There was a big fascination with stuntmen back in the 70s. No doubt this was spurred on by the popularity of Evel Knievel. As a documentary this is probably more interesting to me as a time capsule looking back at a crazy decade where it seemed like anything goes than anything else. Of course your propensity for nostalgia will determine how you rate this since it's not a particularly informative documentary but more of a slice of life for some folks with a unique occupation. AKA STAR SPANGLED BUMMER
In true classic exploitation style this was marketed at the time like it was some nudie-cutie featuring romping nekked natives. In reality what you get is mostly just really dull newsreel footage and a blandly narrated documentary about a Kenyan tribe rising up against British colonial rule. It is mildly interesting in that it's basically the blueprint for what became mondo movies in the next decade.
The highlight for me in this documentary about the history, picking, cultivation and smuggling of marijuana was the scene where a dude just swims from Mexico to a beach in California with two giant plastic bags full of high quality weed. It sure was a lot harder to get the good stuff back in those days. Pretty leisurely-paced(stoned?) film that reminded me of a 70s TV show like IN SEARCH OF... but without bigfoot ever showing up. There is some cool tunes thrown in and a sweet animated bit that looks like it escaped from FRITZ THE CAT or something.
Caught this in a theater as the opening film in an all-day marathon of marijuana-influenced cinema and it certainly worked well in that capacity.
There is another ACAPULCO GOLD that came it 3 years later starring Marjoe Gortner which is not a documentary but deals with the same subject.
Documentary about 70's pro wrestling. Not just women's wrasslin' either, even though Vivian Vachon is the main focus, they do interview a bunch of old time big names from the era. Blackjack Mulligan, Killer Kowalski and a bunch more give their thoughts on the manliest of sports. There's also some footage of Andre The Giant back when he was called Jean "The Giant" Ferre. There's not a lot of footage of pro wrestling from the 70's so if that interests you give this a look. As far as being a very in-depth expose on the pseudo-sport it really isn't. Probably the most entertaining thing is how violently angry the fans, who at this time consisted of a lot of old people, get while booing the bad guys.
Not to be confused with this SASQUATCH film or this one either, this might be the worst of the Bigfoot movies from back in the golden age. It's mostly just nature footage of animals running around and then some reenactments of "spooky" Bigfoot encounters all done in that familiar fake documentary style that many of these films employed. The narration, by obsessed Sasquatch hunter, Ivan Marx, is equally absurd and sleep-inducing. Marx was in one other Bigfoot flick a couple of years later titled IN THE SHADOW OF BIGFOOT. If it's anything like this one, though, I think I can safely skip ever watching it.
I first saw this shockumentary back in the VHS rental days along with all the other FACES OF DEATH, TRACES OF DEATH etc., etc.-type videos and those all kinda blend together in my foggy memory. Just yesterday I got the opportunity to see the Japanese cut of this, which is also sometimes known under the snazzy exploitation title of VIOLENCE USA, and hear the director(Sheldon Renan) give his thoughts on making the film and what it all means to him. While this one does get lumped in with all the other shock videos that came out in the 80s I think it delves a bit deeper and hearkens back more philosophically to the mondo-movies that came out in the 60s and 70s with the main glaring exception that in this case all of the footage is actually real and mostly culled from news sources or security cameras. There is, at least in this Japanese version, a strong anti-gun bias and it all ends in a big hippie love-fest with John Lennon that kinda made me want to shoot my brains out but besides this it's a pretty compelling look at what living in a large multi-racial, easily media-manipulated western country is like when anger(or as in many cases here just insanity and/or stupidity) leads to violent outbursts. I do need to re-watch the USA cut to see all the differences besides some strange feel-good stuff with a dog playing with a Frisbee, footage of the grand canyon and a less grim-sounding Japanese narrator.
