Terry Gross

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews a few of the current crop of summer movies - "Great Balls of Fire," "Lethal Weapon II," and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

Pennebaker, who died Aug. 1, pioneered a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking in documentaries like Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back and The War Room. Originally broadcast in 1989.

Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker. One of America's foremost documentary producers, Pennebaker has brought his cinéma verité approach to subjects ranging from Castro's Cuba, to Jimmy Carter's energy policy, to Bob Dylan's first tour of Britain. Music has been the source of much of Pennebaker's work. His films have featured the likes of Pablo Cassals, Van Cliburn, jazz singer Dave Lambert, rocker David Bowie, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Director and actor Paul Bartel. Bartel's acting credits include roles in "Fame" and "L.A. Law," but he's best known for his direction of several black comedies, such as "Eating Raoul," which he also co-wrote and acted in. Bartel's new film, "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills," has just been released. It stars Ed Begley Jr. and Jacqueline Bisset.

A live concert with New Orleans songwriter, pianist and singer Allen Toussaint. Toussaint has performed extensively as a session pianist and producer and has written dozens of hits for New Orleans groups like The Nevilles, Irma Thomas, for Paul McCartney, The Wild Tchoupitoulas and The Meters. (Rebroadcast. Originally broadcast on Friday, May 27, 1988.)

Country singer and songwriter Lyle Lovett. His new album, his third, is titled "Lyle Lovett and his Large Band." He's one of a new generation of country singers whose music has been embraced by traditional country and western fans. Yet his music owes as much to jazz and rock. (Rebroadcast. Originally broadcast on Tuesday, March 21, 1989.)

The New York Times correspondent's new book is called From Beirut to Jerusalem, about Arab-Israeli conflicts in the Middle East. He joins Fresh Air to discuss how cultivating a network of contacts, coming to terms with the frequent violence he witnessed in Lebanon, and how those experience affected his reporting in Israel.

Many contemporary musicians cite Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young as among the prime innovators of jazz sax saxophone. But historian Loren Schoenberg says we shouldn't overlook the soulful contributions of Herschel Evans, who played with Count Basie's band.

The director lives in San Francisco, far from the filmmaking hub of Los Angeles. Takahashi's isolation has allowed him to develop a unique directorial style. He join Fresh Air to discuss how he best takes advantage of the creative freedom given to him when making a commercial or logo.

Writer Ian Frazier is known primarily as a humor writer for The New Yorker magazine. His new book, Great Plains, is describes a history of the region through Frazier's own trips driving 25,000 miles in a criss-cross of the area, and hours of research in the New York's Public Library.