Thirty Errol Morris movies that can be streamed

April 23, 2014 6:32 PM

Inside, please find a list of twenty-eight movies, TV episodes, and short subjects by Errol Morris and two movies about Errol Morris, all of which can be streamed, along with some short descriptions of their content.

• Gates of Heaven (1978) - A documentary about pet cemeteries. (Wikipedia) (Werner Herzog vowed to eat his shoe if the film was completed and shown in a public theater. It was and he did. Previously)
• The Thin Blue Line (1988) - A documentary about the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams. The documentary resulted in Adams's case being re-assessed and his eventually being released. (Wikipedia)
• A Brief History of Time (1991) - A documentary about Stephen Hawking. (Wikipedia)
• Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999) - A documentary about Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., an electric chair technician, holocaust denier, and practitioner of a "death row shakedown". (Wikipedia)
• A Brief History of Errol Morris (2000) - A documentary about Errol Morris by Kevin Macdonald.
• First Person (TV Series, 2000-2001) Previously
  1. Mr. Debt - An interview with Andrew Capoccia, a (now disbarred) lawyer for folks carrying credit-card debt.
  2. Eyeball to Eyeball - An interview with Clyde Roper.
  3. Stairway To Heaven - An interview with Temple Grandin.
  4. The Killer Inside Me - An interview with Sondra London.
  5. I Dismember Mama - An interview with Saul Kent.
  6. The Stalker - An interview with Bill Kinsley, employer of postal worker Thomas McIlvane.
  7. The Parrot - A documentary about the murder of Jane Gill, possibly witnessed by a parrot.
  8. In the Kingdom of the Unabomber - An interview with Gary Greenberg, pen-pal of Ted Kaczynski.
  9. You're Soaking In It - An interview with crime scene cleaner Joan Dougherty
  -----
  1. Mr. Personality - An interview with Dr. Michael Stone, Columbia University forensic psychologist and host of Most Evil.
  2. The Only Truth - An interview with mob lawyer Murray Richman.
  3. Harvesting Me - An interview with Josh Harris.
  4. One in a Million Trillion - An interview with Rick Rosner.
  5. Leaving the Earth - An interview with Denny Fitch. Previously
  6. The Smartest Man in the World - An interview with Chris Langan. Previously

• A Short Film About Movies (2002) - A short film that played before the 2002 Academy Awards.
• The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003) - An interview with former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. It won that year's Oscar for Best Documentary.
• The Nominees (2007) - A short film that played before the 2007 Academy Awards. (Please ignore the title.)
• Survivors - A collection of interviews with Cancer survivors.
• They Were There (2011) - A documentary for IBM's Centennial about the history of the company. Previously
• The Umbrella Man (2011) - An Op-Doc for the New York Times, talking with Josiah "Tink" Thompson about the significance of the Umbrella Man.
• Team Spirit (2012) - A short documentary for ESPN about sports fans who take their love to the grave. Previously
• El Wingador (2012) - An Op-Doc (with a corresponding article) about Bill Simmons, five-time champion of the Wing Bowl.
• November 22, 1963 (2013) - A documentary about Josiah "Tink" Thompson and his research into the assassination of JFK.
• The Making of The Thin Blue Line - Televised interview with Errol Morris and others about the making of The Thin Blue Line.

posted by Going To Maine (27 comments total)

Wow! This is great.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:41 PM on April 23, 2014

Great, thanks very much!
posted by carter at 6:42 PM on April 23, 2014

Well there goes my weekend. Thanks for the amazing list.
posted by senseofsurreal at 6:42 PM on April 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oh dear. This is wonderful and terrible. Thank you!
posted by rtha at 6:44 PM on April 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

I really want to see his new one interviewing Donald Rumsfeld. I heard an interview with him in which he described it as something like "It's what The Fog of War would be if Robert McNamara completely lacked self-awareness."
posted by Flunkie at 6:47 PM on April 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

I really liked the Unknown Known but I think you kind of have to listen to one of his QAs he gave.

