September 07, 2007

Movie Review - Z Channel: A Magnificent Obession

Review by Joshua Massre

Most movies are released into theaters and play for about a month and then disappear for a few months before appearing on home video. What happened to these movies before the advent of VHS and DVD? Prior to 1976 (the year the VCR was publicly available) many movies would just fade out into obscurity. The blockbusters and major hits would be shown on HBO and Showtime. All of the other movies that were either too obscure or not mainstream enough would appear on a Los Angeles television station called Z Channel. This program was known throughout the filmmaking world and had a major effect on many of today's top filmmakers, including Quentin Tarintino and Alexander Payne.

The documentary Z Channel: a Magnificent Obsession tells the story of Z Channel's rule of the foothills of Los Angeles. The film focuses on Jerry Harvey, the eccentric head of programming. Harvey, whose whole frame of reference is based in his love of film, helped the television station grow to the most popular pay television station in Los Angeles, with even more subscribers than HBO and Showtime combined. Z Channel was known for its wide range of programming, which was the main reason that it remained ahead of the other two premium channels. On any given night, one could see an obscure Robert Altman or Richard Brooks film and The Empire Strikes Back.

The film follows a simple linear narrative and moves from the channel’s inception in the late 1970s to it’s downfall in the early 1990s. It highlights some of Z Channel's more prominent feature films. While there are no real surprises along the way, it is an interesting ride, which includes clips from almost 100 of the films that aired on the Z Channel and interviews with the major players of Hollywood and the network itself.

It popularized the "Director's Cut" version of films. The first director's cut of a film that was featured on the channel was Heaven's Gate. When the film was originally released it ran 2 hours and 28 minutes. It had been taken from its director, Michael Cimino, and reedited. His original version was a lengthy 5 hours and 25 minutes. When the movie was released it was hailed by critics as a total and utter failure. In the documentary, F.X. Feeney says, "When people look back at the hell's furor that greeted Heaven’s Gate upon its release they'll think that it's a science fiction story." The New York Times called it an "unqualified disaster." That was on the good end of the reviews. Jerry Harvey, head of programming for Z Channel, was friends with the director and saw the movie in its original uncut version and convinced the film's producers and Cimino to reconstruct his original vision. This 3 hour 38 minute version premiered on Z Channel a few months later and received just as much praise as the original had been panned.

A few years later Z Channel featured the full version of Once Upon a Time in America, which had been taken from director Sergei Leone and cut from its original 3 hours and 49 minutes to a meager 2 hours and 22 minutes. It had been cut by "the assistant editor of Police Academy 2... people who should never had been allowed in an editing room" according to star James Woods. When the shortened version of the film was released it was considered to be a mess and was universally panned by critics. Jerry Harvey again aired the original director’s cut of the film. It was shown back-to-back with the theatrical version of the film. The longer, director's cut was so well received that a critic who named the movie the worst movie of 1984 named it the best movie of the decade.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession gets its real power from the breadth of film clips that it features, from Heaven's Gate to Le Magnifique. This film is worth viewing just for these clips, as it is a primer on what to watch. But it is also a tragic film, chronicling the life of a station. On April 9, 1988, Jerry Harvey killed his wife and then committed suicide. F.X. Feeny says that Z Channel died with Jerry. He may be right. Less than a year after his death, the channel went under and disappeared from the airwaves. Alexander Payne put it best when he said "You just never know when you're living in a golden age." Z Channel is a documentary that is both amazing in it's breadth and moving in its examination of one man's obsession.

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