Movie Details
| Title: | The Fall | |
| Director: | Peter Whitehead | |
| Year: | 1969 | |
| Genre: | Documentary | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 07.31.06 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (1)
- Tonite Let's All Make Love in London
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 07.31.06 | Alamo Downtown | Supposedly Whitehead's masterpiece... Supposed to be a document of late 60s America along the same lines as he portrays Swinging 60s London in the other movie of his I saw. It's hard for me to believe that the 60s actually happened. Parts of it are really great, parts are really out there, and parts are pretty unwatchable. I thought it was over and then it went on for like another half hour. It also has some really amazingly pretentious title cards... and there's more of Whitehead in an editing room or making love to a hot model type than anything else... It's really almost impressive. One thing though. The whole movie is about all the problems America had during the 60s, and how those who stood up and voiced their opinions were repeatedly shut down, enforced, assassinated... It's not called "The Fall" for nothing... so in the midst of all this really 60s hippie struggle stuff with viet nam and race riots and RFk and whatnot, there's a scene where some pothead performance art type kills a chicken by thrashing it against piano wires. Granted, it's a pretty bad way for the chicken to go and any animal cruelty in film makes most of us squirm in a viscerally uncomfortable way... but it's a chicken. How many die every day for our nuggest and spicy chicken sandwiches? This is not the most tortured chicken in all of history. This one crazy woman one row behind me decides to shriek NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! when this stupid chicken dies. Like a pained can't-keep-it-in-anymore sorrowfull wail that was louder than the psychadelic rock soundtrack (and, sitting on row 3, that says something) that lingers for like 4 seconds before she shuts up again for the rest of the movie. This kind of makes me want to punch her in the face. Like, nah... I won't scare the shit out of everyone sitting near me for the killings of MLK or RFK... but goddamn if a chicken will gives its life without my valkyrie roar. Crazy. |
