Movie | Z Channel | PASS

Documentary about Jerry Harvey, the visionary behind the Z Channel. One of the first pay per view cable channels that ran non-stop movies, Harvey was a genius that literally saved works of art from obscurity. Sadly, he was afflicted with severe mental illness and was a wrecking ball in every other part of his life other than programming Z.

I lived in that area of the country at that time period, but never had the pleasure of seeing Z. You had to have two things to be a viewer - money and a house, neither of which I had. I was either sleeping in my car, on the floor of a construction site or on somebody's couch. And constantly flat broke. It's too bad, because I would have loved Z. Still, there were movie theaters that ran themed marathons, so I got a very similar (albeit a bit more limited) experience.

The movies discussed are for an auteur level of movie buff (Bertolucci, Fellini, Bergman, etc.), which I don't really consider myself (though I loved a lot of those movies, too). I like shlock too much and sometimes find those films too self aware and grandiose. I don't always want the Louvre. Hey, that's just me!

But looking at the Z Channel Magazines, they obviously also showed films that fall outside the art house scene. They just aren't featured in this documentary. Understandably. Those other films are not as "important".

Harvey's death is and was devastating to his friends and to us, the viewers of this well made film. I could have sworn I'd seen this already and even had a copy sitting on my shelf. Apparently, I didn't see a stitch of it because I don't remember it at all. When the subject of Harvey was brought up recently, I dug it out and (finally) saw it (thanks movieguy!).

A must see and a PASS. Make it a double with Cinemania.