Scorpio Rising (film)

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Scorpio Rising
File:Scorpio-rising-kenneth-anger.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKenneth Anger
StarringBruce Byron
Release date
1963
Running time
30 minutes
Country United States

Scorpio Rising is a 1963 experimental short film by Kenneth Anger, starring Bruce Byron (who Anger asserts was "half-crazy")[1] as Scorpio. Themes central to the film include the occult, biker subculture, Catholicism and Nazism; the film also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, namely James Dean and Marlon Brando (referred to by Anger as Byron's "heroes").[1] As with many of Anger's films, Scorpio Rising contains no dialogue - it instead features a prominent soundtrack consisting of 50s and 60s pop, including songs by Ricky Nelson, The Angels, The Crystals, Bobby Vinton, Elvis Presley & Ray Charles.

Release

The film premiered in October 1963 at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City.[2]

When the film was screened at an art theater in Los Angeles, it was protested by the American Nazi Party on the basis that it insulted their flag.[3] The police were ultimately called to the site and arrested the theater manager for public obscenity and canceled the film's run.[4] The case went to the California Supreme Court, where the case was settled in Anger's favor.[5] Anger explained in an interview:

"When Scorpio Rising was — we've forgotten, in a sense, that it was a groundbreaker, legally. Because there are only a few flashes of nudity, genitalia, whatever in the film, I mean, they're very, very short and, if you blink, you won't even see them. At any rate, when it was shown, at the Cinema — it was called the Cinema on Western Avenue in Hollywood — the premiere run, someone denounced it to the Hollywood vice squad and they raided the theater and took the print. And the case had to go to the California Supreme Court to be freed and then it became, like, a landmark case of redeeming social merit. That was the phrase that was used to justify that it wasn't pornography. And, indeed, there's nothing pornographic about it. Somebody had to break the ice and have that kind of case at that time to establish the freedom, because, before then, the police could seize anything they wanted to. What I was doing on the West Coast, Jack Smith was doing on the East Coast with Flaming Creatures. The two films happened at about the same time."[5]

Soundtrack

Scorpio Rising is considered by some to be the first drama film to feature a rock & roll soundtrack.[4] Another of Anger's films which utilizes a rock & roll soundtrack (Rabbit's Moon), though filmed fourteen years before Scorpio Rising, did not see release until 1972.

  1. Ricky Nelson - "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)"
  2. Little Peggy March - "Wind-Up Doll"
  3. The Angels - "My Boyfriend's Back"
  4. Bobby Vinton - "Blue Velvet"
  5. Elvis Presley - "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
  6. Ray Charles - "Hit The Road Jack"
  7. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave"
  8. The Crystals - "He's a Rebel"
  9. Claudine Clark - "Party Lights"
  10. Kris Jensen - "Torture"
  11. Gene McDaniels - "Point of No Return"
  12. Little Peggy March - "I Will Follow Him"
  13. Surfaris - "Wipe Out"
  14. The Shangri-Las - "Leader of the Pack"

Critical response

Scorpio Rising was praised by West Coast critics upon its initial release. When it was screened in New York City in 1964, Scorpio Rising garnered additional positive reviews from The New Yorker, Variety and Newsweek.[4]

Nora Sayre of The New York Times reviewed the film in 1975 stating, "Oddly enough, the references to the nineteen-fifties, which seemed dated and rather ponderous in 1965, don't make the film appear old-fashioned now. Admittedly, one then saw it in an unfortunate context—draped in the mystique of the underground, when a number of inferior films employed some similar imagery, such as the juxtaposition of Christ and hipsters, or close-ups of all-purpose skulls. But after a decade's education in put-ons, one can savor the impudent freshness of "Scorpio" today."[6]

In Popular Culture

  • "Scorpio Rising" is the title of the 5th track on Adam Ant's 3rd album, Vive Le Rock. The lyrics revolve around "Scorpio", with his "leather jacket and big package".
  • The third album by British electronica band Death in Vegas takes its name from the film.
  • The video for Matthew Dear's "Her Fantasy", directed by Tommy O'Haver is an homage to "Scorpio Rising".

Further reading

  • Denisoff, R. Serge and William D. Romanowski (1991). Risky Business: Rock in Film. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-88738-843-4.

References

  1. ^ a b "Kenneth Anger Interview - On Magick and Film Commentary". Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  2. ^ Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster (eds.), Experimental Cinema: The Film Reader (Psychology Press, 2002; ISBN 0415277868), p. 115.
  3. ^ Moats, David (2 June 2009). "Scorpio Rising: Kenneth Anger Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Denisoff, et al. p. 168
  5. ^ a b Interview with Kenneth Anger by Pam Grady from reel.com
  6. ^ Sayre, Nora (21 February 1975). "Scorpio Rising (1964) – Screen: Three Experiments of 1960's". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2012.

External links

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