Who Is Alan Smithee?

This documentary on the elusive director Alan Smithee was first shown on the American Movie Classics (AMC) cable channel. We lean where the name came from and why the Directors Guild of America (DG) first allowed his name to be used on 'Richard Widmark (qv)'s western Death of a Gunfighter (1969). The film follows the numerous problems that director Tony Kaye had during the production and post-production of the film _American History X (1998) _ and why the DGA refused to allow Alan Smithee to be credited for that film.