Recommendations on Good Video Documentaries
 

With significantly more free time than most of us have experienced in recent memory, I thought it'd be good to break up some of the time watching my daughter, tinkering with the car, and reading with checking out a few documentaries that might be available on YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, etc...

Anyone have any? I'm a big fan of most of ESPN's 30 for 30 series.

Amazon has a few different ones about museums and their items.

Another one on Amazon is the Pacific (I think that is is) is is about the WW2 battle in the pacific against the Japanese. I learned a lot about the war from that one. Another great one is mostly about the Enterprise. The only carrier involved and at every one of the major battles. The Lucky E had some good luck, and a few bad bits of luck.

Once you watch a few of the documentaries, Amazon will suggest more of a similar type.

I happened upon one yesterday afternoon.

On a Wing and a Prayer

Learned a lot about the middle east and how it became to be.

Another one I recently watched was called Castles in the Sky. It's about the development of radar in England. I'd recommend watching it and then watching The Battle of Britain as it is a natural follow-on.
These are all on Amazon Prime.

Similar to a 30 for 30 is The Battered Bastards of Baseball on Netflix.

Have you watched Ken Burns' VietNam?

Elephants on Disney+ was interesting.

Watch the Devil's Double on Amazon- a movie about Uday Huessin

rjp

+1

Mark Felton Productions on YouTube has a number of mini-documentaries on the two world wars.

His series, "Country Music" is much better. Burns' missed a lot of things in his Vietnam series. Sorry.

I don't even like Country Music and found the show fascinating.

"Peyton's Places" on ESPN is incredibly good.

The 24 Hour War is excellent, basically the real Ford vs Ferrari.
Tiger King.........:D
I haven't watched it yet but Endurance on YouTube looks cool, follows Porsche doing the 24 Hours of LeMans and the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in the same week.

I just watched a short (50min) documentary on Amazon called "Rainman Twins". I wasn't sure I would like it but it turned out to be very interesting. About two girls that are identical twins and have autism. They are Savants like in the Rainman movie and had incredible memories and could name any day of the week if you gave them a date. They could remember every meal they ever had (i.e, what did you have for lunch on 01-15-99 and they would recall every detail. They were obsessed with 100,000 pyramid game show and had to watch every day and they would have notepads in hand and detail every detail. They had a tough childhood but maintained extremely positive outlooks on life.

Anyway, I would recommend as it is fairly short and was interesting.

https://www.amazon.com/Rainman-Twins-Dave-Wagner/dp/B07Y8SC5FH

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was it on Netflix or Amazon? His Jazz doc was good.

Post #10

This site has kept my attention for years. There's plenty to choose from, just gotta keep clicking.

https://www.documentarymania.com/

WW2 in Color is another good one

We watched the first 2 episodes of Ken Burn's Roosevelt's. It was really interesting, we will get to watching the rest soon.

Not a documentary video but a good, and related, read - https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/this-tycoons-secret-radar-lab-helped-win-wwii
There's also a book on Tuxedo Park that's worth a read. Forgot its name at the moment...

The grim sleeper on Amazon.


European film crew goes to LA/south central to investigate a serial killer. About halfway through they talk to a retired crack whore who was almost one of the victims. She becomes their guide. Soon she’s driving their car, conducting the interviews and directing the shots. She is fascinating all on her own.

Really enjoyed that one. Currently watching the one on Vietnam. For the military buffs "Into the Blue" and "Thud Pilots" are also incredible.

On Prime...very interesting....

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Framing John DeLorean

The Bronze Age
https://pomf2.lain.la/f/rlh6xbn.mp4

Europe was a tumultuous swirl of trade and exchange and movement from north to east to west.
Bronze, horses, and chariots began the next phase of technology and lifestyle.

Squaring the Circle. The story of Hipgnosis

Currently on Netflix (11/28/23)

I don't have any specific docu's....but I find that Prime has more of them that I want to watch than Netflix does.
And Netflix has better choices of movies.

I love his jazz doc. Jazz is my favorite so I’m anal about it and he did leave out some important stuff but overall I found it enjoyable enough to have watched it at least 20 times or more. Loved Vietnam as well…..loved all his docs despite his politics.

I don’t see any of his work free at the moment.

Agreed. Watched it last week. Well done.

You might consider curiositystream.com. They boast to having thousands of documentaries. It is a subscription service but if you call to cancel your subscription they'll lower your fee to about three dollars a month. That is totally worth it.

Revolution OS

Story of Open Source, Free software and Linux. Some depressing stockmarket stuff (dotcom boom/bust) but fun to hear Linus blow off loosing out on potentially billions etc

Burns has a bunch of great documentaries.

The one on Jazz is very, very, good.

Tomcats is good. On a few different services.

Murder Mountain on NETFLIX is a must watch. A number of stories on the cannabis trade up in humbolt county weaved together very well over 6 episodes. I've watched it twice over a 3 year stint.

James Burke Connections series are worth a watch

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Forgot all about this one.,.definitely a favorite as was the Andy Warhol doc

https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Lloyd-Wright-Season-1/dp/B08CVCLM6T

Following Seas on Amazon Prime

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"Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer" on Netflix showcases one of my mentors, Homicide Detective Gil Carrillo, and how they solved the case.

"It Ain't Over" is a fantastic documentary about Yogi Berra.

Searching for Sugar Man tells the almost unbelievable story of a Mexican-American songwriter whose two early Seventies albums bombed in America, but who wound up finding a huge audience in Apartheid-era South Africa. Sixto Rodriguez had no idea he was a legend there until a group of fans found him on the Internet and brought him to the country for a series of triumphant concerts.

I served with his daughter Eva ...
in a few places..
one of the best Flight P's ever..
and then she got her Wings..
she resides in South Africa....

Rika

If you like F1: Brawn. The impossible story on Hulu.
If you want to live longer: Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones on Netflix.

Recommendations on Good Video Documentaries
 

If you like aviation history, this is a good one.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...55d7c8eeea.jpg

The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1094299/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk