Bob Rafelson

Directing

Bob Rafelson

Born — Died

1933-02-21 — 2022-07-23

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

51 titles

Robert "Bob" Rafelson (February 21, 1933-July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer and producer. He was most famous for directing and co-writing the film Five Easy Pieces, starring Jack Nicholson, as well as being one of the creators of the pop group and TV series, The Monkees (with Raybert/BBS Productions partner Bert Schneider). Rafelson was born in New York City, the son of a hat manufacturer. His uncle was screenwriter and playwright Samson Raphaelson. Rafelson and Nicholson have been collaborators for over thirty years. Nicholson and Rafelson wrote and produced and Rafelson directed Head, starring the Monkees, in 1968, followed by Five Easy Pieces. In subsequent years, Rafe…

Known for

No artwork available
5.1

The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.

Film '72

1971

The Monkees poster
6.5

Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling country-folk-rock band looking for their big break amid madcap encounters with a variety of people straight out of TV and movie central casting, with full knowledge that their existence is part of a weekly television series.

The Monkees

1966

Leaving Las Vegas poster
7.2

Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.

Leaving Las Vegas

1995

The Last Picture Show poster
7.6

High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

The Last Picture Show

1971

Black Widow poster
6.2

Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.

Black Widow

1987

Mountains of the Moon poster
6.6

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire.

Mountains of the Moon

1990

Film credits

2010s · 5 titles

2000s · 3 titles

1990s · 5 titles

Leaving Las Vegas poster
7.2

Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.

Leaving Las Vegas

1995

Who Is Henry Jaglom? poster
6.8

Hailed by some as a cinematic genius, a feminist voice and a true maverick of American cinema, dismissed by others as a voyeuristic fraud and the "world's worst director," Henry Jaglom obsessively confuses and abuses the line between life and art. Featuring scores of interviews (including Orson Welles, Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman and Peter Bogdanovich) and rare behind-the-scenes footage, this hilarious documentary explores the fascinating question of Who Is Henry Jaglom?

Who Is Henry Jaglom?

1997

Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees poster
8.4

Documentary focusing The Monkees, the 1960s pop group originally created for a TV sitcom. Interviews with the band members, the show's creators, and musical collaborators and peers are featured.

Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees

1997

Wet poster
4.7

The attractive Davida enters a shop shortly before off-time and wants to buy a bathtub. Just the manager is still there. As business is not well, he is willing to stay longer. Davida wants to try the bathtubs. Although this is not allowed in the shop the manager agrees. As if that is not enough, Davida says she wants the bathtub for two and needs to be sure it fits her needs. She wants the manager to take place in the bathtub too.

Wet

1994

Tales of Erotica poster
3.9

Four erotic short films, all with similar unexpected endings: 'The Dutch Master': a woman who enters a living painting; 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch': a woman is lured by noises from a chamber; 'Vroom Vroom Vroooom': a motorcycle transforms into a woman; and 'Wet': a hot tub salesman seduced by a woman.

Tales of Erotica

1996

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Last Picture Show poster
7.6

High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

The Last Picture Show

1971

Black Widow poster
6.2

Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.

Black Widow

1987

Mountains of the Moon poster
6.6

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire.

Mountains of the Moon

1990

Mountains of the Moon poster
6.6

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire.

Mountains of the Moon

1990

No Good Deed poster
5.4

While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.

No Good Deed

2002

The Mother and the Whore poster
7.3

Aimless young Alexandre juggles his relationships with his girlfriend, Marie, and a casual lover named Veronika. Marie becomes increasingly jealous of Alexandre's fling with Veronika and as the trio continues their unsustainable affair, the emotional stakes get higher, leading to conflict and unhappiness.

The Mother and the Whore

1973

Stay Hungry poster
5.6

A dishonest businessman asks rich layabout Craig Blake to help him buy a gym, which will be demolished for a development project in Alabama. But after spending time with weightlifter Joe Santo and gym worker Mary Tate Farnsworth, Craig wants out of the deal. The property negotiations turn ugly, causing a brawl at the gym and a spectacle at a big bodybuilding meet, as Craig learns that it's not easy to turn your back on fair-weather friends.

