On DVD: Fog City Mavericks

Directed by Gary Leva

Featuring Appearances by George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, John Lasseter, and more.

Fog City Mavericks documents the thriving filmmakers and filmmaking community that exists in California other than the palm tree lined boulevards of Los Angeles and Hollywood in San Francisco, California. Fog City Mavericks is available on DVD from Anchor Bay.

The Movie

Fog City Mavericks is not only a look at San Francisco’s most famous filmmakers, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, but a look at other filmmakers, producers and inventors that crafted the art of film itself that are from the city by the bay.

The documentary begins with a detailed history of Eadweard Muybridge. Who is Mr. Muybridge, you might ask? He was an Englishman who developed a photographic machine he called the Zoopraxiscope. The Zoopraxiscope projected images from rotating glass disks in rapid succession to give the impression of motion. The stop-motion images were initially painted onto the glass, as silhouettes. A second series of discs, made in 1892-94, used outline drawings printed onto the discs photographically, then colored by hand. How many images were utilized in this invention? Twenty four, the standard for film today, 24 frames per second. The device appears to have been one of the primary inspirations for Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Dickson's Kinetoscope, the first commercial film exhibition system.

The films then goes on to further explore the filmmaking talents that came out of this area. Besides Lucas and Coppola, the man behind some of Pixar’s biggest hits, John Lasseter, came from this area. As well as noted producer Saul Zaentz (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus). It should be noted that Zaentz was a transplant to the area from New Jersey. Zaentz is also known for discovering Creedence Clearwater Revival and offering them their first record contract.

Also from the area is Chris Columbus, director of Home Alone and several other Hollywood blockbusters. The film goes into detail about his childhood and film career.

A great deal of film time is devoted to Lucas and Coppola, who seem to cast a big and powerful shadow over the San Francisco film community. It is interesting to learn that both had close calls with death in their younger years before the film bug bit them both.

The careers of Carroll Ballard, Walter Murch and Caleb Deshanel are also detailed in Fog City Mavericks.

Any fan of film will certainly enjoy this documentary film. If I have any complaints about the film, it is that the film jumps around in time. This film is certainly the very definition of a nonlinear presentation of history. So, dedicated film fans, pay attention or you will get lost in the milieu of film facts and bits of history.

Fog City Mavericks is certainly worth a look for film fans. Big fans of Lucas and Coppola may want to add it to their DVD library, everyone else can add it to the Netflix queue.

7/10

The Video

Fog City Mavericks is presented in anamorphic widescreen. This is a nice looking transfer of an informative documentary film.

7/10

The Audio

Fog City Mavericks is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The dialogue is crystal clear and well balanced. This is not the film to test out the limits of your sound system, but certainly adequate for the film presented.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Fog City Mavericks is presented in a standard amaray case featuring the faces of some of San Francisco’s most famous filmmakers.

The only bonus features available on this release are 3 Starz promo spots. Two of them are hosted by film critic Richard Roeper.

The score will be low in this category because of the lack of bonus features.

3/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review

The Movie 7/10

The Video 7/10

The Audio 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10