Everyone wants to be an insider. A veritable cottage industry has sprung up in recent years devoted to taking us "behind the scenes" on movie sets. One of the best films of this type is FULL TILT BOOGIE. In 1997, 26 year old aspiring film-maker Sarah Kelly talked Quentin Tarentino into letting her take a camera crew onto the set to chronicle the making of his gangsters vs. vampires horror epic "From Dusk Until Dawn". Viewers expecting a DVD-style "how'd they do that" featurette obsessed with special effects will be disappointed. But if an insightful and entertaining look at the creative process of film-making, and the people who make it happen, sounds good to you and/or you're considering a career in the industry, this movie is highly recommended. There is plenty of footage of the stars at work and at play but we also get to meet the unsung heroes behind the camera: the production designer, the art director, the craft services guy, the personal assistants, the grips, the drivers. This is Kelly's first directing attempt. Previously she had worked as a production assistant on "Pulp Fiction". Because she is not a slick, seasoned filmmaker, the cast and crew relax and let down their guard. At its best, "Full Tilt Boogie" plays like a candid and engaging "home movie" of day to day life on the chaotic set of a "no frills" independent film. There are the long hours ("we started the day at five in the morning, now it's ten-thirty at night and I'm still working on my computer on time codes"), the bad food ("for lunch all I got was a piece of chicken and two pieces of bread and a melted brownie"), the on set accidents (the saloon set almost burns to the ground after a pyrotechnics shot flares out of control) and the threat of a strike (producer Lawrence Bender has hired non-union crew members, thus incurring the wrath of the powerful IATSE union). Mother Nature also gets in the act. A sandstorm shuts down production; there is a rain delay and the daily challenges of location shooting in 122 degree California desert heat. No wonder people have to blow off steam in the nearby town of Barstow. Kelly's camera catches Juliette Lewis singing karaoke, a local girl flirts with George Clooney and Quentin and his posse warble Merle Haggard tunes by the motel pool (until other guests complain about the noise). In one scene Kelly encourages the crew to dish about on set romances. "I could sleep with any woman on this set," Quentin boasts. He's kidding. (I think.) When various crew members are asked why they chose the film biz, the responses range from prosaic ("for the money") to poetic. "That moment, that 1/1000th of a second as the shutter clicks, it's immortalized on film, " says one youthful crew worker dreamily. "I get a real rush out of that. It's documenting history, history that doesn't exist, we're making it up and it comes to life and I love it." 'Nuff said.

I really wasn't too interested in watching this one, thinking it would be another typical 'Making of…', with the only exception that it had feature-length. There were just two reasons I decided to give it a try. The first one is me being a bit of a Tarantino/Rodriguez fan who felt that From Dusk till Dawn was a brilliant picture. The second one was, that it was on TV and it didn't cost money and I could just turn it off when it became annoying without feeling scr..ed because I payed money to watch it.In the end I was pleasantly surprised, because this was nothing like a 'Making of…' in which everybody is like: 'I loved working with…' and 'The story was just so great!' & '…is the best director I've ever worked with.'! I actually despise any 'Making of...' for being like that, because it is just propaganda to get people to see the film. Full tilt boogie on the other hand gives people a behind the scenes look at what various employees do on a film set and what can (and will) go wrong whilst making a picture, which is what made the film watchable. But it isn't without flaws. Despite being pretty interesting, I felt that I could have used a bit more background info about the whole 'union-thing', so I could understand it all. I guess if you're into Tarantino/Rodriguez, or if you want to know what it's like to work on a movie set and are interested in the basic 'who-does-what', this film is for you. Otherwise you haven't missed a thing.6,5 out of 10 (with a 6 given upon voting, since this is basically for 'freaks' and fans only)

This is one of the best behind-the-scenes documentaries I've ever seen, but it's long and pretty slow, unfortunately. This has just about every single part of the behind-the-scenes process, and just about every single crew-member that there was on From Dusk Till Dawn. It has a little of the actors involved as well, but it concentrates more on showing the people behind the film, rather than the ones that you actually see in the film itself. It has plenty of clips of crew-members explaining what they do and why they like their job, and many shots of them working or enjoying their spare time. It's more "behind" the scenes than any other behind-the-scenes documentary that I've ever seen, that's for sure. I thought it was pretty interesting to see so much of what went on between takes and behind the camera, for once. I just thought too much of this was dull and less interesting than it could have been. I would have liked more talking about the actual movie, and more of Rodriguez and Tarantino explaining their vision of the film, instead of various crew-members joking around. All in all, a decent behind-the-scenes documentary, but too long and uninteresting. Not worth getting the collectors edition of From Dusk Till Dawn for, but if you can watch it for free, do so... once. I recommend any big fan of From Dusk Till Dawn to get the collectors edition, though. It features plenty of stuff that fans of the film and/or fans of Tarantino and/or Rodriguez will enjoy. Overall, Full Tilt Boogie rating: 5/10. From Dusk Till Dawn collectors edition DVD rating: 7/10. 5/10

I came across this documentary when I rented the DVD at Blockbuster. At first, I thought this would be another one of those HBO Special BS that companies usually slap on their DVDs, but from the beginning when Clooney and Tarantino were walking about the set along to the BeeGees, I was hooked. This wasn't the polished crap that I was used to, this was a full-out documentary that explored every aspect of film making. Instead of just interviewing the actors and the director, FTB interviewed the ADs, the grips, the runners, catering, the assistants, and many, many electricians. Instead of exploring about what went right in the movies, this explored what went wrong, and how the filmmakers fixed these problems. The budget problems, issues with the set design, "union troubles," all of it was there. This was the real stuff. Sure it might be a lil' long, but it was refreshing to see what REALLY goes on behind the scenes.