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| Poster for a previous screening of MOVIE ORGY |
I saw and survived Joe Dante’s Movie orgy last Sunday. A five hour abridgement of what was a seven hour marathon the film is a unique experience that is not to be missed.
Before the screening Dante came out and said that the film was the result of the marathon serial screenings happening in the 1960’s where theaters would run the complete serials and people would watch them all night. Orgy was an answer to that. Cutting together several films (The Giant Claw, College Confidential, Beginning of the End among others) with serials, TV shows, bloopers, commercials, and educational and industrial films, Dante made a giant movie where plot lines come and go and there are resonances in unexpected places. Imagine channel surfing in the Twilight Zone (yea its in there too).
The film was originally all 16 MM but it’s now on three digital video cassettes. Dante used to schlep the film around the country and show it at various colleges. After the success of the screenings in NYC (which have to be free because the film is copyright nightmare) Schlitz Beer sent the film around the country to play campuses as a promotional tour. (An audience member Sunday who saw the film in 1970 said there was so much free beer people were getting sick all over the place) The film faded from view and then in the 1990’s Dante revisited it and he chopped it down from 7 to 5 hours (the guy who had seen it in 1970 said there was more clips from The Giant Claw and small bits that were removed. He also said that the film was probably so damaged in spots the clips had to go). He had it transferred to digital and has had some screenings here and there- and its getting a reputation as an in thing. Screenings at Quentin Tarantino’s theater had to be extended because of demand.
Designed to be walked in and out of, and to be seen with popcorn and beverages of choice Dante said a recent screening at MOMA was the wrong place to do it because you couldn’t have neither drinks nor food. It’s also much too stayed. The screening Sunday was full of laughter, knowing comments and talk backs. The crown was into it and other than the need to for one woman to be shushed because the odd comment had become a running commentary with annotations of the clips it was a perfect crowd to see it with. The repeated line “Hey man don’t crowd me” brought louder and louder cheers as the film went on
Interestingly while Dante said we were supposed to get up and go out- almost no one did. Most people stayed seated from start to finish- which caused a rush for the bathroom when it ended.
How was it? In its way awesome. I can’t explain what it’s like except to say imagine channel surfing through 1960’s TV with someone who cleverly switched between things. While the clips were long to start they got shorter as it went on and the clips began to meld together. It felt like Dante knew later on how it should go together.
I loved it but unless and until you see it I can’t explain it. Its such a unique sort of thing that what it is and how you react to it will depend on who you are and when you were born. Where I could identify great chunks of it, I know that some bits like clips from Abbott and Costello (Bagel Street) had some younger people wondering who the comedy team was.
The film left me wanting to start it over. I would love to curl up in bed and let it play all night- it’s like old school late night TV in a blender.
It was so good that I started pondering if I could put something similar together…and I realized I could but the amount of time would be huge…I’ll just wait and see Dante’s Orgy again
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I am heartbroken by the passing of Kenny Baker. The man who was R2-D2 and a Time Bandit was presence that was always around in my life since 1977 simply because the films he made were everywhere. Like most of the Star Wars originals he was family.
He will be missed.
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Randi's was doing some investigation into to some VR and as sending me lots of cool VR and 360 degree videos.
Studio Ghibli VR demos
Edge of Space
School of Rock
Rocket Launch 360 (Randi said after seeing it on a VR headset :Had to grab onto a chair to steady myself and take meds to stop my heart from racing.)
STAR WARS Theme in 360
360 Tubular Bells
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And now Randi's regular links
The 1986 Prince's Trust Concert Rehearsal (Elton John, Paul McCartney, Dire Straits...)
Ice Cream truck jingles
Iran's desert Glacier
The original LILO AND STITCH was going to be darker
Watchmen or the moment comics grew up
A Cat named Pig
Dario Argento says the SUSPERIA remake shouldn't happen
Hidden meanings in the Garden of Earthly Delights
Ragtime at Ellis Island
Combat Juggling
4DX movie theaters
The hum that is driving people insane
Final Fantasy XV art on display
The last gas lit cinema in England
Statistics in News Stories
Abandon Olympic Venues
Abel Ferrara and Gaspar Noe
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