P.M. (film)

P.M. (film). *P.M.* is a 1961 American cinéma vérité documentary short film that captures a night in the life of New York City's waterfront bars and jazz clubs. Directed in an uncredited collaboration between John Cassavetes and Sidney Meyers, and produced by Shirley Clarke, the film became a cause célèbre when it was banned from broadcast by the non-commercial television network National Educational Television (NET). This censorship controversy directly catalyzed the creation of the influential documentary film collective Newsreel and highlighted ongoing debates about artistic freedom and the portrayal of urban life in postwar America.

Plot

The film presents a loosely structured, observational portrait of patrons and musicians in Manhattan's Greenwich Village and Lower East Side neighborhoods after dark. With no narration or traditional storyline, it immerses the viewer in the smoky atmospheres of establishments along the Hudson River piers. The camera documents scenes of jazz performances, intimate conversations, drinking, and dancing, focusing on the working-class and bohemian characters who populated these spaces. This raw, unvarnished look at nightlife eschewed a moralizing or sociological framework, instead aiming for an immediate, experiential record of a specific New York City subculture at the close of the 1950s.

Production

*P.M.* was conceived by John Cassavetes following his work on the groundbreaking independent feature *Shadows*. Cassavetes initiated the project with cinematographers Jackie Raynal and Jerry Sims, shooting extensive footage in a spontaneous, improvisational style aligned with the Direct Cinema movement. When Cassavetes moved on to other projects, the unfinished film was entrusted to documentary editor and director Sidney Meyers, who shaped the raw material into its final form. The film was produced under the auspices of Shirley Clarke's production company and was later edited by L. Jeffrey Selznick, son of famed Hollywood mogul David O. Selznick. The production's ad-hoc nature and collaborative authorship were emblematic of the burgeoning American independent film scene of the era.

Release and reception

Completed in 1961, *P.M.* was slated for broadcast on National Educational Television (NET), a precursor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). NET executives, however, refused to air the film, deeming its depiction of drinking and its generally amoral, non-judgmental tone inappropriate for educational television. This act of censorship ignited a significant protest within the New York film community. Filmmakers including Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, and Lionel Rogosin organized public screenings and vehement critiques in publications like The Village Voice. The controversy was extensively covered by *The New York Times* and became a flashpoint in discussions about First Amendment rights and institutional control over artistic expression. The film subsequently had a limited theatrical run and was shown at venues like the Bleecker Street Cinema.

Legacy

The banning of *P.M.* proved to be a pivotal moment in American documentary history. In direct response to the incident, a coalition of filmmakers and activists, led by Robert Kramer and Norman Fruchter, founded the Newsreel collective in 1967. This group dedicated itself to producing and distributing politically radical films free from commercial or institutional restraint, significantly influencing New Left media activism. *P.M.* is now recognized as an important early example of American cinéma vérité, a precursor to the personal documentary style of the 1960s, and a key artifact in the history of broadcast censorship. The film is preserved in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and is studied for its formal innovations and its role in catalyzing alternative media networks.

Category:1961 films Category:American documentary films Category:1960s documentary films