If you've been amazed by the antics of the world's smallest secret agent, Weng Weng, in films like FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY and THE IMPOSSIBLE KID, then you owe it to yourself to check out this in-depth search into the true-life story behind this incredible little fellow. While I had been warned that Weng's experiences weren't all happiness and stardom I think the film does a good job of not being bogged down in the negativity and bitterness of his treatment and does a balanced job of showing how Weng should represent overcoming ridiculous odds to make something of yourself(or maybe in this case not to feel too exploited by greedy bastards that prey on the weak!). While most of the film works to shine light on some obscure film history (and Imelda Marcos' insanity!) it all ends on a very sentimental note.
One of the saddest things to me, with no silver-lining, in this whole movie was finding out that a majority of crazy Filipino cinema has been lost to the ages due to shitty storage practices and general lack of interest. In fact it seems that most of Weng's films don't exist anymore which really makes those few that we can see even more cherished(at least by insane-cinema lovers like myself).
Documentary about lucha libre(made by Spanish folks from Spain and not Mexicans from Mexico) that features a collection of interviews with various Mexican pro wrasslers mixed with some high action-spots ranging from the big leagues of south-of-the-border wrestling like CMLL to smaller extreme-type promotions where they stupidly roll around in broken glass for thrills. It gives us the midgets(or minis as they're called), the ladies and even a couple of homosexual grapplers which is something to see. I think you would have to be really into this stuff to enjoy this whole movie and if you're not it might be a little on the long side but I found it to be an ok production even if they try and sell me on the idea that this stuff is all real and not planned out at all. It does make me want to see a more in-depth movie where they go into the history a bit deeper with the old-school favs like Santo and The Blue Demon but I guess I have to look elsewhere for that. Original title- THREE FALLS
AKA IT'S A REVOLUTION MOTHER Similar to the other similarly-titled rambling mess of a documentary from this era; REVOLUTION this film goes back and forth between hanging out with a biker gang, some hippie protests and a music festival in Florida that we never get to see any of the bands playing at. The most interesting parts, to me anyway, were the bikers who do some pretty wacky stuff like drinking each others piss, having crisco parties and generally acting like sleazy bikers. The narration is pretty off-the-wall with it's earnest attempt to understand this wild youth movement. Sadly, watching this in 2016 it's hard not to think about how these revolutionary hooligans are most likely boring old grandmas and grandpas nowadays (if they managed to survive the 60s that is). On the plus side the music is pretty sweet even if most of it is played over some boring scenes.
Outside of maybe seeing a few nudie pics of her in some British porn mags I acquired at a young age I really didn't know much about Mary Millington before seeing this documentary. I think it's safe to say she was a way bigger deal in England than here in the U.S. but even if you have no idea who she was this is still a fairly entertaining look at a very uninhibited lady who came out of the swinging 60s and worked her way through the European smut-market to make a whole bunch of money off of horny fellows. It's all the more remarkable that she was able to accomplish this living in a country where much of the material she appeared in was technically illegal at the time but notoriety does sell and it did just as well 40 years or so ago.
This made me want to seek out a bunch of British sex comedies that she appeared in(COME PLAY WITH ME, THE PLAYBIRDS etc.) as soon as I can! It does play, for the most part, more like a TV special(with porn scenes!) than a feature film but it's still worth a watch to see how far, in some ways, we've come from certain types of repression. Of course it could be argued that today's repressive ideologies are just as pervasive but hey at least you can watch porn in England so I guess that's something nice.
I'm a pretty big fan of these ridiculous 70s "documentaries". I don't actually think any of them have one bit of actual science or information in them but they are completely riveting to me none the less. This one kicked off all those funky ones to follow for the next decade including the most well known example of this genre- IN SEARCH OF... with Leonard Nimoy. While this one is not nearly as absurd as something like MYSTERIES OF THE GODS with William Shatner it does have a groovy/spooky soundtrack and enough wacky claims about ancient alien encounters to make it a fun watch if you can't sleep at 3am. It does get a bit tedious by the end which also makes this a good movie to fall asleep to. I can't imagine the type of person that would take any of these docs seriously but I guess there's all kinds of insanity out there. Perhaps the insanity of it all is the reason I love these movies. I mean not once does the narration ever give any other explanation to anything presented except that "aliens musta done it". I'm pretty sure if I did even a little research into this movie I would find out that everything in this has been debunked by now by why ruin the joy of viewing some crackpot theories?
