David Bowie :: Cracked Actor (BBC Documentary 1975)

Cracked Actor, the BBC produced Bowie documentary focusing on the changeling’s time spent in LA post-Ziggy/pre-Station To Station, is a raw—at times unsettling—look into the artist’s life and career during the mid ’70s. A period often mythologized as a sort of hedonistic manifest destiny gone purgatorial limbo, the always svelte Bowie is positively skeletal here—a physical deterioration that when coupled with some of the film’s archival interviews goes a long way to show just how precipitous Bowie’s stay in Los Angeles really was. In short, Cracked is a candid, essential, watch for Bowie completests, especially for those interested in this period of his career.
Originally broadcast by the BBC in 1975, the documentary has been available on DVD (via dubious gray market bootlegs) and is widely circulated online.