Best movies like Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic

Italian immigrant Rudolph Valentino makes it big in silent Hollywood, but he ends up struggling between his career and the woman he loves.

A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current day Watts neighborhood. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film.

An aging silent movie comic star throws a lavish party to try and save his failing career.

The ghost of John Belushi looks back on his troubled life and career.

The film explores the history of the word throughout its inception to present day. Woven into the narrative are poetry, music, and commentary from celebrities about their personal experiences with the word and their viewpoints. Each perspective is unique, as is each experience... some are much more comfortable with the word than others.

A drug kingpin's return home touches off a turf war.

The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.

An investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry.

The Original Kings of Comedy achieves the seemingly impossible task of capturing the rollicking and sly comedy routines of stand-up and sitcom vets Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac and the magic of experiencing a live concert show. Director Spike Lee and his crew plant a multitude of cameras in a packed stadium and onstage (as well as backstage, as they follow the comedians) to catch the vivid immediacy of the show, which is as much about the audience as it is about the jokes.

Four of today's hottest black comedians headline this Queens of Comedy video special, a follow-up to Spike Lee's "The Original Kings of Comedy". Adele Givens, Mo'Nique (from UPN's The Parkers), Sommore, and Laura Hayes (from BET's Comic View) present a very provocative adult program with riffs on everything from the size of various body parts, to the habits of men, to former president Bill Clinton.

One of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows.

Richard Pryor delivers monologues on race, sex, family and his favorite target—himself, live at the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach, California.

Richard Pryor's stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire.

Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.

A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.

Few comedians can stir up controversy like the legendary Paul Mooney -- writer for Richard Pryor, creator of In Living Color's Homey the Clown and featured guest on Chappelle's Show. With his characteristic brutal honesty, Mooney passionately and hysterically charges into the electrified currents of racial tension. In this magnificent standup performance at Hollywood's Laugh Factory, Mooney earns a standing ovation with his relentless no-holds-barred observations on black history, stereotypes and prejudices, living in White America, celebrity divas and much, much more!

Martin Scorsese spends an evening with larger-than-life raconteur Steven Prince—a former drug addict, road manager for Neil Diamond, and actor—as he recounts stories from his colorful life.

With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. It features interviews with some of the genre's biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree. Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited commentary and author/critic bell hooks provides some scholarly social analysis.

A 1983 stand-up comedy film featuring the comedy of Bill Cosby. Filmed before a live audience at the Hamilton Place Theatre, in Hamilton, Ontario. Cosby gives his comedic views on people who drink too much and take drugs, going to the dentist, marriage and parenthood.

A federal agent whose daughter dies of a heroin overdose is determined to destroy the drug ring that supplied her. He recruits various people whose lives have been torn apart by the drug trade and trains them. Then they all leave for France to track down and destroy the ring.

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the establishment as too obscene for the public.

Eddie Murphy delights, shocks and entertains with dead-on celebrity impersonations, observations on '80s love, sex and marriage, a remembrance of Mom's hamburgers and much more.

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.

A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.

Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.

Comic Hasan Minhaj of "The Daily Show" shares personal stories about racism, immigrant parents, prom night horrors and more in this stand-up special.

Chris Rock brings his critically acclaimed brand of social commentary-themed humour to this HBO Special, extolling his razor-sharp wit and wisdom on such topics as gun control, President Clinton, homophobia, racism, black leaders and relationships.

Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.

Dean Martin had a laid-back charm that made him successful in everything from big-screen comedies to television variety shows to live acts in Las Vegas. Filmmaker Tom Donahue explores Martin’s varied career, including his complicated relationships with Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and others. We hear from admirers such as critic Gerald Early, actor Jon Hamm, and Hip-Hop artist RZA who testify to Martin’s enduring mystique.

An inside look at the life of Patrick Swayze as told by the people who knew him best.

Cocaine Angel captures a grinding and tragic week in the life of a weary young drug addict who is clinging to the remnants of his once hopeful existence amidst the stink, the sweat, and unforgiving heat of Jacksonville, Florida.

A 47 year old real estate salesman gets trapped in the insidious web of cocaine addiction.

Nina Geld's passion and talent have made her a rising star in the comedy scene, but she's an emotional mess offstage. When a new professional opportunity coincides with a romantic one, she is forced to confront her own deeply troubled past.

In this documentary on the life of Joan Crawford, we learn why she should be remembered as the great actress she was, and not only as "mommie dearest." caricature she has become. Friends, fellow actors, directors, and others reminisce about their association with her, and numerous film clips show off her talent from her start in silents to bad science fiction/horror movies at the end of her career.

An inspiring, triumphant and wickedly funny portrait of one of comedy’s most enigmatic and important figures, CALL ME LUCKY tells the story of Barry Crimmins, a beer-swilling, politically outspoken and whip-smart comic whose efforts in the 70s and 80s fostered the talents of the next generation of standup comedians. But beneath Crimmins’ gruff, hard-drinking, curmudgeonly persona lay an undercurrent of rage stemming from his long-suppressed and horrific abuse as a child – a rage that eventually found its way out of the comedy clubs and television shows and into the political arena.

An adaptation of Barbara Gordon's nonfiction account of her addiction to Valium.

An intimate portrait and saga of four film pioneers--Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies persevering to create a major studio with a social conscience.

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba

Since the early days, Jerry Lewis—in the line of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel—had the masses laughing with his visual gags, pantomime sketches and signature slapstick humor. Yet Lewis was far more than just a clown. He was also a groundbreaking filmmaker whose unquenchable curiosity led him to write, produce, stage and direct many of the films he appeared in, resulting in such adored classics as The Bellboy, The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and The Nutty Professor.

A biographical documentary on the late great comedian Bill Hicks and his career; in particular the censorship by Letterman that scarred it.

A down-on-his-luck actor is frustrated with Hollywood and makes a plan to write, direct, and distribute his own project. When the money goes missing, it proves to just be the beginning of an adventure to get it back.

Powerfully redemptive and darkly comedic revenge thriller set in the vicious world of stand-up comedy, starring Stephen McCole and Malcolm Shields.

A botched police raid on a crack house turns into a 36 hour long siege in which the junkies share their perspective to the cameraman of a reality program.

Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.

A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams, told largely through his own words. Celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at large, from the wild days of late-1970s L.A. to his death in 2014.

Mike Epps keeps it real as he riffs on poor personal hygiene, failing at infidelity and waging war on work husbands in this stand-up comedy special.

Black Metal Veins unflinchingly documents the dark realities of despair and morbid self annihilation surrounding the lives of five heroin junkies. The addicts' intertwining stories of pain, loss, sadness, and abandonment lead the viewer down the agonizing and hideous path of horrifying psychological and spiritual destruction as the grim disease of heroin addiction infects and decays the bodies and minds of five young people.

This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, silent film star, movie pioneer and keen businesswoman. Pickford's life also parallels an even larger story, telling of the birth of the cinema itself.

In the 1980s, Andrew McCarthy was part of a young generation of actors who were set to take over Hollywood after a string of successful teen movies. However, when the New York magazine cover story in 1985 dubs them the Brat Pack, stars in the making suddenly find themselves losing control over the trajectory of their careers. Now, almost forty years later, McCarthy looks to reconnect with peers and co-stars — Emilio Estevez, Jon Cryer, Lea Thompson, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore — so that together they can reflect on their respective legacies.