Albert Maysles, the documentary film pioneer who died Thursday night at the age of 88, was best known for films like “Grey Gardens” (1970) and “Gimme Shelter” (1976).
He was so prolific that it’s really no surprise that he made at least two films with Milwaukee connections.
He was a cinematographer – with D.A. Pennebaker and Richard Leacock – on “Primary” one of the most influential documentaries of all time, directed by Robert Drew. It used then-new portable film and sound equipment that allowed the filmmakers to be unobtrusive.
“Primary” followed Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy and Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey as they campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination during the 1960 Wisconsin primary.
It shows Humphrey as a old-school retail politician with a focus on local issues and Kennedy as “a rock star” with “charismatic power,” wrote New Yorker writer Richard Brody in a 2012 review of the film.
It shows Kennedy campaigning in the “Polish Catholic Fourth District in Milwaukee,” and shows he Bobby Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy at what looks like Serb Hall.
And in August of 2007 Maysles recorded a concert performance by Rufus Wainwright at the Pabst Theater, for a DVD that accompanied the 2009 recording “Milwaukee at Last!!!”
Wainwright’s video for his song “Grey Gardens,” uses clips from Maysles film of the same name, and of the dramatic remake in 2009 with Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.
Watch “Primary” and Wainwright’s “Grey Gardens” video, below.
Tags: Humprhrey, JFK, Maysles, Pabst, Primary, Wainwright Posted by