Crumb (film)

Crumb is a 1994 documentary film about the noted underground cartoonist Robert Crumb R. Crumb and his family. Directed by Terry Zwigoff and produced by Lynn ODonnell, it won widespread acclaim. It was released in the USA on April 28, 1995, having been screened at film festivals the previous year. Jeffery M. Anderson later critic for the San Francisco Examiner placed the film on his list of the ten greatest films of all time, labeling it the greatest documentary ever made.

Robert Crumb initially did not want to make the film, but eventually agreed. There was a rumor, accidentally created by Roger Ebert, that Terry Zwigoff made Crumb cooperate by threatening to shoot himself. Ebert has clarified this in the commentary of the films recent Criterion Collection rerelease. Ebert notes that it may be true that Zwigoffs life was saved because he did make the film. During the nine years that it took to make the documentary Zwigoff said he was averaging an income of about 200 a month and living with back pain so intense that I spent three years with a loaded gun on the pillow next to my bed, trying to get up the nerve to kill myself. ........

Source: Wikipedia