Stay Hungry

1976

Stay Hungry poster
5.6

A dishonest businessman asks rich layabout Craig Blake to help him buy a gym, which will be demolished for a development project in Alabama. But after spending time with weightlifter Joe Santo and gym worker Mary Tate Farnsworth, Craig wants out of the deal. The property negotiations turn ugly, causing a brawl at the gym and a spectacle at a big bodybuilding meet, as Craig learns that it's not easy to turn your back on fair-weather friends.

Stay Hungry

1976

Stay Hungry poster
5.6

A dishonest businessman asks rich layabout Craig Blake to help him buy a gym, which will be demolished for a development project in Alabama. But after spending time with weightlifter Joe Santo and gym worker Mary Tate Farnsworth, Craig wants out of the deal. The property negotiations turn ugly, causing a brawl at the gym and a spectacle at a big bodybuilding meet, as Craig learns that it's not easy to turn your back on fair-weather friends.

Stay Hungry

1976

The Postman Always Rings Twice poster
6.5

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1981

The Postman Always Rings Twice poster
6.5

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1981

Five Easy Pieces poster
7.1

Robert Dupea spends his days doing various odd jobs, drinking and womanizing until an encounter with his sister makes him revisit his past.

Five Easy Pieces

1970

Five Easy Pieces poster
7.1

Robert Dupea spends his days doing various odd jobs, drinking and womanizing until an encounter with his sister makes him revisit his past.

Five Easy Pieces

1970

Head poster
6.2

In this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing humor and anti-establishment social commentary.

Head

1968

Head poster
6.2

In this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing humor and anti-establishment social commentary.

Head

1968

Head poster
6.2

In this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing humor and anti-establishment social commentary.

Head

1968

Blood and Wine poster
5.7

A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.

Blood and Wine

1996

Man Trouble poster
4.9

A sleazy but affable guard dog trainer is blackmailed to steal a manuscript for a tell-all book from one of his clients.

Man Trouble

1992

Poodle Springs poster
5.5

Private eye Philip Marlowe and his bride move to a desert town, where he uncovers a land scheme.

Poodle Springs

1998

The King of Marvin Gardens poster
5.9

Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.

The King of Marvin Gardens

1972

The King of Marvin Gardens poster
5.9

Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.

The King of Marvin Gardens

1972

The King of Marvin Gardens poster
5.9

Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.

The King of Marvin Gardens

1972

Wet poster
4.7

The attractive Davida enters a shop shortly before off-time and wants to buy a bathtub. Just the manager is still there. As business is not well, he is willing to stay longer. Davida wants to try the bathtubs. Although this is not allowed in the shop the manager agrees. As if that is not enough, Davida says she wants the bathtub for two and needs to be sure it fits her needs. She wants the manager to take place in the bathtub too.

Wet

1994

Tales of Erotica poster
3.9

Four erotic short films, all with similar unexpected endings: 'The Dutch Master': a woman who enters a living painting; 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch': a woman is lured by noises from a chamber; 'Vroom Vroom Vroooom': a motorcycle transforms into a woman; and 'Wet': a hot tub salesman seduced by a woman.

Tales of Erotica

1996

Tales of Erotica poster
3.9

Four erotic short films, all with similar unexpected endings: 'The Dutch Master': a woman who enters a living painting; 'The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch': a woman is lured by noises from a chamber; 'Vroom Vroom Vroooom': a motorcycle transforms into a woman; and 'Wet': a hot tub salesman seduced by a woman.

Tales of Erotica

1996

Picture Windows: Armed Response poster
10.0

Part of the anthology series "Picture Windows," Bob Rafelson’s "Armed Response" draws on David Hockney’s Pool with Two Figures to tell the story of a wealthy lawyer whose American Dream shatters when his children plot his murder, forcing hidden family secrets to the surface.

Picture Windows: Armed Response

1995

Modesty poster
9.0

Bob Rafelson: Self-portrait

Modesty

1981

Porn.com poster
4.4

Veteran film director Matty Bonkers, a Hollywood legend, arrives in Berlin for an honorary retrospective tribute. While introducing his film Mockery, he receives a phone call from his producer lying in intensive care at a hospital. Blau needs a favor for old times' sake. Could Matty finish a porn movie before his legs get broken by Tokyo Tony? Matty reluctantly agrees. On the set he meets movie star and ex-cello-player Inga - and the experience is bizarre spirited uplifting a comédie humaine.

Porn.com

2002