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1. Nanook of the North
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Robert Flaherty's milestone 1922 documentary was given a deserved restoration on a Criterion DVD. Not only a fair-minded, humanitarian ethnographic study of an Inuit family, but surprisingly entertaining.
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2. Jazz on a Summer's Day
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The first full-blown concert movie was by Bert Stern, better known for his portrait photographs of personalities like Marilyn Monroe. Watching this will make you wish he had done more films. A priceless collection of jazz talent was involved, from Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk to Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson. A treasure. (1958)
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3. Don't Look Back
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Bob Dylan, the focus of D.A. Pennebaker's influential documentary, may not want to look back at this often unflattering portrait, but you will. Pennebaker was one of the first to use cinema verite style, now copied to the point of cliche, but this film is an insightful and engaging look at the young troubadour in action. (1967)
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4. Salesman
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Still timely, tragicomic 1969 film follows the travails of a group of door-to-door salesmen (none of whom are named Willy Loman). The fact that Criterion released the DVD version of the Maysles brothers documentary should tell you something about this film's significance and relevance.
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5. Woodstock: Three Days of Peace & Music
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Much more than just footage of a bunch of hippies dancing around stoned; it's one of the most important music documentaries ever made. Michael Wadleigh perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the sixties, getting the rich atmosphere behind the scenes away from the music (much of which is still incredible). And by the way, one of his editors was a guy named Martin Scorsese. (1970)
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6. Gimme Shelter
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Albert and David Maysles captured not just a concert (the Rolling Stones), but the end of an era (the Sixties) in an unforgettable portrait of a concert gone horribly wrong, when the word "Altamont" entered the American lexicon. (1970)
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7. Hearts and Minds
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Peter Davis' groundbreaking and unflinching investigation of the disastrous Vietnam War won a well-deserved Oscar back in 1974 -- when the issue was still foremost on all Americans' minds. Still packs a wallop today. The director's commentary on the DVD is a fascinating bonus. (1974)
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8. Best Boy
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As our Craig Phillips wrote in his intro to an interview with filmmaker Ira Wohl, Best Boy "is both heartbreaking and uplifting, and has become, over time, one of the most important films ever made about the mentally disabled." It won an Oscar for Best Doc and remains an infectious tale of a family overcoming obstacles. (1979)
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9. Stop Making Sense
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Jonathan Demme just didn't film the Talking Heads live; he helped design the performance specifically for film. Possibly the most perfect and energetic concert film ever, it builds from a quiet note (David Byrne comes out on stage solo to perform "Psycho Killer") to an enormous crescendo, wherein a huge group of musicians assembles on stage to rock out. Guaranteed to get you out of your seat to sing and bop along. (1984)
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10. Berkeley in the Sixties
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Mark Kitchell's comprehensive but entertaining survey of the student protest movement of the 50s and 60s centers on Berkeley but has relevance across the country and the world. Required viewing in many college history classes and for good reason - surprisingly fair-minded and insightful, it never feels like a lecture. (1990)
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