Kinky Friedman Movies
- 2010
Three astronauts experience unexpected adventure en route to a distant planet in this independent sci-fi comedy. A robotic space probe is sent by French scientists to the planet Mars, but the machine goes haywire after someone sneezes on it and it loses its way en route to the Red Planet. A second robot is sent on the same mission, but the machine takes it upon itself to rescue its mechanical sibling, and just before crashing into the Martian surface the robot sends back an image suggesting there's life on the planet. The United States quickly puts together a manned mission to Mars, with the heroic but inept Charlie Brownsville (Mark Duplass) joined by his more capable colleagues Dr. Casey Cook (Zoe Simpson) and Hank Morrison (Paul Gordon). As the crew struggles to beat their European rivals to Mars, Charlie tries to find a way to live up to his image and Casey and Hank discover that love can thrive outside Earth's atmosphere. Director Geoff Marslett shot Mars using digital equipment, and then used a new computer-assisted rotoscoping technique to give the images a special cartoon-influenced visual style; the film also includes a supporting performance from author, musician, and political gadfly Kinky Friedman as the President of the United States. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson, (more)
- 2009
Join filmmaker David Hartstein as he follows singing Jewish cowboy Kinky Friedman's 2006 independent gubernatorial campaign in Texas. An outspoken and unconventional politician, Friedman staged a grassroots campaign to raise money and awareness as his devoted staff strategized for an innovative, four-way race. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2004
- Add Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt to Queue Add Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt to top of Queue
The celebrated singer and songwriter Steve Earle once said "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." Earle was hardly the only artist of note who loved Van Zandt's poetic, elliptical songs of love and dashed hopes -- Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, the Cowboy Junkies, and Nanci Griffith are among the many performers who have recorded his work, and he was a key inspiration for much of the Texas singer/songwriter community, including Guy Clark, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Lyle Lovett. However, while Van Zandt was greatly admired by his peers and a small cult of passionate admirers, it was other artists who had hits with his songs, not him, and this gifted but troubled man was haunted by drug and alcohol addiction much of his life. Van Zandt also had difficult relationships with his family and three wives, and at the age of 20, he was given shock treatments which wiped out nearly all of his childhood memories. In the 1990s, Van Zandt's public profile began to grow larger, and he was signed to a major record label for the first time in 1996, but as often happened in his songs, fate stepped in, and Van Zandt died following hip surgery on New Year's Day, 1997. Filmmaker Margaret Brown, a longtime fan of Townes Van Zandt, examines both his life and his art in the documentary Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt, which includes interviews with many of his close friends, family members and collaborators, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Shelley, Guy Clark, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Over ten years after making the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper returns to his deranged family of reclusive cannibals for another round of chainsaw chases and non-stop screaming. Hooper brings a real budget this time (having recently directed Poltergeist for Steven Spielberg) and the talents of veteran make-up artist Tom Savini. This means he can make things bigger, louder, and gorier than ever before -- and they are. He also brings a wacky, self-deprecating sense of humor, as if deliberately flaunting Texas Chainsaw Massacre's status as one of the first and still greatest "splatter" movies. The result is an impish take-off on the original film (and contemporary horror movies in general) that elevates its own clichés -- buckets of blood and gore, droll dialogue, the screaming female lead -- to the level of high camp. The movie is loosely concerned with a small-town disc jockey named "Stretch" (Caroline Williams, who does most of the screaming) and an embittered Texas Ranger named "Lefty" (Dennis Hopper). They team up and decide to put an end to the murderous activities of the Sawyer family once and for all (that is, of course, until Texas Chainsaw Massacre III). The real highlight of the film is when Stretch and Lefty find their way into the Sawyer family hideout -- a ruinous, winding abattoir underneath an abandoned amusement park -- and engage in a chainsaw-battle-to-the-death with Leatherface (Bill Johnson) and the rest of the clan. Jim Siedow is back from the first film as the acerbic Drayton Sawyer, the family cook and owner of the Last Roundup Rolling Grill. Chop-Top (Bill Moseley) and Leatherface do most of the movie's dirty work. ~ Anthony Reed, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, (more)
Director Jackie Kong, who later made the cult favorite Blood Diner (1987), directed this terrible monster movie for exploitation pioneer Bill Osco, who stars under the pseudonym "Rexx Coltrane." The plot concerns a mutant child who has become a monster after being exposed to toxic waste in a small Idaho town. Mortimer (Osco) wants to investigate a series of disappearances, only to have his efforts stymied by the town's mayor (José Ferrer), who is worried about the potential economic impact on the local potato industry. This abysmal horror film was made in 1980 and shelved for three years despite a cast which includes Oscar winners Ferrer and Dorothy Malone, Martin Landau, and Kinky Friedman. Other featured performers are Ruth Buzzi, Murray Langston ("The Unknown Comic"), and Kenny Rogers' wife (at the time), Marianne Gordon. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Landau, José Ferrer, (more)
- 1978
- PG
This lighthearted, tuneful and youth-oriented comedy is set in a record store and chronicles the zany exploits of its employees. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1977
- R
In this drama, a mysterious group of political rebels seize the controls of a national television network. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1977
Sometimes sited as the Frank Zappa of country music, irreverent outlaw country specialist Kinky Friedman brings his off-kilter brand of down home tunes to the stage in this performance originally aired as part of the Austin City Limits series. With a fourteen song set featuring such outrageous classics as &Homo Erectus", "Arsehole from El Paso", and "Ride 'Em Jewboy", this performance is sure to offend and entertain in equal measure. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kinky Friedman
- 1976
This 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live is Steve Martin's first guest-host appearance on the popular sketch comedy series. Martin sings "King Tut" and appears with Dan Aykroyd as "two wild and crazy guys," and there is also a song performed by the Blues Brothers. The musical guest is Kinky Friedman. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Kinky Friedman, (more)
- Add Kinky Friedman: Proud To Be An A**hole From El Paso to Queue Add Kinky Friedman: Proud To Be An A**hole From El Paso to top of Queue
Mystery novelist, political wag, and satirical country singer, Kinky Friedman is many things to many people, and irreverent to all. In this video performance, Friedman tells stories and sings such songs as "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore" and "The Ballad of Charles Whitman." ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kinky Friedman
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