It's hard to see a definitive stylistic pattern in the varied oeuvre of director/writer Rick King, the man who--you may not realize--came up with the story idea for "Point Break," the greatest movie ever made about surfing bank robbers and the FBI agents who love them. King's origins as a filmmaker are as far removed …
Continue reading Without Him, There’d Be No “Point Break”: The Diverse Work of Filmmaker Rick King
At the onset, "FightFuckPray" announces that all the dialogue in the film was entirely improvised. That could be, but the three stories (titled "Fight," "Fuck" and "Pray") that eventually intersect must have at least been outlined and analyzed by the actors, a set of young amateurs from the Atlanta area who give impressively intense performances. …
As noted in my interview a few months ago with Paul Morrissey, the 74 year-old director hates any cinematic style that purports to be "underground," even though his self-financed, bare-bones films (especially the ones he made during his term at the Warhol Factory) often play out that way. He misses the "classic" Hollywood studio dramas …
While I will soon be posting (after agonizing delay) on the harder-to-find films directed by Paul Morrissey, it would be negligent not to first address a conundrum that a museum's worth of researchers, hundreds of well-detailed books and even direct witnesses have failed to answer effectively. Was it Paul Morrissey or Andy Warhol that "directed" …
Continue reading A Word on the Paul Morrissey vs. Andy Warhol Debate
Those who like their group sex comedies on the neurotic side (with more stewing than screwing) might want to check out "Charlie's Party," the small 2005 comedy directed by Catherine Cahn and produced by "The Station Agent" producer Barry Sisson. Think of it as a "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" for uptight East …
"Pass the Ammo," the 1988 comedy spoofing greedy televangelists, was certainly a victim of bad timing, on many counts. Shot in early 1987 in the overwhelmingly Christian community of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the film, directed by David Beaird, initially sparked the controversy Beaird was hoping for. According to Beaird's account of the shoot in a …
Hello all, First off, thanks to everyone who read, enjoyed and posted comments on my Paul Morrissey interview. The first bit of exciting news is that this interview was re-printed in Bright Lights Film Journal last month. Paul Morrissey himself found my blog and asked if there was a newspaper version of it that he …
"Americathon" is woefully unfunny given the immense talent involved. George Carlin narrates; able comedian John Ritter stars; Fred Willard (later a regular in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries) and Harvey Korman (of "Carol Burnett Show" and "Blazing Saddles" fame) appear in principal roles; and even Elvis Costello turns up for a stellar rock performance. Yet oddly enough, …
Director William Sachs is perhaps best known for "Galaxina," the deliberately schlocky, Mel Brooks-esque spoof of "Star Wars" and other sci-fi epics. Released in 1980, the film featured Dorothy Stratten--the 20 year-old Playboy centerfold murdered the same year by her husband--in her most prominent film role, as a sexy, mostly mute robot that wows a …
Continue reading The Hollywood Fixer: “Galaxina” Director William Sachs
Paul Morrissey hates so-called "independent" cinema. He hates being lumped into that genre, even though he could be seen as a pioneer of the current small-scale indie film format. In 1965, at age 27, the budding filmmaker began collaborating with Andy Warhol on film projects; by 1967, the films released by the Warhol Factory bore …
Hidden Films 