Buy Apple / iTunes Store

Sakura-tai Chiru(1988)

1h 53min | Documentary

2.9/5 (with 2 votes)

A documentary about the lives of actors in the Sakura-tai theatrical troupe, which had arrived in the island of Hiroshima to begin preparations for the staging of a play just before the atomic bombing.

Directed by Kaneto Shindō

Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie(1988)

4h 27min | War, Documentary

3.6/5 (with 13 votes)

Winner of a Best Documentary Academy Award, Marcel Ophuls' riveting film details the heinous legacy of the Gestapo head dubbed "The Butcher of Lyon." Responsible for over 4,000 deaths in occupied France during World War II, Barbie would escape--with U.S. help--to South America in 1951, where he lived until a global manhunt led to his 1983 arrest and subsequent trial.

Directed by Marcel Ophuls - With Jeanne Moreau, Claude Bourdet, Henri Varlot, Lise Lesèvre, Lucie Aubrac, Marcel Ophuls, ...

Mondo New York(1988)

1h 23min | Documentary

2.6/5 (with 3 votes)

A young woman wanders around New York City and stumbles across a number of strange characters and settings that represent the "underground" areas of the city. She sees stand up comedy in Central Park, a prostitution auction, a voodoo ceremony, an S&M club, and a number of very interesting performance artists. These are just a few of the sights and sounds of New York that she encounters.

Directed by Harvey Keith - With Ann Magnuson, Joey Arias, Rick Aviles, Karen Finley, Veronica Vera, Lydia Lunch, ...

Ad Protect Your Online Privacy with a VPN

Don't risk your personal information and online activities being exposed to hackers, government surveillance, and other online threats. A VPN encrypts your internet connection and hides your IP, giving you maximum security and privacy. Take control of your online safety, switch to a VPN now. Learn more:

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History(1988)

| 47min | Comedy, Documentary

3.5/5 (with 16 votes)

A documentary detailing the spread of Hawaiian sugar-cane toads through Australia in a botched effort to introduce them as counter pests.

Directed by Mark Lewis

A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution(1988)

1h 50min | Documentary

A chronicle of the three points of a political triangle — the legal left, the illegal (armed) revolution, and the enemy which threatens them both: the armed reactionary right. It is 1987. The dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos has just been overthrown. Newly elected President Corazon Aquino struggles to wrench control of the country from her own military. A Rustling of Leaves poses the key question facing the revolutionaries and the Filipino Left: Should the People’s Movement continue the guerilla war, or do they dare enter legal politics and reveal the hidden face of the revolution?

Land of Dreams(1988)

3h 5min | Documentary

3.5/5 (with 4 votes)

"Land of Dreams" - When the daughter Johanna is born in 1983, Jan Troell tells the story about his childhood Sweden and how things were when he grow-up in the land of fairy tales and potential prosperity.

Directed by Jan Troell - With Rollo May, Ingvar Carlsson, Tage Erlander

Moscow Elegy(1987)

1h 26min | Documentary

3.2/5 (with 4 votes)

A 1988 documentary film directed by Alexander Sokurov, about the later life and death of Soviet Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The film was originally intended to mark the 50th birthday of Tarkovsky in 1982, which would have been before his death. Controversy with Soviet authorities about the film's style and content led to significant delays in the production.

Directed by Alexander Sokurov - With Andrei Tarkovsky, Tonino Guerra

The Congress(1989)

1h 29min | Documentary, History

4.5/5 (with 1 vote)

For 200 years, the United States Congress has been one of the country's most important and least understood institutions. In this elegant, thoughtful and often touching portrait, Ken Burns explores the history and promise of this unique American institution. Using historical photographs and newsreels, evocative live footage and interviews with David Broder, Alistair Cooke, Cokie Roberts, Charles McDowell and others, the award-winning film chronicles the personalities, events and issues that have animated the first 200 years of Congress and, in turn, our country.

Directed by Ken Burns - With Julie Harris, Derek Jacobi, Kurt Vonnegut

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind(1988)

2h 4min | Documentary

4.0/5 (with 2 votes)

This documentary revisits the making of Gone with the Wind via archival footage, screen tests, insightful interviews and rare film footage.

Directed by David Hinton - With Christopher Plummer, William A. Wellman, George Cukor, Margaret Mitchell, Tallulah Bankhead, Susan Hayward, ...

Calling the Shots(1988)

1h 40min | Documentary

Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.

Directed by Janis Cole, Holly Dale

Missile(1988)

| 1h 55min | Documentary

3.1/5 (with 3 votes)

MISSILE follows the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where Air Force officers are trained to man the Launch Control Centers for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Sequences include discussion of the moral and military issues of nuclear war; the arming, targeting and launching of the missile; codes; communications; protection against terrorist attack; emergency procedures; staff meetings and tutorial sessions.

Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Growing Up in America(1989)

1h 30min | Documentary

5.0/5 (with 1 vote)

Filmmaker Morley Markson shows Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and other '60s rebels, then and now in a follow up to his 1971 film "Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family.".

Directed by Morley Markson

Walking After Midnight(1988)

1h 32min | Documentary

Explores the past-life experiences of various celebrities.

Cannibal Tours(1988)

1h 12min | Documentary

3.0/5 (with 4 votes)

The film follows a number of European and American ecotourists as they travel from village to village throughout the Sepik River area in Papua New Guinea, driving hard bargains for local handcrafted items, paying to view formerly sacred ceremonies and taking photographs of every aspect of "primitive" life. With some prodding, the tourists unwittingly reveal an unattractive and pervasive ethnocentrism to O'Rourke's cameras. The tourists thus become somewhat dehumanized by the camera, even as the tourists themselves are busy exoticizing even the most mundane aspects of Sepik River life.

Directed by Dennis O'Rourke

Back to Ararat(1988)

1h 39min | Documentary

2.4/5 (with 2 votes)

The first genocide of this century occurred during the first World War, when 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and an entire nation was driven from its land. Back to Ararat is the first film to examine this tragic episode in depth. Traveling from the old ruins to new Armenian communities around the world, the film presents a people united in its dream of returning to its homeland. But no one will listen to their arguments. In fact, Turkish representatives in the film argue the genocide never took place. Back to Ararat is a powerful reminder of a global injustice which has gone unaddressed.

Directed by PeÅ Holmquist, Göran Gunér, Suzanne Khardalian, Jim Downing

De Laatste 7 Maanden van Anne Frank(1998)

51min | Documentary

4.5/5 (with 1 vote)

- No description / details available yet. -

Directed by Willy Lindwer

Subscription Amazon Prime Video | Rent Amazon Instant Video | Buy Amazon Instant Video

American Tongues(1987)

56min | Documentary

3.5/5 (with 1 vote)

A sociolinguistic documentary examining American English dialects and accents and perceptions thereof.

Directed by Andrew Kolker, Louis Alvarez - With Molly Ivins, Robert Klein, Trey Wilson

Promises to Keep(1988)

58min | Documentary

3.0/5 (with 1 vote)

Promises to Keep follows agitator Snyder and the Community for Creative Non-Violence by showing film-fragments, news-bulletin images from records, and newspaper headlines about the fight to force the government to live up to their promise to provide the homeless of Washington D.C. with proper shelter.

Directed by Ginny Durrin

Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter(1989)

1h 30min | Documentary

2.8/5 (with 2 votes)

This film gives an intimate look at a way of life of which most of us have seen only glimpses. Dance was once at the heart of Yupik Eskimo spiritual and social life. It was the bridge between the ancient and the new, the living and the dead and a person's own power and the greater powers of the unseen world.

Directed by Leonard Kamerling, Sarah Elder

Crossroad Street(1988)

1h 33min | Documentary

3.6/5 (with 1 vote)

Crossroad Street is a small street just 800 metres long on the outskirts of the Latvian capital, Riga. Its various inhabitants, each with his or her own destiny, daily life and relationships with the neighbours, form a microcosm of the country during the time of the Awakening. The genuine interest of the film's creators in the so-called average person earned a number of international awards, including a European Film Award for best documentary in 1989.

Directed by Ivars Seleckis

Computer Dreams(1988)

58min | Documentary, Animation

A documentary about the exciting possibilities of computer animation and the shaping of never before imagined worlds.

Directed by Geoffrey de Valois

Ad Protect Your Online Privacy with a VPN

1988 Documentary Movies

RSS feedEntries in this List

The Thin Blue Line(1988)

Powaqqatsi(1988)

Imagine: John Lennon(1988)

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years(1988)

Let's Get Lost(1988)

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser(1988)

A Tale of the Wind(1988)

Comic Book Confidential(1989)

Radio Bikini(1988)

Sakura-tai Chiru(1988)

Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie(1988)

Mondo New York(1988)

Ad Protect Your Online Privacy with a VPN

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History(1988)

A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution(1988)

Land of Dreams(1988)

Moscow Elegy(1987)

The Congress(1989)

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind(1988)

Calling the Shots(1988)

Missile(1988)

Growing Up in America(1989)

Walking After Midnight(1988)

Cannibal Tours(1988)

Back to Ararat(1988)

De Laatste 7 Maanden van Anne Frank(1998)

American Tongues(1987)

Promises to Keep(1988)

Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter(1989)

Crossroad Street(1988)

Computer Dreams(1988)

Current Recommendations(20)

New Movies

Favorite Movies

Favorite TV Shows

Favorite Providers