Scorpio Rising (film)

Infobox Film
name = Scorpio Rising


caption =
director = Kenneth Anger
producer =
writer =
starring = Bruce Byron
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = 1964
runtime = 30 min.
country = USA
awards =
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budget =
preceded_by =
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amg_id = 1:138019
imdb_id = 0058555

"Scorpio Rising" was a groundbreaking avant-garde, experimental film by Kenneth Anger, author of the "Hollywood Babylon" books, starring Bruce Byron as the biker Scorpio. It features themes of leather-clad bikers, the occult, Jesus and Nazis. Its camp appropriation of popular culture included an innovative use of pop music, the erotic cult of James Dean, and comic books. The film was produced in 1964 and initially shown on the underground film circuit. The film features no lines of dialogue, accompanied instead by music from popular 50's and 60's artists including Ricky Nelson, The Angels, Bobby Vinton, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. It is considered to be one of the first post-modern films and an influence to future directors such as Martin Scorsese and David Lynch.

The film was censored for indecency, and the case went to the Supreme Court, where it was decided in Anger's favor. Anger explained in an interview:

"When Scorpio Rising was — we've forgotten, in a sense, that it was a groundbreaker, legally. Because there are only a few flashes of nudity, genitalia, whatever in the film, I mean, they're very, very short and, if you blink, you won't even see them. At any rate, when it was shown, at the Cinema — it was called the Cinema on Western Avenue in Hollywood — the premiere run, someone denounced it to the Hollywood vice squad and they raided the theater and took the print. And the case had to go to the California Supreme Court to be freed and then it became, like, a landmark case of redeeming social merit. That was the phrase that was used to justify that it wasn't pornography. And, indeed, there's nothing pornographic about it. Somebody had to break the ice and have that kind of case at that time to establish the freedom, because, before then, the police could seize anything they wanted to. What I was doing on the West Coast, Jack Smith was doing on the East Coast with Flaming Creatures. The two films happened at about the same time." ( [http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/anger] Interview with Pam Grady from reel.com)

oundtrack

# Ricky Nelson - "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)"
# Little Peggy March - "Wind-Up Doll"
# The Angels - "My Boyfriend's Back"
# Bobby Vinton - "Blue Velvet"
# Elvis Presley - "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
# Ray Charles - "Hit The Road Jack"
# Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave"
# The Crystals - "He's a Rebel"
# Claudine Clark - "Party Lights"
# Kris Jensen - "Torture"
# Gene McDaniels - "Point Of No Return"
# Little Peggy March - "I Will Follow Him"
# Surfaris - "Wipe Out"

The Shangri-Las - "Leader of the Pack" (appears in another version).

External links

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4704748884284449320 The film itself on Google Video]
* [http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2007/10/1015-kenneth-anger-shorts-september.html Review by Ed Howard at Only The Cinema]