What I love about the Video Room is their fat Cult section anddeep selection of art & documentary titles. Not to mention; they're dog-friendly, and are NOT Blockbuster.
Their store on Piedmont Avenue carries many of the following selections, in all their backwards East Bay glory.
| HISTORICAL TITLES: |
Berkeley in the 60's 1983
Did you have the mistaken notion that the sixties were all about sex, drugs and rock and roll? It was civil war in the streets of Oakland and Berkeley! This documentary is about the turbulent decade that has been so fastidiously white-washed by history. Cameo appearances by Huey Newton and Sonny Barger, Oakland's finest.
Patty Hearst 1988
Straight out of revolutionary safe-houses in Oakland and Berkeley, the Symbionese Liberation Army played havoc on the American media and mind throughout the seventies. This video is the hollywood retelling of "Tania's" revolutionary journey from prep school princess to guerrilla warrior. Early tough-guy roles for William Forsythe, and Ving Rhames.
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| BLACK PANTHER PARTY: |
Prelude to Revolution 1967
Damn, that Huey Newton will really talk your ear off if you let him! This is an extensive interview with him while locked up for the murder of an Oakland police offer, a crime he was later acquitted of. Ironically, this jail time was the founding Black Panther's most powerful and influential period of time in American life.
Panther 1995
Mario Van Peeples IS Huey P. Newton! I think they get the first half of the story right... and then the plot goes off into some fantasy action land that is in no way historically accurate. But, check out Little Bobby Hutton's threads! Smooth.
Coming soon: All Power to The People
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| HELL'S ANGELS: |
Hell's Angels Forever 1983
This documentary shows how Oakland's outlaw motorcycle club has had a global cultural impact, for better or for worse. Somehow amid the ugliness of it all, these "hoods" come out looking cleaner than the FBI operatives who went up against them. The Chief, Sonny Barger, emerges as a regular folk hero! He's our city's own Al Capone.
Hell's Angels '69 1979
A fictional tale of honor and betrayal in Las Vegas, starring Oakland's Hell's Angels. It's a B-Movie classic.
Also of interest:
Hell's Angels on Wheels 1967 (cult section)
starring Jack Nicholson, with the Oakland Hell's Angels as a backdrop.
Gimme Shelter 1969 (music section)
Maysles Brothers riveting documentary of the Rolling Stones Tour which ended in a disastrous love-in gone wrong where the Oakland Angels steal the show. A brutal and beautiful movie.
(btw, definitely check out some other Maysle Brother documentaries: like Salesman and Grey Gardens, also available at the Video Room).
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| THE CLAIRE BURCH DOCUMENTARY SERIES: |
Entering Oakland
Bits and pieces of video scrapped together into a rough vignette of life in Oakland during the Reagan era... with James Baldwin speeches thrown in. Shit was jacked up. Everybody interviewed is talking about the "rat problem". A few really endearing characters are interviewed. This film is a reminder of a different Oakland.
People's Park
Here is the whole ongoing saga revolving around that little symbolic chunk o' land called People's Park. Claire Burch uncovers the police murders of two activists who tried to defend the park; James Rector in the sixties, and Rosebud in the late nineties. This film says so much about East Bay Life. And the battle continues...
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| COMMUNITY TITLES: |
The East Bay Asian Youth Center Series
"Ten Deep", "Everyday Eastlake", and "Reel Peeps of Oakland" are three hometown classics made by and for neighborhood kids. My favorite is the search for the "Donut Lady" in Reel Peeps. Like they say at EBAYC, "It's all gravy!"
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| CULT FLICKS: |
The Mack 1973
"They're going to have to rewrite the pimpin' book, baby... they'll be talkin' about me like they talkin' about Jesus". This is the original blaxploitation document of Oakland's hustlin' game that helped define the entire pimp-player genre. With Max Julian and Richard Pryor early in his career.
Sun Ra, Space is the Place 1974
A totally odd-ball cult classic blending free jazz, science fiction, and ghetto sociology. It's hilarious, and highly funky. Tune in to Sun Ra's message because there really is a method to the madness.
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| NEW RELEASES: |
Life Is... Too Short 2003, DVD
Dwayne Wiggins produces this biopic on legendary rapper $ir Too Short, West Coast hip-hop pioneer and originator of the word "BYATCH" (biyatch!!!). He met this freak, her name was Yolanda, rode baby doll like a brand new honda. Really though; if you love Oakland you will love this movie.
Rebels of Oakland: The Raiders, The A's, The 70's 2003, HBO Sports
This is 90% about the sports, but it is nicely integrated with footage and interviews of the Panthers, the Angels, the Free Speech Movement, as well as Tom Hanks, John Madden, and just plain folks. It is a beautiful rendering of the Oaklandish spirit, and if you were here for any of it then this movie will probably make you cry with tears of joy.
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