Teddy Bears' Picnic (film)
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2007) |
| Teddy Bears' Picnic | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Harry Shearer |
| Produced by | Marc Ambrose Harry Shearer (Executive) |
| Written by | Harry Shearer |
| Starring | John Michael Higgins Ming-Na David Rasche Henry Gibson Morgan Fairchild Michael McKean George Wendt Kenneth Mars Howard Hesseman Alan Thicke Kurtwood Smith Dick Butkus Harry Shearer |
| Distributed by | Velocity / Thinkfilm |
| Release date(s) | May 29, 2002 |
| Running time | 80 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $500,000 |
Teddy Bears' Picnic is a 2002 film directed and written by Harry Shearer. It was released in May, 2002 to limited audiences. Shearer has a small role.
[edit] Plot
Teddy Bears' Picnic covers an annual encampment of prominent male leaders at the Zambezi Glen, a thinly-veiled reference to the Bohemian Grove.
The movie starts out with the first ever women's day at the glen, where wives and girlfriends of Zambezi members are invited to visit the glen ahead of the annual encampment, which also serves to introduce the glen and the characters to the audience. The actual retreat itself begins after the members have returned without any women and kicks off with the "Assassination of Time", based on the real Cremation of Care at the Bohemian Grove, with a pelican replacing the latter's owl. After that, the festivities begin, including an all-male chorus line in drag, which is photographed by one of the club employees who smuggles out the pictures to the news media.
This violation of the privacy of the glen causes the leaders of the membership to work on spin control, while the employee who took the pictures is emboldened by his success and the promise of a hefty reward to record footage of the glen with a camera smuggled in with the help of a local newscaster. In this time we also see what members do to enjoy themselves at the retreat, including drinking, urinating on trees while naked, and visiting nearby prostitutes.
After filming some of the activities at the glen, the cameraman is spotted by some members and flees in to the woods. From here, the members invoke their privilege and connections, with disastrous results. The members call in the military to track down the cameraman with dogs, flares, and helicopters, which sets off a forest fire. When the road out of the glen is blocked by an overturned truck filled with drinks for the glen members, one of the characters orders his chauffeur to drive through anyway, making the blockage worse. A helicopter flying without lights at night at the behest of one of the members collides with a news helicopter covering the fire.
[edit] Interview
In an interview, Shearer stated that:
- "What I do when left to my own devices is make fun of the powerful folks in this country – in media and politics. That's the kind of thing I like and that makes me laugh. So this is just taking that humor into an area where you can't be as topical, [but] where you get to make up fictional characters."