Probably the spookiest and most entertaining documentary about ol' Charlie Manson came out pretty quickly following the sentencing of "The Family". How much of this thing is actually true or not I have no idea but at least the people spouting off all the tales of madness and murder and drugs seem to be pretty convincing and if some acid-head freak believes Manson can bring dead animals back to life, who am I to argue? Appropriately creepy weirdo hippie tunes(thanks to a couple of former "Family" members) fill the soundtrack and we get some great soundbites(mostly from Squeaky Fromme and Charlie himself) where chaos and murder is promised if you don't get your shit together man!! If you're ever feeling too happy about life throw this on for what's sure a downer of a ride through a messed up time. AKA MANSON AND SQUEAKY FROMME (reissue title after Fromme made headlines for attempting to assassinate President Ford)
There was a sequel/follow-up film made by the same director using some of this same footage in 2007:
If you took the show IN SEARCH OF... and replaced it's narrator, Leonard Nimoy, with his fellow STAR TREK hero William Shatner and stretched it into a full length feature this is what you would get. Of course that show was only a half hour long including commercials so it was a bit more entertaining at that length. Here things do tend to wear a little thin with all the crazy-ass unprovable theories about ancient astronauts and UFOs. It is saved by getting the chance to see Shatner doing some of his best over-acting work interviewing some folks with some very off-the-wall interpretations of reality. If you weren't raised on IN SEARCH OF... you might want to give this a pass but it might still be culty and weird enough for lovers of the more bizarre side of the 1970's. AKA WILLIAM SHATNER'S MYSTERIES OF THE GODS
On a purely visual level this is one of the most amazing films ever made. It's a documentary of sorts explaining medieval beliefs towards witches, demons. Satanism and that sort of stuff. The director(Benjamin Christensen) appears as a very spooky-ass Devil and old ugly women cast crazy spells and kiss him on his demonic ass. This is also the most expensive DVD I ever purchased so I would have to say I'm a pretty big fan. It also might be the classiest of art films to appear on this entire blog.
Since this was made in 1922 it was obviously originally a silent film but in 1968 there was narration by William S. Burroughs added(this version also has a shorter run time since there are less inter-titles) and this is the version I've re-watched many times over the years. A pretty cool jazzy score was also added to this version replacing a more classical score and I thin that it works really well with the strange visuals. I've seen this one a couple of those films to see before you die list and it's hard to argue with that if you're any sort of cinemaphile. AKA HAXAN, THE WITCHES, THE WITCH and HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES
Normally I don't care for overly long films and this thing runs for a little less than 4 hours! Despite this girthy runtime I did enjoy this whole thing. It's hard for me not to be a fan of a guy like Boyd Rice who's basically taken his obsessions with underground and bizarre popular culture and created a life for himself on his own terms. If I could figure out how to do even a 10th of the things Boyd has accomplished and make a career out of any of them I think I would be a happy camper. The people who call Boyd a Nazi or a racist or any other convenient term just don't get it and seem like the most simple-minded morons I can imagine. Unfortunately these people seem to compose the mass of humans roaming the planet today. Of course the other great thing about Boyd is his ability and proclivity to prank and anger these lemmings making them appear even more brainless than they already do. As shown here Mr. Rice also helped create noise rock and industrial music which aren't musical genres I listen to much these days but they were things that spoke to me back in the 90's. Also if one goes back to the early days of the punk movement before everything became codified and the rules were written about what's considered punk and what isn't, Boyd seems like more true to the original spirit of punk than anyone I can think of. This is an essential watch for anyone interested in the true history of underground art in America for the last few decades.
