Centered on the early '80s punk movement, this remains the best of Penelope Spheeris's three attempts to chronicle the musical and angst-ridden subculture of urban Los Angeles. The film's style, like the music, is abrasive, frank, and packed with energy, as it moves swiftly from hilarious band and fan interviews to the loud, raucous shows inside seedy L.A. nightclubs. Despite its tongue-in-cheek ...

Starring: Alice Bag Band, Alice Bag, Claude Bessey, Black Flag, Don Bolles
Directed By: Penelope Spheeris

The story, sound, and soul of a nation come together in the most American of art forms: Jazz. Ken Burns, who riveted the nation with The Civil War and Baseball, celebrates the music's soaring achievements, from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop, and fusion. Six years in the making, this "soundbreaking" series blends 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music, ...

Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Starring: Charles J. Correll, Freeman F. Gosden, Edward R. Murrow, Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: Various Artists

Any fan of Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night won't want to miss the documentary The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit by Albert and David Maysles. The Maysles brothers were given extraordinary access to the Beatles during their first trip to the U.S., in February 1964, for several concerts and their seminal first appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Like Hard Day's ...

Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
Starring: Brian Epstein, George Harrison, Murray the 'K', John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Directed By: Albert Maysles, Kathy Dougherty, Susan Frömke

In 1996, with his public image at a low ebb after a messy breakup with Mia Farrow, clarinetist and filmmaker Woody Allen set off on a tour of Europe with his New Orleans jazz band. Accompanying him were his sister, his soon-to-be wife Soon-Yi Previn, and Oscar-winning documentary maker Barbara Kopple. Like Allen says as the beginning of the tour, "Theoretically, this should be fun for us." ...

Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
Starring: Woody Allen, Letty Aronson, Soon-Yi Previn, Dan Barrett, Simon Wettenhall
Directed By: Barbara Kopple

Manufacturer: Sony
Starring: Ricky Van Shelton

Manufacturer: Polygram Video

Originally aired on PBS's American Masters series, this evocative biography of the American composer, conductor, and de facto musical evangelist Leonard Bernstein offers a compelling balance of musical scholarship and personal insight. It's a fitting approach to the brilliant--and emotional--life and art of Bernstein, who elevated Broadway musical theater, demystified and democratized ...

Manufacturer: Winstar
Starring: Alexander Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein, Nina Bernstein, John Corigliano, Jon Deak
Directed By: Susan Lacy

Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
Starring: Fleetwood Mac

Taking more than two years from conception to release, Stevie Wonder's classic 1976 double album, Songs in the Key of Life, is now generally considered his finest creative hour in an enduring, influential career of nearly four decades. Songs in the Key of Life is also regarded by many music fans as one of the outstanding albums to appear in that entire timespan. Released in ...

Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
Starring: Dorothy Ashby, Shirley Brewer, Ben Bridges, Isiah 'Greg' Brown, Imhotep Gary Byrd
Directed By: David Heffernan