THE DON

THE DON is a docu-drama on the life of the producer of TOP GUN, Don Simpson, which uses narration, clips, and fictional re-enactments via “lost tapes'' to take you behind the scenes into Hollywood’s decade of decadence, the 1980s. Before the era of MeToo, there was Don Simpson the poster boy of toxic masculinity, whose outlandish behavior was not only tolerated but encouraged by the film industry who profited greatly off Don’s movies. Don Simpson was, like the character he named after himself in his movie TOP GUN, a maverick. His signature style of filmmaking created one hit after another— AMERICAN GIGOLO, FLASHDANCE, BEVERLY HILLS COP, TOP GUN- they all came from the mind of Don Simpson. Don loved the movies so much that he created a mythological persona known as “The Don” to match his signature movies— loud, ballsy, cheesy— his movies were full of homo-erotic testoterone-driven race car drivers and navy fighter pilots and stripper/welders who wanted to be ballerinas— these were the movies from Don’s absurd fantasy world— this was the world that Don actually lived in— there was no separation between life and art. And that movie persona that he created— “The Don”— grew more and more outrageous and more extreme— until ultimately… it killed him.

Documentary
Comedy
Film History
1
Episode Six - "Don Flies Too Close to the Sun"
Was Don connected to the vice squad bust on his madame?
29 min
2
Episode Five - "A Tale of Two Simpsons
We learn all about Don’s drug dealer to the stars
26 min
3
Episode Four - The Belle de Jour of Beverly Hills
Pierce learns of Don’s close ties with a Hollywood madame.
28 min
4
Episode Three - "Mobsters and Tennis"
Pierce looks for answers from Don's frenemy, producer Robert Evans
30 min
5
Episode Two - "Don and Allan"
Don’s love of spectacle and the influence of gay culture
28 min
6
Episode One - "Don's Dead"
The LA coroner reports Don has left the most toxic corpse in the history of California autopsy
27 min
7
Introducing: THE DON
1 min