With this title you might assume this would be a very sleazy documentary about dirty-movie maker Joe Sarno. You would only be kinda right since just like many of Sarno's films this is actually a bit classier than that. It's really partly a love story about the relationship between Joe and his wife of many years, Peggy(who was in attendance when I viewed this theatrically). And it's also a view of the way adult movies changed from the sexploitation-filled 60's into the hardcore, show everything 70's. These later penetration-filled epics, which look like classic films in comparison to the overlong loops being churned out today were not what Sarno was all about though. His vision was more about turning on the audience by using a more subtle approach and it seems like he really wanted to make art films but ended up doing what he had to in order to survive the changing times. Swedish filmmaker Wiktor Ericsson really does a great job here presenting the whole story behind the filth including commentary by John Waters, Annie Sprinkle, Jamie Gillis and others and also sadly chronicling Mr. Sarno's last days to ultimately create a surprisingly touching tribute to one of the classier directors in a sleazy business.
There's a really amazing story that could be told about the life of porn-icon Al Goldstein. Unfortunately this movie only sorta gleans the surface when it comes to telling that sordid tale. Rather than taking an in-depth look at the man and his insane adventures it feels more like a collection of random footage shot in 1996 that plays with no narration which mighta helped out a lot to convey some sort of sense of historical relevance to the events taking place onscreen. Having been produced by Todd Philips, the guy who made the epically awesome GG Allin documentary HATED, you would think this had a good chance to be much better. That being said though this is still an interesting assembly of footage. I think it would be hard to make anything about Goldstein and for it to be too boring. You go behind-the-scenes with Mr. Screw and encounter the expected filth and debauchery.
This is probably only really entertaining if you're already a fan of Andy Kaufman's bizarre comedy/performance art stylings. As far as being any sort of actual documentary it fails miserably since it gives no real facts about the former TV star and never strays from the imaginary world that he created. It would also help if you're a pro-wrestling fan since most of the footage deals with Andy's time down in Memphis feuding with Jerry "The King" Lawler as the inter-gender wrasslin' champion. Unfortunately this program, which was released by Rhino video(at least the version I have), only seems to have a limited amount of footage and some of the stuff they reference isn't even shown. This must be why it's only around 60 minutes long, but if you are a hardcore fan of Kaufman's it's a fun show to check out plus the DVD-release of this comes with the equally confounding but amazing short MY BREAKFAST WITH BLASSIE which co-stars my favorite 70's/80's wrestling manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie.
Andy giving the people of Memphis some helpful hints:
This is Doris Wishman's transsexual documentary and it's the weirdest film of hers that I've yet seen. You get tales of sexual confusion from various trans-gendered folks, lots of naked she-male types getting prodded by a weirdo doctor and a bloody show-stopping look at an actual sex-change operation that will have you squirming in your seat. I think technically this was supposed to be a sexploitation film, hell even ol' Harry Reems shows up in one sexual reenactment scene, but I can't imagine anyone outside of the lowliest deviant getting any sort of sexual thrills out of this. Also as far as educational value is concerned I imagine it may have meant well at the time but there's so many unintentional laughs to be had here that it's hard to take too much of what's being said very seriously. I'm not sure who I would recommend this to except creepy degenerates looking for something exceptionally strange.
There was a different cut of this released originally back in '72 as STRANGE/HER.
Pretty decent documentary that covers the history of the video entertainment world. It also deals with the nerdy collectors who are obsessed with VHS boxes and their distorted sense of nostalgia. Some of the more famous talking heads in this include Elvira(in her civilian disguise of Cassandra Peterson), Lloyd Kaufman, Charles Band and Frank Henenlotter. There's also a bunch of people in this that are only interviewed because they have hoarded a bunch of old VHS tapes. I'm not sure how being a delusional pack-rat makes a person qualified to speak on anything but OK. Maybe if this was more of a psychological look into 80's obsession it would make more sense but it never really gets that deep. There's a few other VHS-related docs that have come out recently including ADJUST YOUR TRACKING and VHS MASSACRE which I have not seen and I'm not really sure if the world needs that many interviews with 80's kids patting themselves on the back for paying hundreds of dollars for something you could watch online for free but if you dig old dusty video tapes check them out.
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