Louis Waldon Movies

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, Rovi

"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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi