Andy Warhol’s Bad / Bad (1977)
“People are so sick. The more you see ’em, the sicker they look. You could be so nice, if you didn’t wanna be a creep!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Peary goes into further detail about this absurdly dark comedy in his first Cult Movies book, where he points out “it has always been the intention of Warhol and his directors to ‘disturb’ the American audience’s movie-watching sensibilities as conditioned over the years by the dominant Hollywood product.” Warhol forces us “to accept his redefinition of cinema” — indeed, his characters “are so nasty that they’d give that Richard Widmark villain of Kiss of Death (1947), who kicks an old lady in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, a good run for his money.” For instance, “working on a contract for Mrs. Aiken, P.G. [Stefania Casini] lowers a car on a garage mechanic’s legs”; a mother (Susan Blond) who’s “too impatient to wait for the hired assassins” “tosses her crying baby out the window herself; Glenda [Geraldine Smith] and Marsha [Maria Smith] even go so far as to stab a dog with a sharp knife.” And that’s not even mentioning the wanton pyromania that goes on in both a movie house and a car. I’m curious how many film fanatics these days are familiar with and/or interested in Warhol’s work, given that more recent directors have continued to push the envelop in terms of what’s “acceptable” to put on screen or not — however, Warhol’s film-making factory remains an important enough part of underground cinema history that I believe his major films (like this one) should continue to be one-time must-see viewing. Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Categories
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One thought on “Andy Warhol’s Bad / Bad (1977)”
Agreed; a once-must cult flick. As per my 10/6/19 post in ‘Revival House of Camp & Cult’ (fb):
This is a genuine (and under-appreciated) cult classic… if you can get beyond the admittedly disgusting opening sequence. Highly unlikely it will ever be restored (much less given the 4K treatment) so most prints might be inferior.
How the hell they ever got Carroll Baker to agree to this is a small ‘miracle’ but it’s doubtful she’s ever been funnier. Same goes for Susan Tyrrell and Perry King. Very special mention goes to Stefania Casini. Even Lenny Bruce’s daughter Kitty is here!
On a sad note: Director Jed Johnson (this was the only film he directed but he had edited ‘Blood for Dracula’, ‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ and ‘Heat’) was on-board an ill-fated TWA flight in 1996 (concluded as not terrorist-related but most likely a short circuit).
Most interesting tidbit: a friend of mine was an art appraiser and was often called on to evaluate the Warhol collection – so he knew many in that crowd and had met Pat Hackett, who wrote ‘Bad’. What he said about her shocked me: You would think from watching the film that Hackett had a wicked sense of humor but, according to my buddy, she had absolutely NO sense of humor at all – in fact, she was on the glum side. So whatever humor comes from the film is a result of how the actors played their parts and how Johnson directed.