Directed by Alan Smithee Movie Review

This short, 50-minute documentary purports to trace the rise and fall of directorial alias "Alan Smithee," but really it focuses on a few big Hollywood PR fiascos, namely the fallout over the editing of American History X. Director Tony Kaye tried to take his name off the movie but was rebuffed. In the end, the film bore his name, and the exposure revealed the long-used Alan Smithee as a fraud.

In case you hadn't heard about Alan Smithee, oh, in the early 1980s or so.

Much of this movie restates the obvious, but Kaye's reminiscences are mildly intriguing. He's obviously overflowing, he's so full of himself, but he's a little bit humble that X turned out to be a decent movie.

As for the rest of the film, well, there's not much of it to get worked up about. It's a pleasant diversion for the unitiated, but long-time film enthusiasts won't likely find much mystery here they didn't already know the answers to.

Aka Who Is Alan Smithee?