Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade is a documentary by Lincoln Ruchti about the early days of arcade video games (Defender, Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong etc). Not to be confused with The King of Kong although both films feature Billy Mitchell but in King he is a costar and in Chasing he is one of many people the film focuses on.
In 1982 Life Magazine did a recap on things that were popular and they got the idea to spend a few pages on the arcade games kids were playing. They gathered the top players from the US and Canada for a photo and article. Chasing Ghosts goes back and talks to most of these people and covers the rise and fall of arcade games in the early 80s.
Life gathered these players in Ottumwa, Iowa which is home of Twin Galaxies. At one time there was a Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa but Twin Gallaxies also the name of the organization that is in charge of keeping track of video game high scores. It was created by Walter Day who is also featured prominently in the film. Twin Galaxies is still around today keeping track of high scores. To get a high score verified it has to be at an official event, or watched by a judge. The film shows Robert Mruczek who is the Chief Referee at Twin Galaxies. Even though he works in accounting where he works as much as 60 hours a week he spends a lot of his time watching recorded performances that people send him.
Billy Mitchel and Walter Day
It wasnt just the graphics that sets todays games apart from their early 80s relatives. Back then you would play until you run out of lives and then its game over. As the film says it wasn’t until 1984 and the game Moon Patrol that inserting another quarter allowed you to continue your game. So it took a lot of skill and time to master the early arcade games and where most people play a little and move on these guys (who were kids at the time) spent tons of time figuring out patterns or coming up with loop holes to beat the machine. They would obsess over them and in some cases push each other to get better and higher scores. Once they became champions they did get some attention via tv appearences and there was even plans for a kind of videogame tour that never really worked out. Chasing Ghosts remineses with them and then runites them for an updated version of the Life magazine picture. A few of the people are not doing the greatest but most are succesful in their carears and some are unique. One has over 100 pet spiders and Mr Mruczek collects pin up porn and lives with his parents and cat. So the personalities of the players provides entertainment as well.
The film does a good job capturing the early arcade game culture and its fun to hear the stories by the players and some of their quirks/personalities adds to the charm of the film. Chasing Ghosts is a must see for classic video game fans. After screening at various film festivals (including Sundance) it turned up on cable tv (Showtime) and as of now it hasn’t been released on DVD for more info on the film visit chasingghoststhemovie.com
Welcome to Macintosh is a documentary co directed by Robert Baca and Josh Rizzo. Neither of them had directed a full length film before. The film is pretty simple with low production value but it gets the job done.
They were able to talk to various people who were with Apple in the early days although Steve Wozniak nor Steve Jobs were not interviewed. They did talk to Andy Hertzfeld who was one of the key people on the Macintosh development team and he also wrote a book about his time called Revolution in The Valley. Also they talked to Jim Reekes who was a programmer at Apple and was an original member of the Quicktime team. They both provided some good insights. The film also has interviews with various other people that collect and obsess over all things Mac including Wayne Bibbins who has more Macs then he knows what to do with and Leander Kahney who wrote the book The Cult of Mac.
The film starts out talking about the early days of Wozniak and Jobs and how things came to be. After it covers the origin story the film jumps around talking to a collector of Mac stuff and an editor who sings the praises of Final Cut and there is some Steve Jobs is so great when he leaves Apple is doomed talk among other topics.
Although its not a bad film its market is pretty niche. Its a bare bones 70 minute documentary about a computer company. Although it does provide some insights it’s pretty dry and seems like a pro Mac propaganda video at times but it was ok. Currently you can watch it on Network Streaming or buy it from Amazon.
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a documentary by Aviva Kempner about baseball great Hank Greenberg. Hank was the first star Jewish athlete. He played most of his career on the Detroit Tigers and with the influence Henry Ford had on that town and Ford being anti Semitic obviously Greenberg had a tough time. Opponent players and fans in the stands would heckle him but he used this to drive him to become a better player. He wasn’t graceful or fast but through hard work he made himself into one of the greats. While he had to put up with more then any player at the time he was also a hero to the Jewish community. Hank wasn’t very religious but he had pride in who he was and where he came from. When he did things refusing to play baseball during the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur he became even more of a symbol for the Jewish people. Hank also delivered on the field winning two MVPs and helped the Tigers win the World Series twice as well. He was able to put up impressive numbers and eventually elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame although his career was cut short due to serving in the war and baseball politics which the film goes into.
The film just covers mainly his playing career by interviewing his teammates, relatives and fans mixed with a lot of footage from Hank’s era. It does a good job on showing how big of a hero he was to the Jewish community, how talented he was as a baseball player and how classy of a person he was. If the idea of watching a documentary about a Jewish baseball great appeals to you you will like this movie. It seems to be out of print on Amazon but you can watch it for free at Snagfilms or if you have Netflix streaming it is currently up there as well.
Hell on Wheels (original German title is Höllentour which means Hell Tour) is a documentary where director Pepe Danquart covers the 2003 Tour de France following the Germany’s Team Telekom. Most of the dialog is in German but its not super dialog heavy. There is a lot of shots of the action but between legs of the race the riders are interviewed or just observed. Its amazing what they go through and put up with. A lot of people want to win but just finishing is a pretty big achievement. Lance Armstrong doesn’t get much coverage in the film since the its from the perspective from this German team.
The film does a good job showing how big the tour is in Europe. The commercialism of it and the amount of fans that follow it from the young kids to the old dudes at the bar watching it on TV. In the US it’s harder to get a sense of how important the race is. The film does a good job of getting some nice shots of the race and racers. You really feel apart of it and get an idea how punishing it is for the racers. It also shows how the leaders of the team get the extra care over the normal racers. Like one will pull up beside his teams car and get 6 or more water bottles stuff them in the back of his racing suit where the guy behind by the time he gets there they might be gone. Or the guy in the car communicating with the racers via a thing in the racers ear. The guy in the car will be saying telling him what’s coming up in the race like ok you will have a left turn following by a right and a sharp left. I didn’t realize it was on that level before I saw the film. Also in the film they reference old black & white footage from the past and show some of those things today like players holding onto their team car and biking as they get their injuries treated.
Hell on Wheels gives you some history on the race, some insight from the racers them self and some nice shots of the race. If you are a fan of sports or cycling you will enjoy the film but it doesn’t have a lot of crossover appeal.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (released in 1926) is the oldest surviving animated feature film. It was a labor of love by German animator Lotte Reiniger. It took her and a few others three years to complete. But thankfully they did because it’s amazing. Besides Reiniger there were just a few others that helped in the making of the film, her husband, Carl Koch, Bertold Bartosch and Walter Ruttmann. Walter Ruttmann’s job was to design the backgrounds and he is able to do so much with so little, just marvelous stuff. They color tinted the black and white film (a process where you dye or stain it) which really gave the film a unique look. Although the film wasn’t a huge hit at its time it was received well by the european avant garde scene.
The film follows Prince Achmed who
was tricked by a evil magician and his various journeys. There is some tie in
to Aladdin and his magic lamp as well. Although its a German film there are subtitles and the reading is minimal.
With the animation work of Reiniger,
the beautiful backgrounds of Ruttman and a nice original score by Wolfgang Zeller The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a movie most will enjoy.
Below is an example of one of Reiniger’s figures and how they are moved. It’s taken from the film Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film byKatja Raganelli.
Beat This!: A Hip Hop History – (1984)
Directed by Dick Fontaine
Beat This!: A Hip Hop History was a hour long program by the BBC about hiphop. Coming out in ‘84 it sought to show this new thing (at the time, as hiphop was just getting some mainstream coverage) to UK residents. It’s good in that it has some really great footage of Afrika Bambaataa and Kool Herc. Although has some corny parts as well like the breakdance “battle” by The Dynamic Rockers. Also it features a rhyming DJ narrator. Here is an example of what gives you
“What Herc did was throw down the sound of forgotten heroes, like James Brown. And separate the good stuff from the junk. With an emphases on a lot of funk. And in the middle of the funky sound Coke La Rock, his rapper, would go to town. The music was hot and very loud. With participation that would excite the crowd. Then Herc would drop a mighty blast. With a golden oldie from music past.”
It just tries too hard to be “hip” it would have been better to have a normal narrator. I wouldn’t recommend Beat This to everyone it doesn’t have universal appeal. It’s mainly just for fans of the early era of hiphop. But for those that want a peak into the early days it’s worth checking out.
Although it was released on VHS a long time ago in the UK it has never made it to DVD. I came across it online but couldn’t find a current link to the full movie except one. hiphop-network.com have it archived in 19 small quicktime movies, it’s better then nothing I guess. If you find it online feel free to put it in the comments.
EDIT: since then there are more copies online just search the full title of the movie in google to bring up some options.
on DVD. As a bonus it includes Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film as well.
