Louis Waldon Movies
- 1986
- R
Weapons expert Cooper (Robert Ginty) travels to Central America to help deliver arms to a rebel force, but his friend (Cameron Mitchell) is killed by a mercenary force. Cooper takes over command of the rebel army, determined to finish what his friend started. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
This is the true story of Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz), a personable young man suffering from "lionitis," a fatal disease which causes hideous facial disfigurement. The son of freewheeling biker Rusty Dennis (Cher), Rocky is accepted without question by his mom's boyfriends and cycle buddies, but treated with pity, condescension, and disgust by much of the outside world. The local high school principal tries to get Rocky classified as brain-damaged so he won't have to enroll the boy in his school, but Rusty fights for her son's rights with the ferocity of a mother lioness. Rocky makes friends easily both at school and at summer camp. He also falls in love with Diana (Laura Dern), a blind girl who cannot see his deformed countenance and is entranced by the boy's kindness and compassion. Now that he's got his own life in order, Rocky sets about to wean his chronically depressed mother from her drug habit. Mask is the sort of story that might have ending up wallowing in its own pathos had the acting, direction and scriptwriting (by Anna Hamilton Phelan) been anything less than very good. The film proved a much-needed financial success for director Peter Bogdanovich, though unfortunately it didn't come soon enough to stave off his declaring personal bankruptcy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cher, Sam Elliott, (more)
- 1979
"Careerism" is the villain in this Soviet "message" film. Careerism is a term which, in Soviet usage, has to do with bureaucratic obfuscation, and a "careerist" is an unprincipled back-stabbing opportunist, who will do absolutely anything to get ahead. The argument of this drama is that the prevalence of careerism was a major factor in preventing the Soviet Union from achieving needed industrial progress. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Doukas
- 1974
Traumstadt concerns a tiny, remote village where people from all over can indulge in their wildest dreams. Per Oscarsson and Rosemarie Fendel play an unhappy couple who hope that a trip to this magic town will patch up their relationship. Instead, they find themselves fighting for their lives when several of the wackier fantasies get out of hand. Based on Alfred Kuhn's novel The Other Side. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This German language biographical film outlines the life of Reinhold Michael Lenz. Lenz was a German poet and playwright whose brief, rather tragic life in the last half of the 18th century seems to have followed a pattern more often associated with the German Romantic literary movement, which flowered just after his death. The writer's story is told chronologically, without using extensive flashbacks, etc., and this sober technique is typical of the work of director George Moorse. This film is notable for its exquisite cinematography by Gerard Vandenberg. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- NR
A bizarre fantasia of sorts on the classic 1963 Hollywood epic of the same name, Michel Auder's Cleopatra is an extended improvisational feature involving many seminal figures from Andy Warhol's Factory. In it, Auder takes on the persona of Caesar, his girlfriend Viva portrays Cleopatra, and various other "stars" including Nico, Ondine, and Taylor Mead populate the sidelines. Auder transposes the settings and events of the original film to modern-day: Upstate New York fills in for Egypt, snowmobiles offer a substitute for horses, and late-'60s Rome serves as Caesar's stomping grounds. The city's famous Cinecitta Studios - the same studios used in the original - were used to shoo the film's orgy and battle scenes. Auder's unstructured, uninhibited method of work caused him to lose his funding for the project, and as such, Cleopatra exists only in an unedited, rarely screened work copy. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- NR
Experimental artist and Factory fixture Michel Auder takes his camera in hand once again, this time to chronicle Louis Waldon and Auder's own love interest at the time, Viva, as they traipse through Europe after filming their roles in Andy Warhol's Blue Movie. In quasi-documentary style, Auder lingers on Viva as she lounges around various hotel rooms, performing such mundane activities as getting dressed, putting on makeup, and going to dinner. A large chunk of the film involves Viva and Waldon recounting the Blue Movie shoot to an unidentified Italian woman. Interspersed with the documentary-style material is heightened, unreal footage of the duo vamping it up as rich socialites on holiday, spending money and summoning lavish amenities. Along with 1970s Cleopatra, Keeping Busy (also called Viva Viva) is considered to be one of Auder's only "fictional" features before he moved on to his autobiographical diary-films. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 1968
This documentary about poet Peter Orlovsky's schizophrenic brother, Julius, is a film within a film and is generally regarded as photographer/documentarian Frank's masterwork. Brother Julius spent years in a mental hospital and upon release was put into his brother's care. Frank captures the brothers' day-to-day lives, as well as a road trip with Allen Ginsberg. At times the film breaks into another film about actors working on a film about them; cinematic devices -- including black-and-white, color cutting, and unsychronized sound -- lend an element of visual "schizophrenia" to the work. One of the players is a young Christopher Walken. The emerging document is a testament to the camera's voyeuristic tendencies and a commentary on the mentally ill in society as well as an investigation into the life of the filmmaker himself. ~ Denise Sullivan, All Movie Guide
- 1968
The inner workings of the U.S. government are spoofed by members from Chicago's Second City comedy troupe. Set in the future, the largely improvised film centers on president Fillard Millmore who finds himself a pawn in a battle between self-serving cabinet members. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Viva and Louis Walden star in this Andy Warhol film. The two discuss social issues and cuddle in bed before copulating. They later shower together and prepare for the day in this boring film highlighted by a sex act that is strangely mechanical and devoid of eroticism. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Waldon
- 1968
This experimental western from cult icon Andy Warhol concerns nine people in a ghost town looking for love. A truly twisted improvisational comedy should have emerged, but Taylor Mead's shrill screeching and some annoying in-camera editing results in a fairly grating experience. Ramona Alvarez (Viva) and her perpetually stoned nurse (Mead) run into five gay cowboys led by Louis Waldon. They all want to have sex with a handsome drifter (Tom Hompertz), except for the transvestite sheriff (Francis Francine), who can't be bothered about anything but his outfit. Ramona is raped by the cowboys then has sex with Hompertz and wants to form a suicide pact in the afterglow. Hompertz wants no part of such a pact, however, and rides off into the sunset with another man (Eric Emerson). All of this takes nearly two hours, and although there are some cute moments, it never comes together as a whole. Improvisation is difficult to stretch into a coherent feature-length film without at least some attempt at setting up individual scenes. Warhol does none of that here, although he would do better with later films directed by Paul Morrissey, this film's executive producer. His sole interest appears to be in putting attractive young men in front of his camera and having them seduce each other and act silly. Viewers will either be mildly amused, bored, or terribly annoyed, depending on individual tolerance levels. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viva, Taylor Mead, (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)
- 1965
This comedy is adapted from a short story by Mark Twain. An abusive carpetbagger marries a plantation owner's daughter to humiliate him. He is cruel to his wife, but she will not complain to her father. The beastly carpetbagger ties the stoic woman to a tree and sets the bloodhounds upon her. They tear off her clothes. This causes the girl's father to die of embarrassment. Meanwhile the girl bears a son. The son grows up and goes West in search of his wretched father. He desires to avenge his mother's honor. Someone else kills his father first. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Siggins, Greta Thyssen, (more)
