David Maysles

Directing

David Maysles

Born — Died

1931-01-10 — 1987-01-03

Place of birth

Brookline, Massachusetts, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

36 titles

Albert (born November 26, 1926, Boston, Massachusetts) and David Maysles (rhymes with "hazels", born 10 January 1932, Boston, Massachusetts) were a documentary filmmaking team whose cinéma vérité works include Salesman (1968), Gimme Shelter (1970) and Grey Gardens (1976). Their 1964 film on The Beatles forms the backbone of the DVD, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit. Several Maysles films document art projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude over a three-decade period, from 1974 when Christo's Valley Curtain was nominated for an Academy Award to 2005 when The Gates headlined New York's Tribeca Film Festival. David Maysles, the younger brother, died of a stroke on January 3, 1987, in New York. …

Known for

Gimme Shelter poster
7.4

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Gimme Shelter

1970

Grey Gardens poster
7.3

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Grey Gardens

1976

With Love from Truman poster
6.6

At his Long Island beach house, and on the occasion of the publication of his masterful nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, reporter Karen Dennison interviews celebrated writer Truman Capote, who displays his exuberant personality, makes witty jokes, shares his thoughts on writing, reflects on various aspects of the book and, in a sweet and endearing voice, reads and explains some of its highlights.

With Love from Truman

1966

Salesman poster
7.2

This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.

Salesman

1969

Ozawa poster
8.5

This intimate portrait of the legendary conductor Seiji Ozawa focuses on the Japanese master and teacher's career, his advocacy of modern composers and the behind-the-scenes world of the symphony orchestra.

Ozawa

1985

Albert Maysles: The Poetic Eye poster
NR

A delve into the character and life of Albert Maysles, who, alongside his brother David, created some of the most well-known and iconic documentaries of the 20th century. Film extracts include Meet Marlon Brando (1965), Salesman (1968), Gimme Shelter (1970), and Grey Gardens (1975).

Albert Maysles: The Poetic Eye

2006

Film credits

2000s · 3 titles

Behind the camera

Gimme Shelter poster
7.4

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Gimme Shelter

1970

Grey Gardens poster
7.3

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Grey Gardens

1976

Grey Gardens poster
7.3

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Grey Gardens

1976

With Love from Truman poster
6.6

At his Long Island beach house, and on the occasion of the publication of his masterful nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, reporter Karen Dennison interviews celebrated writer Truman Capote, who displays his exuberant personality, makes witty jokes, shares his thoughts on writing, reflects on various aspects of the book and, in a sweet and endearing voice, reads and explains some of its highlights.

With Love from Truman

1966

With Love from Truman poster
6.6

At his Long Island beach house, and on the occasion of the publication of his masterful nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, reporter Karen Dennison interviews celebrated writer Truman Capote, who displays his exuberant personality, makes witty jokes, shares his thoughts on writing, reflects on various aspects of the book and, in a sweet and endearing voice, reads and explains some of its highlights.

With Love from Truman

1966

Salesman poster
7.2

This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.

Salesman

1969

Salesman poster
7.2

This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.

Salesman

1969

Ozawa poster
8.5

This intimate portrait of the legendary conductor Seiji Ozawa focuses on the Japanese master and teacher's career, his advocacy of modern composers and the behind-the-scenes world of the symphony orchestra.

Ozawa

1985

Cut Piece poster
6.5

Filmed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cut Piece documents one of Yoko Ono’s most powerful conceptual pieces. Performed by the artist herself, Ono sits motionless on the stage after inviting the audience to come up and cut away her clothing in a denouement of the reciprocity between victim and assailant.

Cut Piece

1965

Cut Piece poster
6.5

Filmed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cut Piece documents one of Yoko Ono’s most powerful conceptual pieces. Performed by the artist herself, Ono sits motionless on the stage after inviting the audience to come up and cut away her clothing in a denouement of the reciprocity between victim and assailant.

Cut Piece

1965

Christo's Valley Curtain poster
6.9

This Oscar-nominated documentary follows Christo and Jeanne-Claude as they conceive and execute Valley Curtain, an immense orange fabric installation stretched across a Colorado mountain pass. Filmed in a direct-cinema style, "Christo’s Valley Curtain" observes the negotiations, engineering challenges, and collective labor that shape the artwork, revealing the process itself as an essential part of the final creation.

Christo's Valley Curtain

1974

Salvador Dalí's Fantastic Dream poster
NR

Produced by 20th Century Fox, this Maysles Brothers short was intended to help promote the release of Disney's Fantastic Voyage (1966) for which Salvador Dali was artistic consultant. Shot in and around New York, the film features a cameo by a bikini clad Raquel Welch, star of Fantastic Voyage and Dali's muse for a series of portraits of Hollywood starlets.

Salvador Dalí's Fantastic Dream

1966

Horowitz: The Last Romantic poster
NR

A stimulating study which features concert footage and interviews with the master pianist. Includes many of his favorite pieces.

Horowitz: The Last Romantic

1985

The Gates poster
6.1

A documentary on New York City’s biggest public art project ever, an installation called “The Gates” by Christo and Jeanne Claude.

The Gates

2008

What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA poster
7.5

New York, USA, February 1964. Five grueling days in the life of George, John, Paul and Ringo, the Fab Four, The Beatles: the hysterical fan reception at JFK airport; several press conferences; in their rooms at the Plaza Hotel; in the backstage at the Ed Sullivan Show; hanging out with the legendary DJ Murray the K; and the frantic return home.

