Special When Lit

Oct 1, 2009

1h 37m

★ 6.6

Rediscover a lost icon

Overview

What made more money than the entire American movie industry through the 50s and 60s? Pinball. Special When Lit rediscovers the lure of a lost pop icon. A product of the mechanical and electrical age, the American invention swept the world and defined cool. Now it is relegated to a nostalgic footnote deserving a better fate. Joining the fans, collectors, designers and champion players from across the globe who share a world many of us didn't know still existed.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Steam Motion & Sound

Special When Lit Trailers

Cast

Himself

Roger Sharpe

Himself

Rick Stetta

Himself

Pat Lawlor

Himself

Steve Epstein

Himself

Sam Harvey

Himself

Tim Arnold

Himself

Lyman Sheats

Himself

John Broughton

Himself

Josh Pingeek Kaplan

Himself

Gary Stern

Himself

Donovan Stepp

Himself

Koi Morris

The opening of The Vasulka Effect couldn’t be more apt: Steina Vasulka addresses her husband Woody through various TV screens. He does the same and replies. A perfect image of the relationship between the free-spirited, groundbreaking pioneers of video art. After meeting in Prague in the early 1960s, they relocated from Czechoslovakia to New York, where they later founded The Kitchen, their legendary art and performance gallery.

0.0

Dej ševče gól!

Jul 4, 2019

No overview available.

7.6

When We Were Kings

Oct 25, 1996

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

0.0

The Keepers of the Streak

Jan 23, 2015

The NFL has staged 48 Super Bowls. Four photographers have taken pictures at every one of them. In KEEPERS OF THE STREAK, director Neil Leifer tells the story of this exclusive club, made up of John Biever, Walter Iooss, Mickey Palmer and Tony Tomsic. With their cameras, they have captured football's biggest game of the year for almost five decades.

7.2

Flatball: A History of Ultimate

Oct 23, 2016

On May 8, 1989, Sports Illustrated ran an article about Ultimate frisbee… about a team with no name hailing from New York City that was about to change the sport forever. From its 1968 New Jersey birth to its unanimous 2015 recognition by the International Olympic Committee, FLATBALL circles the globe to showcase four decades of world-class Ultimate and goes even further: to a set of fields in the Middle East to understand and demystify the unique spirit of the game.

6.9

Accidental Anarchist

Jul 23, 2017

Carne Ross was a government highflyer. A career diplomat who believed Western Democracy could save us all. But working inside the system he came to see its failures, deceits and ulterior motives. He felt at first hand the corruption of power. After the Iraq war Carne became disillusioned, quit his job and started searching for answers.

0.0

Old St. Patrick's Church: Chicago Renaissance Story

Dec 3, 2013

Mike Leonard tells the inside story of how the west Loop’s St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, known to residents as Old St. Pat's, transformed itself from an empty church in a declining neighborhood into a Chicago hub of worship, culture, social life, education, and service -- revitalizing a then-struggling West Loop.

6.7

Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers

Feb 14, 2008

Documentary about filmmakers of the New German Cinema who were members of the legendary Filmverlag für Autoren (Film Publishing House for Authors). Among them are Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Wim Wenders.

0.0

The General And Me

May 29, 2017

Over the period of 25 years the director met General Võ Nguyên Giáp, a legendary hero of Vietnam’s independence wars, a number of times. She was the first American who entered the home of the “Red Napoleon”. The fruit of this friendship is a film, personal and politically involved at the same time. Travelling across the country and talking to important figures as well as ordinary people, the director finds out more about her roots and offers the audience a unique perspective on Vietnam’s present and past.

6.5

A Trilha dos Ratos

Jun 24, 2021

Before ending World War II, Nazi Germany, realizing it was going to lose the war, planned an escape route so that its high-ranking officers would not be convicted. Thousands of Nazis fled along these routes, with the help of the CATHOLIC CHURCH and the RED CROSS to America. Passports were issued and many criminals escaped and lived prosaically across America in exchange for German money and technology. These trails were called: RATILINES or TRACK OF THE RATS

8.0

De l'eau dans le gasoil

Jan 1, 2014

No overview available.

8.5

The Making of Agatha Christie's 'Evil Under the Sun'

Jan 1, 1982

Director Guy Hamilton and several of the stars of Agatha Christie's "Evil Under The Sun" walk you through the making of the film.

10.0

Ady Steg, un parcours juif, une histoire française

Jan 14, 2024

No overview available.

0.0

Eine Zärtlichkeit wie bei Sirk - Todd Haynes über Fassbinder und das Melodram

Jan 1, 2006

In his film "Far From Heaven", Todd Haynes refers very respectfully to Douglas Sirk's "All that Heaven Allows". Fassbinder was also strongly influenced by Sirk's work. Haynes now explains this double fascination.

0.0

Irish Chicago

Mar 15, 2009

The colorful stories of Irish-American immigrants and their descendants who lived the history and exemplify the repeated cycle of the outsider becoming the ultimate Chicago citizen-insider.

10.0

Buddha Wild: Monk in a Hut

Apr 16, 2008

Buddhist monks open up about the joys and challenges of living out the precepts of the Buddha as a full-time vocation. Controversies swirling within modern monastic Buddhism are examined, from celibacy and the role of women to racism and concerns about the environment.

0.0

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Tales of Haunted New England

Oct 29, 2009

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Tales of Haunted New England takes you on a journey throughout historic New England collecting tales of the supernatural, the unexplained, and the mysterious — spooky stories of ghosts, spirits, witches... and even a vampire!

6.6

Altman

Aug 1, 2014

Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.

7.0

Auschwitz: Countdown To Liberation

Jan 26, 2025

No overview available.