Arnold's Wrecking Company is Steven E. de Souza's first picture, released in 1973. It was filmed on Library Place, Princeton, New Jersey, with residents of the home of Ellwood and Shirley Kauffman receiving credits for their work. Business-manager-to be Scott Kauffman made a cameo appearance as the younger version of de Souza's character, Kenny.
From Boxoffice Magazine: "Arnold... a super-straight business student in college... [due to] his amazing agility with accounting practices, makes of cousin De Souza's modest "grass" enterprise one of the mightiest businesses on the stock exchange listings, much to the consternation of both the law-enforcement officialdom and crime syndicate chieftains of the City of Brotherly Love."[1]
[edit] Reception
The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1972 Atlanta Film Festival. It was released in a few venues the following September, with promotion and advertising all but absent when the film’s distributor went into bankruptcy at the same time. Nonetheless, it received some favorable notices[2][3] and had an extended run at the First Avenue Screening Room in New York as part of its Midnight Movie series along with Satyajit Ray films and Dance, Girl, Dance.
The soundtrack, by the band Adom, and produced by East Coast Records, has become something of a cult collectible, and the “Marijuana!” cut (the lyrics simply repetitions of that one word) has been heard frequently on Dr. Demento.
[edit] References
- ^ "Arnold's Wrecking Co." Boxoffice Magazine. January 7, 1974.
- ^ "'Wrecking Co.' a Ball" The Record. September 21, 1973.
- ^ "Arnold's Wrecking Co." Boxoffice Magazine. January 7, 1974.
[edit] External links