What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA

1964

Meet Marlon Brando poster
7.0

Filmed during a studio-organized press junket, "Meet Marlon Brando" observes Marlon Brando as he fields a succession of television interviews meant to promote Morituri. Rather than comply, Brando deflects questions with irony, flirtation, and philosophical detours, subtly undermining the promotional ritual itself. Shot in direct-cinema style by Albert Maysles and David Maysles, the film becomes a candid study of celebrity, media performance, and resistance to commodification.

Meet Marlon Brando

1966

The Beales of Grey Gardens poster
7.3

Mother and daughter - Big Edie and Little Edie Beale - live with six cats in a crumbling house in East Hampton. Little Edie, in her 50s, who wears scarves and bright colors, sings, mugs for the camera, and talks to Al and David Maysles, the filmmakers. Big Edie, in her 70s, recites poetry, comments on her daughter's behavior, and sings "If I Loved You" in fine voice. She talks in short sentences; her daughter in volumes. The film is episodic: friends visit, there's a small fire in the house, Little Edie goes to the shore and swims. She talks about the Catholic Church. She's ashamed that local authorities raided the house because of all the cats. She values being different.

The Beales of Grey Gardens

2006

Islands poster
7.0

The Maysles' third film about the artists sees them trying to get three projects off the ground: wrapping the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris; wrapping the Reichstag; and surrounding eleven man-made islands in Florida with pink plastic sheets. As the latter is the only one that gets approval, it gets the bulk of this film.

Islands

1987

Running Fence poster
6.6

Second in the series by the Maysles brothers documenting the monuments/sculptures of Christo, whose art projects are landscape-scaled, and more "pop" performance art designed to question how we relate to art in the public sphere, especially when it's as oblique, non-political (at least, that is what he would claim), and neutral as running a fence through a landscape.

Running Fence

1977

No artwork available
4.0

The life of Anastasia Stevens, an American dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet, at the height of the Cold War. An early work by the Maysles brothers for the NBC television network, produced by acclaimed screenwriter Bo Goldman.

Anastasia

1962

Muhammad and Larry poster
NR

Through the poetic lens of visionary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, Muhammad and Larry explores the unique and poignant relationship between two great boxers and two remarkable men who were more than just competitors. They were once teacher and student, and remain close friends.

Muhammad and Larry

1980

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Beatles in New York poster
NR

The American documentary makers - The Maysles Brothers, were given exclusive access to almost every minute of The Beatles first American visit. The first 3 days of film footage shot in New York was rushed over to Granada Television in London who quickly edited the footage for a TV special called "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Beatles in New York" which was broadcast on February 12, 1964 at 10:25pm. The majority of the footage in this UK special featured their arrival at JFK Airport; Arriving at their hotel room; Fans outside the Plaza Hotel; footage from inside their hotel room with Murray The K; Murray The K interviewing them on the phone from WINS radio station; Walking through Central Park for a photo session; Limo ride to CBC TV Studios; Ringo & Murray The K dancing at the Peppermint Lounge.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Beatles in New York

1964

Orson Welles in Spain poster
5.0

Orson Welles presents a proposed film project to prospective investors in Spain. Speaking to an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles outlines his vision for an improvised, documentary-style fiction set in the world of bullfighting, centered on a solitary, existential matador who stands apart from his peers. As he expounds on cinema, performance, and the ritualized spectacle of death, the film captures a project that would ultimately remain unrealized.

Orson Welles in Spain

1966

Orson Welles in Spain poster
5.0

Orson Welles presents a proposed film project to prospective investors in Spain. Speaking to an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles outlines his vision for an improvised, documentary-style fiction set in the world of bullfighting, centered on a solitary, existential matador who stands apart from his peers. As he expounds on cinema, performance, and the ritualized spectacle of death, the film captures a project that would ultimately remain unrealized.

Orson Welles in Spain

1966

The Burks of Georgia poster
NR

The Maysles profile a poor white Georgian family struggling to survive with the realities of thirteen children.

The Burks of Georgia

1976

No artwork available
NR

Told in the Maysles’ intimatible style, IBM: A SELF PORTRAIT captures the future corporate juggernaut at an early stage of their development. The emphasis here is on the human ingenuity behind the technology industry-- the colorful technicians and executives working together to create a future design for living.

IBM: A Self Portrait

1964

Showman poster
6.7

Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter) directed this 53-minute documentary about movie tycoon Joseph E. Levine (1963).

Showman

1963

No artwork available
NR

A 1968 documentary made under the aegis of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, chronicling the early stages of the 114th Street Rehabilitation Project in Harlem.

Experiment on 114th Street

1968

Christo in Paris poster
7.2

Documentary about conceptual artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude's attempt to "wrap" the Pont-Neuf in Paris.

Christo in Paris

1990

No artwork available
8.0

This color documentary chronicles the musical concert on Mount Scopus in Israel a mere three weeks after the Six Day War. Leonard Bernstein and Isaac Stern join the Yoi Yisrael Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Tel Aviv Philharmonic Choir for stirring classical renditions by Mahler and Mendelssohn. The concert was recorded by Columbia records for release at a later date and accurately captured the live music in all its classic splendor. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sits proudly in the front row as the symphonies play to a capacity crowd. Scenes of the war, the Wailing Wall, schools and hospitals are also included as Bernstein and Stern tour the country and meet the people of Israel.

Journey to Jerusalem

1968