Flaming Creatures
| Flaming Creatures | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Jack Smith |
| Produced by | Jack Smith |
| Starring | Frances Francine Sheila Bick Joel Markman Mario Montez (as Dolores Flores) Arnold Rockwood Judith Malina Marian Zazeela |
| Release date(s) | 1963 |
| Running time | 43 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $300 |
Flaming Creatures (1963) is an American experimental film by filmmaker Jack Smith. Due to its surreal, graphic depiction of sexuality, the film was seized by the police at its premiere, and was officially determined to be obscene by a New York Criminal Court. The 43-minute featurette attracted media and public attention, and has been described as a "controversial featurette". This also made Jack Smith famous as a film director across North America. Smith himself described the film as "a comedy set in a haunted music studio."
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[edit] Description
The film features an array of transvestites, hermaphrodites, drag shows, a sexually ambiguous vampire, a drug orgy and a well-built cunnilingual rapist. Sexual ambiguity is a prominent visual theme, which is particularly shown by overlapping images of flaccid penises and breasts.
[edit] Senate use
During the confirmation hearings for the chief justice nomination of Abe Fortas, James Clancy, representing Citizens for Decent Literature, showed Flaming Creatures in a room in the capital among other material, inviting senators to view the sorts of things that Fortas had held in several decisions did not constitute obscenity.[1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Silverstein, Mark. Judicious Choices: the New Politics of Supreme Court Confirmations. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.ISBN 0393930440
