Jackie Curtis Movies
American actor Jackie Curtis was a female impersonator whose film career began after he was "discovered" by avant-garde artist/filmmaker Andy Warhol in the 1960s. He also wrote screenplays for some of Warhol's films such as Flesh. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2004
Directed by Craig B. Highberger and narrated by Lily Tomlin, Superstar in a Housedress offers a unique retrospective of the late avant-garde actor and female impersonator Jackie Curtis, who was discovered in the 1960s by experimental filmmaker Andy Warhol. In addition to rare clips of Curtis in various underground stage productions, the documentary is supplemented by a surprising amount of never-before-seen archival footage, scenes from Women in Revolt and Flesh, and candid stories about Curtis from those who knew her best in her heyday. Among the interviewees are Joe Dallesandro, Paul Morrissey, Holly Woodlawn, and Penny Arcade. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lily Tomlin, Jackie Curtis, (more)
- 1983
- R
This biographical documentary on author and eccentric William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), founder of the Beat Generation literary movement along with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, is roughly divided into two segments. The first part has some witty scenes as the camera follows the author around to his various early haunts in the U.S., London, and Morocco. His friends are interviewed, including an interesting segment with Allen Ginsberg. In the second half of the film Burroughs becomes more of an exhibitionist than a subject, suggesting that discretionary editing would have made a smaller but better final version. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, (more)
- 1980
The "underground" of the title refers not to crime but to the half-hidden world of two-bit hustlers, "artistic" poseurs, aberrant lifestyles and shattered dreams. Small-time Manhattan opportunist Eric Mitchell latches onto Patti Astor, a once-popular movie star fallen into penury. He briefly lifts her spirits, but in the final analysis betrays her. Astor sorrowfully decides that she'd rather not live any longer. Lensed in 16 millimeter by producer/ director/ star Eric Mitchell, Underground USA is occasionally effective, though for much of the proceedings it suffers from trying too hard to be the Big Apple counterpart to Godard's Breathless. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patti Astor, Eric Mitchell, (more)
- 1976
In this film, outspokenly homosexual filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim has documented his encounters with friends in the New York "underground" arts movement, the better-known of whom are William Burroughs (who says nothing for the camera), Andy Warhol (seen in the distance) and Fernando Arrabal (who is interviewed in Spanish). The emigrants named in the title are notable Germans who left the country before World War II, such as Greta Keller and Grete Mosheim. Reviewers at the time of the film's release considered it to have been a sort of paid vacation for the filmmaker rather than a serious effort. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William S. Burroughs
- 1972
In Warhol/Morrissey collaborations, such as this spoof of porn films, it is often more useful to describe the personalities shown on the screen, than to try to describe the story. All the women in this film are desperately tired of men. All of them are transvestites. Some of them are very improbable transvestites, such as Jackie Curtis, who has a booming bass voice. Others are so decadent that their gender is immaterial. Holly Woodlawn is an example of this ilk. However, whatever story there is devolves around the ambitions of poor little rich "girl" Candy Darling, who wants to be a film star, but must spend most of her time fending off the unnatural attentions of women's libbers. The actors, whose material is improvised, are occasionally quite witty, and the sendups of sex scenes and Darling's experiences on the casting couch show a good satirical sensibility. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Andy Warhol produced this mordant satire of the women's movement, directed by Paul Morrissey and staring a trio of female impersonators. Candy (Candy Darling) is an aloof heiress caught in an unhappy relationship with her brother. Jackie (Jackie Curtis) is a virginal intellectual who believes that women are oppressed in contemporary American society. And Holly (Holly Woodlawn) is a nymphomaniac who has come to loathe men, despite her attraction to them. Together, they join a militant feminist group, P.I.G. (Politically Involved Girls), but their newfound liberation doesn't make them any happier; Jackie gets mixed up with a male hustler and winds up as an unwed mother, Holly becomes a homeless alcoholic, and Candy tries to make a go of show business via the casting couch. Several other Warhol/Morrissey "superstars" appear in supporting roles, including Jane Forth, Geri Miller, and Maurice Braddell. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1971
"W.R." is pioneering sexologist Wilhelm Reich, whose precedent-breaking theories concerning carnal behavior and politics (including the invention of the orgone box) made him persona non grata in most psychoanalytic circles. By all accounts, Reich began his career brilliantly - as the next great successor to Freud and Jung; he then delved into extraordinarily controversial work that divided his critics, leading some to conclude that Reich had experienced a psychotic break from reality. Dusan Makavejev is the equally controversial Yugoslavian director fascinated by Reich's theories. This essay film by Makavejev - his first major work - constitutes a witty, free-form riff on the director's perception of Reichian philosophies as the basis of individual and collective sexual liberation. Makavejev elucidates the Reichian mindset via interviews with the doctor's relatives and colleagues (we even hear from Reich's barber!) Also illustrated is the ongoing conflict between the free-thinking disciples of W.R.'s sociopolitical attitudes and the adherents of sterile Stalinism. Over the course of the picture, Makavejev journeys to the U.S. and interviews such American sexual liberationists as Screw magazine editor Al Goldstein and Betty Dodson. Woven into the factual proceedings is a fictional plotline concerning the romance between Reich adherent Milena and uptight Soviet athlete Vladimir Ilyich. Though the film was never released in Makavejev's native Yugoslavia, WR: Mysteries of the Organism firmly established the iconoclastic filmmaker's international reputation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milena Dravic, Jagoda Kaloper, (more)
Flesh was filmmaker Paul Morrissey's first production for Andy Warhol. The story concerns a bisexual hustler (Joe Dallesandro) who does tricks so that he can pay for his wife's lover's abortion. The film made headlines when it was confiscated by the police during one of its earliest showings in 1970. Though this event is unlikely to repeat itself, Flesh is still explicit enough to elicit gasps from even the most jaded of underground-film enthusiasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Dallesandro, Geraldine Smith, (more)
