A documentary on speculative fiction writer and essayist Harlan Ellison.A documentary on speculative fiction writer and essayist Harlan Ellison.A documentary on speculative fiction writer and essayist Harlan Ellison.
Photos
Edie Adams
- Trina Yale in 'The Oscar'
- (archive footage)
Tony Bennett
- Hymie Kelly
- (archive footage)
Stephen Boyd
- Frank Fane in 'The Oscar'
- (archive footage)
Tom Snyder
- Self
- (archive footage)
Elke Sommer
- Kay Bergdahl in 'The Oscar'
- (archive footage)
Jill St. John
- Laurel Scott in 'The Oscar'
- (archive footage)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Nelson was only 24 when he first videotaped Ellison at a typewriter for a March 1981 PBS documentary about science fiction and fantasy writers - footage that is included in this film
- Quotes
Harlan Ellison: Most writers I know run that idiotic number about "Oh, I like to have written but I don't like to write. It's hard work."... Of course it's hard work. If it weren't hard work, everybody would be doing it. And the better you do it, the harder the work is... Art is supposed to be hard.
- ConnectionsFeatured in An Evening with Sharp Teeth (2009)
Featured review
Even if you don't know a thing about him, it's funny and revealing of human nature
I had the privilege of watching this with two other people who saw Harlan Ellison with me at a now legendary appearance in the late 80's in Toronto, and we kept looking at each other and snickering. But even if you never saw him live, read any of his work, or had any familiarity with him at all, you can appreciate this documentary as being about a man WORTHY of a documentary. He's just that bloody entertaining.
The soundtrack - by Richard Thompson, the legendary Brit folkie - is amazing, by the way.
Some of the camera work is really amateurish, but most of the straight interview footage is well shot. The camera work and the parts that got left out of Ellison's bio - probably in deference to his storied litigiousness - are what knocked this down to 8 out of 10.
His initial 'interview' with Robin Williams is worth watching even if you can't spend the time on the rest of the movie. Within minutes we were all helplessly laughing.
If you're at all interested in SF, either literary or media, movies, have a love affair with the English language or just want to see what it's like to be a legendary, visionary, prolific, brilliant and uncompromising pain in the rear, see this film. I intend to watch it again as some of the dialogue went by so fast I missed it, and it was really, really funny.
The soundtrack - by Richard Thompson, the legendary Brit folkie - is amazing, by the way.
Some of the camera work is really amateurish, but most of the straight interview footage is well shot. The camera work and the parts that got left out of Ellison's bio - probably in deference to his storied litigiousness - are what knocked this down to 8 out of 10.
His initial 'interview' with Robin Williams is worth watching even if you can't spend the time on the rest of the movie. Within minutes we were all helplessly laughing.
If you're at all interested in SF, either literary or media, movies, have a love affair with the English language or just want to see what it's like to be a legendary, visionary, prolific, brilliant and uncompromising pain in the rear, see this film. I intend to watch it again as some of the dialogue went by so fast I missed it, and it was really, really funny.
helpful•171
- allegra-sloman
- Aug 22, 2009
Details
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
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Top Gap
By what name was Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008) officially released in Canada in English?
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