125: Flaming Creatures

A Review in Haiku (and a rhyme t’boot / how cute):

Cross-dressed intercourse

Naked lady interludes

Most these chicks are dudes

            I’m indebted in this piece to Kamp & Levi’s The Film Snob’s Dictionary for their insights into Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures (1963).  From them I learned that one of the causal factors of this trash romp’s hazy and often indistinguishable photography is that Smith unknowingly shoplifted outdated B&W 16mm stock in order to offset his production costs (about $300).  Other than that, the most interesting thing about this film is how polarizing it is, and was on its initial release.  No less than the likes of Fellini praised the picture and none other than political Methuselah Strom Thurmond publically denounced it. 

The 1001 text clutches at some straws to explain a plot contained in this hermaphrodite-laden orgy, but I never saw one.  The film can be given credit for its use of a pop hits soundtrack, including "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells and "Be-Bop-A-Lula" Performed by The Everly Brothers, but not much else.  Smith’s employment of pop tunes is notable as it predates The Graduate (1967) by four years and indie schlock contemporary Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising (1964) as well.  Still, Scorsese claims to have been showing home movie footage on a sheet set to his own record collection as early as 1961, and who am I to doubt the Italian American Maestro.

Language: English

Runtime: 45 Minutes

Grade: .5 Hats Off

           

Note: Flaming Creatures is Available at Youtube.com but has been cut for content to exclude an entire segment.  It can be found however on a few foreign language websites.