I'm more of a peripheral student of the 1970's New York art film scene, and continually finding surprising new things to look at in that loose genre, I haven't worn it to a nub as with other film genres that I've studied since those days. Much of the interesting stuff from back then was really hard to see, it wasn't on cable or videotape - you had to know somebody. Recently my pardner was looking at film clips of legendarily-edgy actor Rip Torn and she pulled up this stunning scene from the end of Norman Mailer's self-written and directed 'Maidstone' (1970), and I found it a very compelling piece of footage, as I love studying very exreme theater and film experiments, and this one appeared to have gone totally haywire, or not; in my opinion, even though Torn is clearly high as a kite, he pushed the film into its most memorable area, reminding me of some scary psychodramatic theatrical 'happenings' that I've witnessed where there was little or no line between the 'drama' and the 'reality' of the moment. And of course Mailer makes such a ripe target to mess with. Some of the many famous names involved with this project were: D. A. Pennebaker, Isaac Hayes, and Ultra Violet. Even though this scene is rather harsh and scary (with some strong NSFW language), it's also hilarious in a David Lynchian kinda way, as it seems 'out of control' somewhat, but since the camera operator just keeps on running, and no one jumps in very soon to 'save' Mailer, at this point in the filming they must have known good and well what they were getting into.
Also included for your edification, the trailer from another Torn opus 'Coming Apart'... Enjoy.
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