This is topic COCKSUCKER BLUES (1972) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-16-2010, 02:24 PM:
 
It's the big, controversial Rolling Stones documentary by director Robert Frank. Only one 16mm print ever struck of the negs, which includes a lot of super 8mm footage, which when blown up to the screen in the museum theatre, looked uncomfortably soft. What's worse, he kept intercutting the 8mm with 16mm, making the soft focus that much more obvious. I gave up trying to focus.

The print was brittle -- I left a note that it should be treated with Film Guard to prevent it from being damaged further (quite a bit of splices throughout)

The big "controversy" surrounding this thing is that the filmmaker was given full access to the Stones on one of '69-'70s cross country tours and was able to film everywhere -- on stage, back stage, green rooms, the bus, the hotel rooms. But once the Stones saw the finished result which showed them as the Hedonistic, self absorbed, sexual abusing, women degrading, heroin shooting pigs that they are, they took the filmmaker to court to try to get exhibition of the film blocked from ever see the light of a lamphouse. The court almost gave in but gave Frank a slight out in that the ruling said he could show the film only once a year and he had to be present for a Q&A; the court seemed to think that if you dress a sow up in an evening gown, people won't notice that it's eating it's own shit. Evidently claiming that something is "educational" covers a lot of ills for these people with degrees after their names.

I suppose from a purely analytical perspective, this documentary does give an unsanitized look at "the boys" so it can be claimed that it is important to show future audiences the "real," uncensored life-style of these musicians. But I say, who really doesn't know that debauchery was part and parcel of that era for bands on the road? Talk about unsanitized, you walk out of this thing feeling you need to take a shower.

Let's see....there are scenes of rooms full of people drunk and/or high, some staring at blank walls in zonked out stupors, lewd carryings on with full fontal, naked women stroking their breasts and vaginas, penises dangling, hotel rooms strewn with liquor bottles, coke lines all over, a scene with a guy holding a naked girl at head height while he buries his head in her crotch as she screams for him to stop (today that piece of film would be evidence for an arrest for sexual assault), and the piece-de-resistance, long, close-ups of people shooting up heroin, you know, the shots where you get a good close-up look at the needle going into the arm. Simply delightful.

At one point you hear someone talking about how hot it is and everyone in the room (there are always more people in a room that the room can comfortably hold) is half naked and obviously sweating and uncomfortable and mostly looking very unwashed walking around aimlessly in this squalor, and the thought ran through my head, "Damn, that place must really STINK"....just like the movie.

The one thing it did reveal is that this band doesn't sound all that good in live performance. The sound was thin and their hit songs (only the scarce few that you actually got to see performed) don't sound very much like the quality that everyone has come to know from the studio releases.

And lastly, in the few stage sequence, Mick Jaggar did show off his signature jumping jack (flash) moves, but you know what, from the distance of more than few decades, what seemed outrageous and inventive back then, now just seems, well, pretty silly.

I agree with the court, but only in part; once a year is probably too many times for this thing to see the surface of a movie screen.

1/5
 

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Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 01-20-2010, 12:19 AM:
 
Looks to be for sale on EBAY in DVD form:
EBAY DVD
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-20-2010, 12:32 PM:
 
Yes, it seems to be available on DVD, but I am not sure it that is a legitimate copy or one that is the same cut as the film. I say this because we were specifically told we couldn't use the DVD or any video projection for that screening. We had asked because we were having trouble with the Eastman 25B and I wanted to run the DVD as a backup, but the organization that is licensing the court approved screenings insisted that we could NOT use the DVD, even as just an emergency backup. So we had to rent a second 16mm projector. I insisted on having a backup because if the Eastman crapped out, it would be the second time that a full house would have to be turn away with yet another "rain check," and most of that house were the same people who were turned away two weeks ago when the Eastman rubber coupling gave up the ghost. Having a second canceled show was something the museum couldn't face in terms of PR. Nor could I without very expensive medication.

It went off without a hitch
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 01-27-2010, 03:20 PM:
 
Frank is 85 years old. So when he eventually dies, no one can watch this unless you get a bootleg copy? So I guess, Robert Frank was there at this screening? I wonder if home video was stipulated in the ruling considering this was made long time ago. Or maybe they restricted it to only film based viewings.

