In the months leading up to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago an Academy Award Winning Cinematographer named Haskell Wexler was given the opportunity to direct his own feature film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. Originally the film was going to be based off a book called The Concrete Wilderness, but Wexler, being a rational filmmaker, thought the book sucked and decided to make his own movie. He changed the name of the movie to Medium Cool and centered it around a news cameraman in Chicago in the Summer of 1968 (the Democratic Convention took place in August). Wexler anticipated a confrontation between protestors and 'the man' at the convention, so the original screenplay incorporated demonstrations in response to the Democratic presidential nomination. Although, no one had expected the ensuing violence in Chicago that August. What resulted is a fictional film taking place in a very real and violent historical context.

Basically, it was one of the most badass directorial calls of all time. Wexler, himself, and other crew members were tear-gassed during the filming, leaving them incapacitated for days. Unfortunately the film was a commercial disaster, although critically acclaimed, and now it is next to impossible to find (Kim's said they had a copy, but when I showed up they couldn't find it...fags).

There's a really interesting website that has a whole bunch of information about the filming of the movie including interviews with Wexler and other crew members. In my opinion, the interview responses are a little over dramatic, but still worth watching.