Robert N. Zagone

Robert N. Zagone is an independent filmmaker and television director who is best known for his independent feature films Read You Like a Book (starring Karen Black, Tony Amendola and Danny Glover) and The Stand-In (starring Danny Glover). He is also well known for the iconic guerilla-style documentary Drugs in the Tenderloin, as well as many film recordings of the musical culture of San Francisco, including Go Ride the Music, featuring Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service; A Night at the Family Dog, featuring the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Jefferson Airplane; Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin; and the infamous Bob Dylan Press Conference. Zagone was one of the first filmmakers to cover the cultural explosion of the 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zagone is the recipient of three Emmys from the San Francisco chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America. Zagone is also the author of a memoir about his directing career, entitled Attack the Cameras! Musings of an Independent Film and TV Director, which was self-published in 2023. Despite their original distribution format, many of the films and programs Zagone directed can be viewed online, including the Bob Dylan Press Conference, Credence Clearwater Revival's music video for "Sweet Hitchhiker," and The Human Be-In. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert N. Zagone, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list ...

Read You Like a Book (2006)

A magical book transforms all who come into contact with it. Meet Dante, a bookstore manager with a crippling secret; Gina, a customer, who knows everything but love; Zoe, and among others, Dante's former lover who's life is falling apart.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Tony Amendola  •  Barbara Crampton  •  Catalina Larranaga  •  Karen Black

A magical book transforms all who come into contact with it. Meet Dante, a bookstore manager with a crippling secret; Gina, a customer, who knows everything but love; Zoe, and among others, Dante's former lover who's life is falling apart.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Tony Amendola  •  Barbara Crampton  •  Catalina Larranaga  •  Karen Black

Oscar Micheaux, Film Pioneer (1981)

Oscar Micheaux, Film Pioneer is one of seven films in the "Were You There" series produced by Carol Lawrence (the others include The Black West, The Cotton Club, The Facts of Life, Portrait of Two Artists, Sports Profile, and When the Animals Talked). This film's ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Danny Glover  •  Bee Freeman  •  Lorenzo Tucker

Oscar Micheaux, Film Pioneer is one of seven films in the "Were You There" series produced by Carol Lawrence (the others include The Black West, The Cotton Club, The Facts of Life, Portrait of Two Artists, Sports Profile, and When the Animals Talked). This film's ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Danny Glover  •  Bee Freeman  •  Lorenzo Tucker

Dylan Speaks 1965 (2006)

The legendary press conference in San Fransisco at KQED studios on Dec. 3rd 1965. This was a pivotal year in Bob Dylan's career. In the early part of the year he released "Bringing It All Back Home", the first album that saw him move distinctly away from his folk ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Bob Dylan  •  Ralph J. Gleason  •  Allen Ginsberg  •  Bill Graham

The legendary press conference in San Fransisco at KQED studios on Dec. 3rd 1965. This was a pivotal year in Bob Dylan's career. In the early part of the year he released "Bringing It All Back Home", the first album that saw him move distinctly away from his folk ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Bob Dylan  •  Ralph J. Gleason  •  Allen Ginsberg  •  Bill Graham

Drugs in the Tenderloin (1967)

Drugs in the Tenderloin is a documentary shot guerilla style by Robert Zagone in 1966; It captures the Tenderloin as it transformed into a center for young queers and drug users.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST: 

Drugs in the Tenderloin is a documentary shot guerilla style by Robert Zagone in 1966; It captures the Tenderloin as it transformed into a center for young queers and drug users.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST: 

The Black West (1979)

film by Robert  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
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film by Robert  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
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Youth Drug Ward (1968)

Dr. Wilmer continued his group therapy work in the late 1960's through the University of California at San Francisco, eventually establishing the Youth Drug Ward at the Langely Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute. The Youth drug ward served young hippies from the ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST: 

Dr. Wilmer continued his group therapy work in the late 1960's through the University of California at San Francisco, eventually establishing the Youth Drug Ward at the Langely Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute. The Youth drug ward served young hippies from the ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST: 

The Stand-In (1985)

"The brilliant Danny Glover stars as Apples Finnerty, a low budget film producer whose life is crumbling. Finnerty can't get work, he's been evicted, and his wife is unfaithful. As he drives into the hills, he gets a flat. A "helpful" stranger turns out to be an ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Danny Glover  •  Marc Hayashi  •  Christa Victoria  •  Jane Dornacker

"The brilliant Danny Glover stars as Apples Finnerty, a low budget film producer whose life is crumbling. Finnerty can't get work, he's been evicted, and his wife is unfaithful. As he drives into the hills, he gets a flat. A "helpful" stranger turns out to be an ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Robert N. Zagone
CAST:  Danny Glover  •  Marc Hayashi  •  Christa Victoria  •  Jane Dornacker