Director 'Nicholas Ray' is eager to complete a final film before his imminent death from cancer. Wim Wenders is working on his own film Hammett (1983) in Hollywood, but flies to New York to help Ray realize his final wish. Ray's original intent is to make a fiction film about a dying painter who sails to China to find a cure for his disease. He and Wenders discuss this idea, but it is obviously unrealistic given Ray's state of health.
A wonderful making of featurette that focuses on the controversial novel that inspired the film Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) as well the production history of the film. German director Uli Edel and members of his technical crew also discuss some of the obstacles that had to be overcome while shooting on location in Brooklyn. The real characters that are portrayed in the film are also interviewed.
