416. Scorpio Rising (1964)

Running Time: 28 minutes
Directed By: Kenneth Anger
Written By: Kenneth Anger
Main Cast: Bruce Byron

THIRTY MINUTES OF RADIO

Well folks, "Frightfest 2011" will resume tomorrow, but tonight, it's double feature night. Our first film of the evening actually isn't even a "feature" at all - at a length of 28 minutes, I easily drop my list of remaining movies by one....but was it THAT easy?

The film is "Scorpio Rising" and it opens by establishing that it's going to have something to do with bikers. In fact, the films opening titles aren't your usual white lettering on a black background, but rather silver studs spelling out the title and director's name, on the back of a black leather jacket. The film has no dialogue and thus no characters are ever established, but instead the film uses 1960s pop/rock & roll tunes to accompany it's images. As the film opens, we see a man working on his bike and that's immediately followed by several different men getting dressed in their "hog gear" (lots of leather, complete with jackets, belts and caps). Footage is inter cut with scenes of "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando and we see a man lying on his bed, with pinups of James Dean splattered all over his wall. From there we go to the biker underground, where homosexuality, Nazism and religion are toyed with. Scenes of obviously homosexual bikers, inter cut with scenes of Jesus walking with his apostles are included, making the bold assumption that Jesus and his twelve were a group of gay men.

You know what, I'm sick and tired of this "innovation = greatness" idea. Just because McDonalds was the first restaurant to make and market a hamburger, doesn't mean that Burger King's isn't better. Just because Nike perfected the running shoe, doesn't mean that it doesn't make your feet hurt. Sure, "Scorpio Rising" had some before it's time ideas and in fact, when the film was screened in L.A., the theater owner was arrested for public obscenity. But just because "Scorpio Rising" was risque, innovative and "before it's time", doesn't mean that it's great. This was one of the biggest piles of trash that I've had to sit through in my continued effort to watch all of the films in THE BOOK and I'm not afraid to say that. Oh, don't worry fans of this film, that's just my opinion and lucky for you, opinions aren't fact and especially don't worry, because I'm sure you'll find all kinds of articles scattered throughout the interwebs, praising "Scorpio Rising", but not here.

THE BOOK makes note that without "Scorpio Rising", Martin Scorsese wouldn't have used pop music the way he did in "Mean Streets"and David Lynch wouldn't have found inspiration in the song Blue Velvet. Okay, well lucky for me that's the only thing I liked about this movie - the music. The music was great! In fact, if you want to experience "Scorpio Rising", go ask your Mom and Dad (or depending on your age, your Grandma and Grandpa) if you can borrow some of their old records. Ask for their record player too (you'll need that), give the records a spin and listen to Elvis Presley, Bobby Vinton, Ray Charles, The Angles, The Crystals and Little Peggy March sing their hearts out. Then, flip on your television and find some old biker movie or maybe even that episode of Roseanne where Dan sells the bike shop, mute the television and there you have it - that's "Scorpio Rising" in a nutshell, minus the homoerotic undertones.

I know, I know, I harp on this fact like a broken record, but this is the kind of movie I'm talking about when I say, "How in the hell did this movie make it into THE BOOK and ___________ didn't??" The music was fantastic and in fact, this movie was kind of like listening to the radio for an hour and a half. I applaud Kenneth Anger for making a controversial film in a time when controversial films weren't accepted. I applaud him for putting his ideas on film and presenting the final product to the world and for pushing the envelope. And, if he was an inspiration to the likes of Scorsese and Lynch, then I'll even applaud him for that. But his film was shit and that, my friends, is that.

RATING: 1/10 I BEG the BOOK to give me a short film that's worth my time. However, this is the first film since my return that's gotten a bad rating and I was beginning to think that I had on a pair of invisible rose colored glasses. I'll be back in a matter of hours to give my thoughts on another relatively short film, though it's not a short film. Get it?

MOVIES WATCHED: 338
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 663

October 24, 2011 11:15pm