Blonde Cobra

Last updated
Blonde Cobra
Directed by Ken Jacobs
StarringKen Jacobs, Jack Smith
Distributed by The Film-Makers' Cooperative
Release date
  • 1963 (1963)
Running time
33 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Blonde Cobra is a 1963 short film directed by experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs. Footage for the unique [1] and at the time controversial film was shot by Bob Flieshner. [2] Marc Siegel states that the 33-minute film is "generally considered to be one of the masterpieces of the New York underground film scene", and that it is a "fascinating audio-visual testament to the tragicomic performance of the inimitable Jack Smith", who was a photographer and filmmaker and "queer muse" in New York avant-garde art in the 1960s and 1970s. [3] The film is meant to be accompanied by the presence of a live radio during the screening. [4]

Contents

Plot

The film captures Smith wearing dresses and makeup, playing with dolls, and smoking marijuana. Paul Arthur writes that the film contains "dizzying quasi-autobiographical rants" which spin on sadism, and that like Jacobs' Little Stabs at Happiness, it contains "languid improvisations studded with the bare bones of narrative incident or, more accurately, its collapse". [2] The film contains Smith droning and singing and wildly cooing and cackling in parts of the film. The "lonely little boy" episode about a little boy living in a large house with 10 rooms has been cited as being "potentially repugnant to many viewers" because of its exploration of sadism against children and childhood sexuality. [3] [5] In this episode the narrator confesses to have "blown up the penis" of a 7-year-old boy with a match. The film contains numerous other elements which were shocking at the time of release such as references to necrophilia, the use of the word "cunt", the confession of a nun (impersonated in a posh high-pitched voice by Smith) to lesbianism, the holding of a giant would-be dildo, and a portrayal of transvestites. The film features quotes such as "Why shave when I can't think of a reason for living" and "life is a sad business", quoting Greta Garbo. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is then played, described as a "burlesque rendering" of Robert Siodmak's 1944 film Cobra Woman . [2] The last scene captures Smith stabbing a man in the chest. Hilary Radner and Moya Luckett consider the film to be a camp portrayal of Rose Hobart . [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sadomasochism</span> Sexual practice

Sadism and masochism, known collectively as sadomasochism, are the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term originates from the names of the Marquis de Sade, a French nobleman known for his libertine sexuality, and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian writer who described masochistic tendencies in his works. Sadomasochism is a subset of BDSM, a variety of erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism.

Lyn Hejinian was an American poet, essayist, translator, and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is known for her landmark work My Life, as well as her book of essays, The Language of Inquiry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Wilder</span> American actor (1933–2016)

Gene Wilder was an American actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker. He was mainly known for his comedic roles, but also for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He collaborated with Mel Brooks on the films The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974), and with Richard Pryor in the films Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blonde stereotype</span> Stereotypes of blond-haired people

Blonde stereotypes are stereotypes of blonde-haired people. Sub-types of this stereotype include the "blonde bombshell" and the "dumb blonde". Blondes have historically been portrayed as physically attractive, though often perceived as less intelligent compared to their brunette counterparts. There are many blonde jokes made on these premises. However, research has shown that blonde women are not less intelligent than women with other hair colors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saul Landau</span> American journalist (1936–2013)

Saul Landau was an American journalist, filmmaker and commentator. He was also a professor emeritus at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he taught history and digital media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthology Film Archives</span> Center for film preservation in Manhattan, New York

Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. The film archive and theater is located at 32 Second Avenue on the southeast corner of East 2nd Street, in a New York City historic district in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Smith (film director)</span> American filmmaker (1932–1989)

Jack Smith was an American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema. He is generally acclaimed as a founding father of American performance art, and has been critically recognized as a master photographer.

Structural film was an avant-garde experimental film movement prominent in the United States in the 1960s. A related movement developed in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

<i>Flaming Creatures</i> 1963 experimental film by Jack Smith

Flaming Creatures is a 1963 American experimental film directed by Jack Smith. The film follows an ensemble of drag performers through several disconnected vignettes, including a lipstick commercial, an orgy, and an earthquake. It was shot on a rooftop on the Lower East Side on a very low budget of only $300, with a soundtrack from Smith's roommate Tony Conrad. It premiered April 29, 1963 at the Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village.

Cinemation Industries was a New York City-based film studio and distributor owned, Run and founded by exploitation film producer Jerry Gross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Jacobs</span> American experimental filmmaker (born 1933)

Ken Jacobs is an American experimental filmmaker. His style often involves the use of found footage which he edits and manipulates. He has also directed films using his own footage.

<i>The Planters Wife</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

The Planter's Wife is a 1952 British war drama film directed by Ken Annakin, and starring Claudette Colbert, Jack Hawkins and Anthony Steel. It is set against the backdrop of the Malayan Emergency and focuses on a rubber planter and his neighbours who are fending off a campaign of sustained attacks by Communist insurgents while also struggling to save their marriage.

Heritage film is a critical term to refer to a cluster or cycle of late 20th-century British films that were argued to depict the United Kingdom of the pre-World War II decades in a nostalgic fashion. Although this term was originally used to discuss the film genre polemically, its use has broadened out, and it is now also used more loosely to refer to period films with high-quality visual production values, including those produced in France, other European countries and beyond.

<i>Filmmaker</i> (magazine) American publication about film, founded 1992

Filmmaker is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP, which acts in the independent film community.

<i>The Flanagan Boy</i> 1953 film by Reginald Le Borg

The Flanagan Boy is a 1953 British film noir directed by Reginald Le Borg. It was made by Hammer Film Productions and stars Barbara Payton, Tony Wright, Frederick Valk and Sid James. It was based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Max Catto.

Chick flick is a slang term for the film genre catered specifically to women's interests, and is marketed toward women demographics. They generally tend to appeal more to a younger female audience and deal mainly with love and romance. Although many types of films may be directed toward a female audience, the term "chick flick" is typically used only in reference to films that contain personal drama and emotion or themes that are relationship-based. Chick flicks often are released en masse around Valentine's Day.

The Millennium Film Workshop is a non-profit media arts center located in New York City. It is dedicated to the exhibition, study, and practice of avant-garde and experimental cinema. It was also where the St. Mark's Poetry Project began. Ken Jacobs stated in 2013 that he chose the name Millennium "...because it would have to be that to actually give out equipment, education, space to work in, etc. for free. Dictionary definition: 'A hoped for period of joy, serenity, prosperity and justice.' "

Beverly Grant was an actress and filmmaker who appeared in films by Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Gregory Markopoulos, Ira Cohen, Ron Rice, and Stephen Dwoskin, on the off-off Broadway stage in works by Ronald Tavel and LeRoi Jones, as well as collaborated with her one-time husband, experimental filmmaker and musician, Tony Conrad. Smith, the avant-garde filmmaker of Flaming Creatures and Normal Love, in which Grant appeared, called her "the queen of the underground – both undergrounds."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piero Heliczer</span> Italian-American poet, publisher, actor and filmmaker

Piero Heliczer was an Italian-American poet, publisher, actor and filmmaker associated with the New American Cinema.

Hilary Ann Radner Fox is an American–New Zealand film and media studies academic, and is a professor emerita at the University of Otago. Radner researches representations of gender in visual culture.

References

  1. Snow, Michael (1994). The Collected Writings of Michael Snow. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 285. ISBN   978-0-88920-243-6.
  2. 1 2 3 Pierson, Michele; James, David E.; Arthur, Paul (19 April 2011). Optic Antics: The Cinema of Ken Jacobs. Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN   978-0-19-538497-0.
  3. 1 2 Schneider, Steven Jay (1 October 2012). 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2012. Octopus Publishing Group. p. 409. ISBN   978-1-84403-733-9.
  4. "Blonde cobra / a philm by Bobby Fleischner [and Ken Jacobs] with Jacky [i.e. Jack] Smith". UC Berkeley Library. UC Berkeley. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  5. Moon, Michael (January 1998). A Small Boy and Others: Imitation and Initiation in American Culture from Henry James to Andy Warhol . Duke University Press. p.  88. ISBN   0-8223-2173-4.
  6. Radner, Hilary; Luckett, Moya (1999). Swinging Single: Representing Sexuality in the 1960s. University of Minnesota Press. p. 69. ISBN   978-0-8166-3351-7.