Ronald Tavel Movies
- 2006
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The underground art of renegade performance artist, photographer, and filmmaker Jack Smith is explored through the images he created and the words of those who knew him best in filmmaker Mary Jordan's tribute to the man believed to have inspired some of Andy Warhol's most iconic works. A virulent utopian and anti-capitalist whose works spanned from the 1960s to the late-1980s, Smith gained notoriety early on in his career when he went battled the Supreme Court over the banning of his controversial work "Flaming Creatures." An enigmatic artist whose work remains on the fringes of the mainstream despite the praise of curators from the Whitney to the Louvre, the effects of Smith's powerful influence are explored in interviews with those who both loved and hated Smith. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 1967
One of the first "underground" films of the 1960's to achieve a degree of mainstream acceptance (it was an actual hit in New York City, was well-received in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and was banned in Chicago and Boston), Andy Warhol's The Chelsea Girls offered a long, unblinking look into the lives of Warhol's retinue of "superstars" as they showed off for the camera in their various rooms in the notorious Chelsea Hotel, long a favored New York hangout for writers, artists and bohemians. Along with such notables of the moment as Eric Emerson, Brigid Polk, Ondine, and Mario Montez, one of the "girls" was Mary Woronov, years before she gained a cult following for her work in Rock 'n' Roll High School and Eating Raoul. The three-and-a-half hour film consisted of two series of images shown simultaneously, though only one soundtrack was audible; in 1995, Warhol associate Paul Morrissey prepared a video edition for broadcast on British television, though the film has yet to be broadcast in the United States and there is no authorized video release as yet in North America. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ondine, Mary Might, (more)
- 1965
Based on a Life magazine article in which Fidel Castro's sister, Juanita, denounced her brother, inspired by rumors that Castro's brother, Raul, was a transvestite, and that Castro himself had once appeared as an extra in an Esther Williams movie, The Life of Juanita Castro rewrites history as a high-camp farce. Juanita, Fidel, Raul, and fellow revolutionary Che Guevara (all played by women) sit on a stage throughout the film along with screenwriter Ronald Tavel, who feeds them all of their lines and actions. They sit facing a camera they think is filming them, but in fact all the action was shot with a camera placed off to the side. This setup results in some truly absurd moments. Whenever Juanita or Fidel approach the "camera" to make an impassioned speech in close-up, they walk right out of the frame. Juanita Castro pokes fun at both machismo (the male characters are played by women) and totalitarianism (Tavel often orders the cast to perform pointless actions in unison), but ultimately resists any kind of political interpretation. Rather, it presents politics as just another form of show business, and Castro as one more pop culture icon ripe for parody. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi
- 1965
The action in the first reel takes place at a bungalow on the beach at Fire Island. Ed Hood (the John) plays a bitchy, aging queen has ordered a blonde male hustler, Paul (Paul America) from a service called "Dial-a-Hustler." He is watching the hustler from the back porch of the bungalow, where he is joined by self-described "fag hag" Genevieve (Genevieve Charbon), who wants to steal Paul away from the John just to see him suffer. Another, older hustler (Joe Campbell, also known as "The Sugar Plum Fairy"), shows up, claiming already to have "had" Paul, much to the consternation of the John, who proposes a bet to see who will win Paul's heart and soul in the end. The entire second reel takes place in a bathroom which is filmed from the hallway outside an open door. Sugar Plum and Paul are showering, shaving, and cleaning up as they have a long conversation about the pros and cons of hustling. Sugar Plum is about to make the move on Paul when he is interrupted by Genevieve, who promises Paul a good time if she will go off with him. Genevieve is followed by the John, who offers Paul money, cars, and girls in exchange for companionship. A woman (Dorothy Dean) with lipstick and glasses, not previously seen in the film, stops by to suggest that hustling might not be the best career choice for Paul and that he should probably seek an education instead. The question is left hanging as the film runs out of Andy Warhol's camera. ~ David Lewis, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul America, Ed Hood, (more)
- 1964
With the exception of 1963's Tarzan and Jane Regained...Sort of, which used a soundtrack created by Taylor Mead, Harlot was Warhol's first foray into sound film. It stars a transvestite named Mario Montez (in honor of Hollywood star Maria Montez), who sits in full drag on a couch in Warhol's Factory, suggestively eating bananas. A bored woman sits beside him, and two men (one of them in a tuxedo) stand behind them. Off-screen, Ronald Tavel, Billy Name, and Harry Fainlight discuss, among other things, the pros and cons of various female movie stars. With typical Warholian perversity, the characters onscreen remain for the most part silent. This primitive dialectic between sound and image would be developed more successfully in such later films as The Chelsea Girls. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi
- 1963
One of the most celebrated of all underground films, Flaming Creatures excited national censorship controversies in its day and was even denounced (and screened!) in the halls of the U.S. Senate. Jack Smith had hit a nerve with his delirious tribute to the 1940s screen star Maria Montez. (The soundtrack even includes a chunk of her 1943 release Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.) A hilarious and startling version of Arabian exotica, Flaming Creatures was shot on backdated black-and-white film stock, creating an overexposed and archaic quality to its images -- a world of uncontrollable sexual energy where women and transvestites primp, pose, dance, romance, and sometimes assault each other. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi
- Starring:
- Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, (more)
