The Best Documentaries of All Time
by phil_lebessis | created - 27 Mar 2017 | updated - 27 Mar 2017 | PublicWhat are the greatest documentaries made, ever? We polled 3,886,686,840 critics, bards, documentarians, programmers and filmmakers in the search for the authoritative answer.
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1. The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart (1997)
51 min | Documentary, Music
Biography of iconoclast musician/artist Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart.
Director: Elaine Shepherd | Stars: John Peel, Eric Feldman, Bruce Fowler, John French
Votes: 42
2. Sun Ra: The Brother from Another Planet (2005 TV Movie)
58 min | Documentary
Director: Don Letts
Votes: 28
3. O.J.: Made in America (2016)
TV-MA | 467 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Director: Ezra Edelman | Stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mike Albanese, Muhammad Ali, Marcus Allen
Votes: 21,972
4. The Act of Killing (2012)
Not Rated | 117 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
Directors: Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, Christine Cynn | Stars: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik
Votes: 40,836 | Gross: $0.49M
5. Titicut Follies (1967)
Unrated | 84 min | Documentary
Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Votes: 5,114
6. Jandek on Corwood (2003)
Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary, Music
"The longest-running, weirdest, loneliest enigma in popular music is a guy from Texas who calls himself Jandek." Jandek on Corwood is the 89-minute documentary that explores this man, his world and his music.
Director: Chad Freidrichs | Stars: Byron Coley, Calvin Johnson, Barry Hansen, John Foster
Votes: 307
7. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Not Rated | 107 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
Director: Andrew Jarecki | Stars: Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, David Friedman, Elaine Friedman
Votes: 27,149 | Gross: $3.12M
8. Crumb (1994)
R | 119 min | Documentary, Biography, Comedy
An intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Charles Crumb, Maxon Crumb
Votes: 21,606 | Gross: $3.17M
9. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Not Rated | 101 min | Documentary, Crime
A film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
Director: Errol Morris | Stars: Randall Adams, David Harris, Gus Rose, Jackie Johnson
Votes: 26,001 | Gross: $1.21M
10. Grizzly Man (2005)
R | 103 min | Documentary, Biography
A devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Werner Herzog, Carol Dexter
Votes: 61,950 | Gross: $3.17M
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