Whenever people deride the hedonistic empty lives of today's stars, I think they need to get some perspective and read about the lives of some of these early rock n roll giants.
(P.S.: 85 years was obviously not a reference to you, Frank Angel).
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-27-2010, 04:03 PM:
 
No, Mr. Frank wasn't present, so I don't know if this ban has been altered over time, or if perhaps it had an expiration date. Also, the print was being sent to another museum right after our screening, presumably to be shown there, so the ban if not expired, has been changed.

I might add that in the broad sense any documentary like this certainly is valuable in the historic context. This is the value, indeed the essence, documentaries -- to make a record of times and events and cultures regardless of how distasteful or unpleasant the end result. I would not for a second critize it from that perspective; if a documentary filmmaker is pointing his camera at something horrific, then so be it. But for a general audience, this film was certainly far off the "entertainment" mark, even for a sophistocated NY audience.
 

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Posted by Matt Gress (Member # 5377) on 02-08-2010, 07:25 PM:
 
The airplane groupie-rape scene was staged. Robert Frank told them to do something worth filming. The camera used to shoot this film had a cracked lens filter. That's why the whole thing is blue. I'd love the opportunity to screen this sometime. I passed down my bootleg VHS recently when I found a bootleg DVD. It also looks like shit, but I supposed that's part of the charm.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-08-2010, 08:23 PM:
 
Ah....I guess that what I missed -- all that charm!

That's interesting for a documentary in that the ONLY redeeming value that could be argued about the worth of this title is that it is an unfettered look into the life-style of this celebrated band and its members. But if sections of it were staged, that pretty much knocks the legs out from under even the slimest justification for it. "Staging" is the mortal sin of a documentary. The great Disney himself actually apologized for the elaborate staging of the aminal sequences in his "True Live Adventure" movies, spending days getting the animals to do stuff that helped concoct a "story" around them and of course give them seemingly human emotions and motives.

Oh well, so much for getting an honest look at the "real" behind-the-scenes of the Rolling Stones.
 

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Posted by Matt Gress (Member # 5377) on 02-09-2010, 11:00 AM:
 
I was being facetious about the "charm". Not too many people can sit through this one. I do like the scene where they're waiting around in a random pool-hall in The South with a bunch of old black dudes who don't seem to care who they are.

I think staging a rape to seem real is just about as sick as filming a real rape. Many people must have shared that sentiment, as this film was fairly successfully repressed.
 

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Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 02-19-2010, 10:01 AM:
 
Certainly there was some mugging (or in this case raping) for the camera but overall you get a pretty good idea what it was really like living the life of a 1970 rock superstar. It's exactly what I thought it would be...and it's not pretty! I am not surprised the band tried to deep six it.
 

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Posted by Matt Gress (Member # 5377) on 02-27-2010, 12:28 PM:
 
You really get a sense of all the waiting around and traveling. Hours of stoned boredom. The hangers on are almost as interesting to me as the band. Seems like most of the criminal behavior is coming off of those people. My favorite candid live scene is when Jagger is singing into Stevie Wonder's mic and kinda screwing him up. You kinda feel sorry for defenseless Stevie sitting there blind, trying do do his thing and having a rooster on acid continually yelling into his mic. At some point, Jagger looks like he realizes what a dick he's being and gets away from him. I'm sure I'm giving this film too much consideration but I find it pretty compelling.
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-28-2010, 12:38 PM:
 
This just in:

quote:

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I should also add that the documentary mentioned at the end of the Times item [new DVD doc on the Stones] is supposed to include large sections of filmmaker Robert Franks legendary and highly litigated over the years Cocksucker Blues, a work said by those who've seen it (a group that does not include your humble scribe) to be pretty much the definitive document of the sort of rock decadence that was fashionable in the immediate exhausted wake of the 60s. I'm particularly looking forward to the topless footage of Bianca Jagger, but perhaps I've said too much.

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quote: Pravin Ratnam

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I am amazed the clips are on youtube and havent been flagged even for adult content.

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