The life and career of Joe Spinell. A great man. A great actor. Friend and all!The life and career of Joe Spinell. A great man. A great actor. Friend and all!The life and career of Joe Spinell. A great man. A great actor. Friend and all!
Joe Spinell
- Self
- (archive footage)
William James Kennedy
- Self
- (as William Kennedy)
William Lustig
- Self
- (as Bill Lustig)
John Scott
- Self
- (as John C. Scott)
Thomas C. Rainone
- Self
- (as Tom Rainone)
Steven Spielberg
- Self
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFinal interview with Jason Miller before his death in 2001.
- Quotes
William James Kennedy: Joe was the most versatile of the stereotypical Italian wise guy actors. Joe actually broke through that typecasting, and not many others have. For example, the actors you see today such as Joe Pesci, or James Giandolfini, in the Goodfellas, or the Sopranos-type guys, that's all they're ever going to do. Play tough mafia type. But Joe played all kinds of roles. He played priests, Southern-accented coal miners, Western-accented prison guards.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Making 'the Undertaker' (2016)
Featured review
Excellent Doc
The Joe Spinell Story (2001)
**** (out of 4)
Excellent documentary from David Gregory takes a look at the life and career of character actor Joe Spinell who appeared in classics like TAXI DRIVER, THE GODFATHER and ROCKY but he will probably be best remembered for the controversial 1980 slasher MANIAC.
William Lustig, Robert Forster, Buddy Giovinazzo, Patrick Jude, Joe Cirilo, Richard Lynch, Frank Pesce, Caroline Munro, Jason Miller and Luke Walter are among the people interviewed who share their stories of Spinell, his movies and his at times wild life.
If you're a fan of MANIAC or just Spinell then this here is certainly a must-see. Gregory really made his mark as a director here and he has gone onto do some even greater films but this one here is certainly very special. Spinell isn't the type of actor who usually gets his own documentary so it's great to see so much detail and attention paid to him. There are some really great stories told here about how Spinell managed to get into so many classic movies.
There's also a lot of talk about his wild side and some of the problems this caused in his life. There are some wonderful stories told by his friends including one by Lustig dealing with his "wife" and seeing her in "action" on the big screen. The stuff dealing with the production of MANIAC is great as is some footage of Spinell hanging out with Steven Spielberg on the morning of the Oscar nominations for JAWS.
**** (out of 4)
Excellent documentary from David Gregory takes a look at the life and career of character actor Joe Spinell who appeared in classics like TAXI DRIVER, THE GODFATHER and ROCKY but he will probably be best remembered for the controversial 1980 slasher MANIAC.
William Lustig, Robert Forster, Buddy Giovinazzo, Patrick Jude, Joe Cirilo, Richard Lynch, Frank Pesce, Caroline Munro, Jason Miller and Luke Walter are among the people interviewed who share their stories of Spinell, his movies and his at times wild life.
If you're a fan of MANIAC or just Spinell then this here is certainly a must-see. Gregory really made his mark as a director here and he has gone onto do some even greater films but this one here is certainly very special. Spinell isn't the type of actor who usually gets his own documentary so it's great to see so much detail and attention paid to him. There are some really great stories told here about how Spinell managed to get into so many classic movies.
There's also a lot of talk about his wild side and some of the problems this caused in his life. There are some wonderful stories told by his friends including one by Lustig dealing with his "wife" and seeing her in "action" on the big screen. The stuff dealing with the production of MANIAC is great as is some footage of Spinell hanging out with Steven Spielberg on the morning of the Oscar nominations for JAWS.
helpful•31
- Michael_Elliott
- Mar 12, 2008
Details
- Runtime49 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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