The Movie Orgy
| The Movie Orgy | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Joe Dante |
| Produced by | Jon Davison |
| Edited by | Joe Dante |
Release date | 1968 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Movie Orgy is a 1968 film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Jon Davison.[1] It was an evolving compilation of film clips, commercials, and film trailers, initially assembled by Dante when he was an undergraduate at the Philadelphia College of Art. At its longest, it ran for seven-and-a-half hours [2] and could be considered the analog prelude to the mash-up videos and supercut edits now prevalent on digital platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.
Summary
The film stands as a simultaneous celebration and campy tweaking of mid-20th century Americana, culling liberally from the B-movie cinema of Dante and Davison’s youth, early TV commercials, newsreel footage of early A-bomb tests, cartoons, westerns, sci-fi and war movies as well as clips from children's TV shows its college-age audiences had forgotten they had seen.
Elements of several features are revisited throughout the movie as recurrent, serialized comic motifs. Among these serialized movies in the longer-form version was College Confidential, Speed Crazy, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and at various times the original Little Shop of Horrors, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Beginning of the End, Amazing Colossal Man and several others that were rotated in and out. The film was designed to be a free-flowing, communal audience experience. Interactivity (i.e. sing-a-longs to showcased television show theme songs) was encouraged.
Among the numerous celebrities featured were Alfred Hitchcock, The Beatles, Ann-Margret, Ngo Dinh Diem, Groucho Marx, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Richard M. Nixon (captured during his Checkers speech), Dean Martin, and comedians Abbott and Costello.[3] [4]
Production
The film, assembled without permission of the clips' owners, toured colleges and repertory cinemas[5] with support from Schlitz beer.[6] [7] [8]
See also
References
- ^ Erickson, Glenn. The Movie Orgy: Savant Screening Revival Notes".
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ Quinlan, David. Quinlan's Film Directors. Sterling Publishing, 1999, ISBN 0-7134-8698-8
- ^ Klein, Joshua. "Interview: Joe Dante," The A.V. Club (The Onion), November 29, 2000
- ^ [4]
- ^ "Joe Dante's Interview,"-Kinematrix
External links
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