When people usually think about the filmmakers of New Hollywood, the first name that comes to mind certainly isn't John Milius. The most commonly remembered names of that period are "The Big Four:" Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, and Scorsese. Even Brian De Palma may come to mind. But almost nobody thinks of Milius. Which is a shame, because he seems to be one helluva talent.This documentary covers most aspects of John Milius's life from his childhood to his stroke and continuing recovery (at that time). His whole career from his writing efforts to his few directorial projects have quite a bit of focus as well. He is probably best known as one of the screenwriters for Apocalypse Now, for which he got an Oscar nomination. Some may not even realize that he helped come up with dialogue like Dirty Harry's "'Do I feel lucky'" speech, or the Indianapolis monologue in Jaws. To know that he did both is bound to increase one's respect for his talent. What makes this documentary even more fun is that it feels like quite the party with all sorts of directors who knew him and were inspired by him participating, as well as many famous actors. I mean, you have guys like Spielberg, Lucas, Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Arnie, Stallone, and Harrison Ford all giving their thoughts on the man. And I'm just getting warmed up. You hardly ever see this much major talent participating in a documentary like this. It makes you feel like you're a new friend to all these guys and by the end, you really feel like their buddy.Prior to this documentary, I've only seen one Milius film: Conan the Barbarian (1982), and it's a film I've loved more over time. Now that I've seen this documentary, I want to seek out more of his work, since he has specialized in big budget epics and one of the most common things that the interviewees in this documentary have cited him for is the way he writes dialogue. Knowing now about his efforts on Dirty Harry and Jaws, as well as Apocalypse Now, I believe it. Milius may not have a personality that is comfortable with everyone: George Lucas remembers a story of how Milius punched his film professor, he's been accused of being right-wing in a system that veers more towards the left, he's pro-war, and he seemed to love pushing people's buttons, but the more you understand Milius, the more you respect him. I may not agree with everything he believes in, but I won't deny what he's contributed to the film industry.Before Milius suffered his stroke, he was working on a movie based on the life of Genghis Khan. However, it's been a while and the project doesn't seem to be reaching the daylight. Given how much work he put into Conan, a similar film, I hope that he can still make the film, given how much he seems to believe in it. You can do it, John. I know you can.

I didn't know too much about John Milius before I sat down to watch this documentary, other than that he scripted some great movies and was responsible for one of my favourite fantasy flicks, CONAN THE BARBARIAN. So this was an eye-opening journey for me, and one which was a lot of fun. It's a documentary mainly comprised of talking head footage which looks at Milius's career in Hollywood, his rise, fame, and eventual downfall, in a snappy and amusing way. The requisite clips from his films play out and although familiar they don't lose their charm.My only real problem with this film was that some of the animated linking scenes were pretty silly but that's a very minor niggle. The sheer breadth and wealth of Hollywood talent that has been assembled here is impressive in itself, with Spielberg and Lucas nestling alongside George Hamilton and Schwarzenegger. A lot of them have very interesting anecdotes to share, anecdotes which when put together build up a good portrait of the maverick that is Milius. While he might not be quite the legend that the filmmakers seem to believe, this is still highly watchable viewing.

A look at the life of filmmaker John Milius, the greatest filmmaker nobody knows.In this documentary, Milius is played up as the best writer of dialogue, someone who recognized how people actually talk. Again and again he is mentioned as the dialogue guy, and Sean Connery thought he was the only one who could write good speeches.It is certainly interesting to see how close he was with George Lucas at USC, making "Marcello I'm Bored" (1967) together, and more or less being good friends since then. Not knowing much about Lucas, it seemed an odd match.Milius came up through American International Pictures (though apparently not under Roger Corman) and went on to make "Apocalypse Now", "Jaws", "Dirty Harry" and more... Charlie Sheen loves him, which means something. The UFC is mentioned as connected, with Milius having helped create interest in the sport on the part of investors and television outlets, and John Goodman in "Big Lebowski" may have been influenced by him.

This documentary is about a Hollywood legend who deliberately cultured an anarchistic and ultra-macho persona—one that irritated the life out of many of the politically correct in Hollywood. However, for some time, the film industry had to put up with John Milius' strangeness because the man was extremely successful. With films like "Dirty Harry", "Magnum Force", "The Wind and the Lion" and "Apocalypse Now" to his writing credits, he was greatly in demand and was friends with the biggest names in Hollywood—like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. However, in recent years, Milius' output on the screen has dropped considerably and the prestige of his projects has dropped. And, in the last few years, his output has dropped to nothing. What happened? What led to this fall?The film begins with a very brief discussion of Milius' childhood but spends most of the early part of the film talking about his time in film school—where he attended classes with the two men mentioned above as well as a few other future filmmakers. It then proceeds to discuss his projects chronologically—and pays special attention to his most successful and critically acclaimed pictures. Additionally, I noticed that Milius' IMDb credits actually are missing much of his work, as he was apparently the go-to man when producers needed re-writes or wanted to punch up scenes—such as when he contributed some dialog for the films "Jaws" and "The Hunt for Red October". His track record during this time was pretty amazing. But as I mentioned above, there was a fall—but I really don't want to say more, as it would spoil the film.The best thing going for this film is how much many ultra-famous people love and respect Milius. Because of this, TONS of exceptionally big names contribute to the film—such as Clint Eastwood, Sam Elliott, Oliver Stone (who didn't seem to like him but respected his abilities), Francis Ford Coppola, Richard Dreyfus, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many, many more. Even a bad documentary would be great and well worth seeing with these folks appearing in it!! And, fortunately, this is NOT a bad film at all. It is a loving portrait of a strange and deliberately out of sync man. Think about it—in the bastion of liberal thinking, Hollywood, Milius was serving as an officer for the NRA and would carry guns about him to meetings with studio execs!! I admire someone who deliberately tweaks the noses of those around them, as provocateurs make like a lot more interesting!Additionally, the film is well-constructed, filled with wonderful clips and archival footage, is fascinating and you cannot help but gain an appreciation for this very odd man. Well worth seeing—especially for anyone who wants to be somebody in the film business.