4 Movies Directed by Ron Mann

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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. We then move to the resurgence of the superheroes in the late 1950's and 1960's typified with the rise of the dramatically innovative Marvel Comics edited by Stan Lee. Still more important is the rise of the the gleefully uninhibited underground comics created by eccentric talents like Robert Crumb and Dan O'Neill. These leads to profiles of creaters like Harvey Pekar who take the medium into new directions of expression. In the late 1970s and '80s we see the rise of alternative comics with such bold talents like Jaime Hernèndez for "Love and Rockets, Sue Coe for How to Commit Suicide in South Africa and especially for Art Spiegelman for his searing Pulitizer Prize winning Holocaust account, Maus. Finally, we learn of the medium's superhero mythos' revitalizing moment with the creation of Frank Miller's ferocious min-series "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns". Taken together, the film makes its arguement that the medium is far more than the stereotype of juvenile trash but rather it is an artform with a wild history and an exciting future.

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Dance in white Middle America up to the early 1950's was traditional ballroom, where dance moves were standardized. It was more a technical exercise than an emotional one. White youth of the period began to look toward the black community and rhythm and blues music, which gave them the sense of wanting just to move in a whole new way. For white Middle American youth, this music morphed into rock and roll. Despite establishment deeming rock and roll to be Satanic and/or Communist, it took off amongst the younger generation. The combination of rock and roll and dance was presented to American youth through New American Bandstand 1965 (1952), which told youth what the trends of the day were. However, much of the dance shown on network television was Caucasians trying to dance like black Americans, but with no hip movement. This changed with the dance "The Twist", which also revolutionized the concept of not being reliant on what one's dance partner was doing. Although it had its detractors, The Twist became fashionable across race, generation and socioeconomic status. It became more than a song and a dance - it became a commodity. Because of the craze, everyone was trying to come up with the next big thing, no one ever achieving that goal.

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This film explores the history of the American government's official policy on marijuana in the 20th century. Rising with xenophobia with Mexican immigration and their taste for smoking marijuana, we see the establishment of a wrong headed federal drug policy as a crime issue as opposed to a public health approach. Fueled by prejudice, hysterical propaganda and political opportunism undeterred by voices of reason on the subject, we follow the story of a costly and futile crusade against a substance with debatable ill effects that has damaged basic civil liberties.

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A look at the life and work of American filmmaker Robert Altman.