The movie is great but he really does strive to keep it neutral but he feels really deeply about Rumsfled. I enjoyed the talk he gave at Harvard, especially because he's so cranky, and the QA host is fun and combative.
posted by pmv at 7:00 PM on April 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

Awesome! I also really dug The Unknown Known as well... maybe not as transcendently good at Fog of War, but still a really interesting movie.
posted by ph00dz at 7:33 PM on April 23, 2014

Flunkie--he was the "Not My Job" guest on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me weekend before last. You can listen to his interview here where he says something pretty much exactly that about the difference in how he felt talking to McNamara and to Rumsfeld and the very different impression he was left with of both me.

Errol Morris, I have such a crush on your brain
posted by crush-onastick at 7:47 PM on April 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Brilliant. Thanks, Going to Maine.
posted by crossoverman at 7:52 PM on April 23, 2014

I said goddamn! God damn!
posted by mr. digits at 7:55 PM on April 23, 2014

I never knew "Mr Death" got made. As I understand it, that was the movie he was working on when he got sidetracked with Thin Blue Line.
posted by sourwookie at 7:56 PM on April 23, 2014

I think that was Dr. Death.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:58 PM on April 23, 2014

If you use iTunes, The Unknown Known can be rented for $7.99 or thereabouts. His Twitter feed is also worth following, if you use Twitter.
posted by maudlin at 8:00 PM on April 23, 2014

Amaaaazing thank you for this gift.
posted by sweetkid at 8:01 PM on April 23, 2014

Shit! I did not know (or had forgotten) that Randall Adams had passed.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:01 PM on April 23, 2014

(Oh, and iTunes U has some freebie lectures and interviews as well, both audio and video.)
posted by maudlin at 8:04 PM on April 23, 2014

Amazing. The best nonfiction film-maker in history, tied with Werner Herzog.

I saw the Gates of Heaven when it came out - in the late 70's? - and was very discomfited with all the elitist filmerati (hey, a neologism!) who laughed at the guitarist son of the pet cemetery owner who was, well, sincere. People laughed. I used to argue with people who thought he was making fun of these people, but I think it is pretty well established by now that he tries to be relatively neutral.

That is impossible, of course. His masterpiece is Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, which slyly posits theories about man's place in the universe, overlapping dialogue with images and music and different film stock in a beautiful elegiac leaning-toward-the-future kind of way.
posted by kozad at 8:05 PM on April 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was also just about to mention, nice list, but the only thing missing is my personal favourite, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. The editing in that, wow, all those crazy ideas just start to really come together.
posted by ovvl at 9:08 PM on April 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

What's missing is his greatest film, Vernon, Florida. (great post)
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 3:31 AM on April 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

For those who are curious, these are probably all of the most significant things that I couldn't find:

• Vernon, Florida (1981)
• Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997)
• First Person, Season One (2000)
1. Smiling In A Jar
2. The Little Gray Man

• Tabloid (2010)

posted by Going To Maine at 5:03 AM on April 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also, some of his best work (IMO) has been his work in commercials. They're nearly all posted to his website. Start with Miller High Life "Noah" and go from there.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:19 AM on April 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Hey all, just realized that I missed this: the streamed version of Mr. Death is missing its last ten minutes. Sorry. :(
posted by Going To Maine at 7:35 AM on April 24, 2014

Oh. My. Stars.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, GOING TO MAINE!!!
posted by magstheaxe at 8:06 AM on April 24, 2014

I am especially fascinated by Morris's work on the JFK assassination - would love to read or view more if anyone knows of work other than what's above. If you haven't looked at the above, I recommend the two "Tink" Thompson interviews.
posted by Mid at 1:28 PM on April 24, 2014

Do not listen to "The Stalker" late at night.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:18 PM on April 27, 2014

Also, some of his best work (IMO) has been his work in commercials. They're nearly all posted to his website. Start with Miller High Life "Noah" and go from there.

Following the advice of (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates, I've been checking out some of Morris's commercials. "Noah" is great, as are all of the Miller High Life ones. The most recent one is for Taco Bell's new breakfast menu. How it was made. A New Yorker article about the commercial. Ad Week's coverage.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:14 PM on April 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Morris recently had a four-part editorial published in the New York Times on Rumsfeld: The Certainty of Donald Rumsfeld
posted by Going To Maine at 6:08 AM on May 2, 2014