Troika (1969 film)

Troika
1969 promotional poster
Directed by	Fredric Hobbs Gordon Mueller
Written by	Fredric Hobbs
Produced by	Fredric Hobbs
Starring	Fredric Hobbs Richard Faun Morgan Upton Nate Thurmond Gloria Rossi Parra O'Siochain
Cinematography	William Heick [1]
Edited by	Gordon Mueller
Music by	Fredric Hobbs Gordon Mueller
Production company	Inca Films
Distributed by	Emerson Film Enterprises [2]
Release date	November 21, 1969 (1969-11-21)(New York City, New York)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Troika is a 1969 American comedy art film written, directed, and produced by artist-turned-filmmaker Carl Fredric Hobbs. It stars Hobbs, Richard Faun, Morgan Upton, Nate Thurmond, Gloria Rossi, and members of the San Francisco Art Institute. Its three parts are built around a fictional account of the director's attempt to gain financing for a film titled "Troika".

Hobbs conceived the outline after working with the filmmakers Ron Bostwick and Robert Blaisdell on the short film Trojan Horse. Inspired, he began to develop a "modern morality play", with a title borrowed from the Russian word for a set of three, embodied by the three overlapping segments. The film was shot in early to mid-1969, in various locations in and around California. The score was composed in a collaborative effort between Hobbs and the editor-co-director Gordon Mueller.

Troika was previewed on October 12, 1969, before officially premiering that year on November 8. It received little attention from film critics, with reviews being mixed to positive. Yet the film became foundational for Hobbs' career and led to his three other films, before he retired from the industry in the late 1970s. The film is largely unavailable to the general public, and has yet to receive a home media release. Hobbs blocked Troika releases on home video as he was unhappy with the final print. In 2022, a copy restored by Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts in collaboration with Hobbs' estate was screened at the Weird Weekend Cult Film Festival.

Plot

Abandons the conventional narrative structure, Troika consists of an introductory story and three parts, each told in differing narrative styles. Although the individual sections are not titled in the credits, Hobbs named them in an interview "The Chef", "Alma Mater" and "The Blue People". ^{[3] [4]}

The film opens with an artist—Fredric Hobbs portraying a fictional version of himself—as he paints on a blank canvas. The scene then transistions to a series of encounters between Hobbs and the Hollywood producer Gordon Goodloins (Richard Faun) as the former attempts to convince him to invest in a proposed art film titled Troika. Goodloins relents and agrees to hear out Hobbs' proposal. Later, the two men meet and discuss the cinematic connections between art and life concerning his vision for the film. Goodloins is unimpressed by the idea and rebuffs him, suggesting that there is no consumer demand for art films. The sequence ends with Goodloins driving off in a limousine as Hobbs angrily chases behind him, shouting, "Up yours, Mr. Goodloins!"

The Chef

In this segment, a chef wearing ritualistic face paint, begins crafting an alchemical and culinary brew inside a large vat, into which he throws items such as medals and emblems. Nearby, a homunculus (an artificial human) fashioned out of cloth lies inert as the chef uses pieces of it as ingredients for the concoction. Unsatisfied with the results, the chef introduces a woman, played by Gloria Rossi, covered in painted symbols. They dance before he throws her into the pot. Picking up a rose she had dropped, the chef gazes at it before also tossing it into the vat.

Alma Mater

Presented in documentary style, the second segment depicts a student demonstration in the late 1960s. It opens during a sit-in on a college campus as mounted police gather outside. In the classroom, students covered in white face paint rest on toilet seats and chaise longues while college professors lecture students. After six professors complete their lectures, the frustrated students boo a dunce-capped teacher out of the classroom.

The Blue People

The final segment opens with a train arriving at a grassy landscape. A tall insectoid named Rax (Morgan Upton), exits and travels to a nearby coastal hill. He is later attacked by a feral human (Parra O'Siochain), who leaves him for dead. Rax staggers onto a beach where he collapses and convulses in pain as an orange-colored woman (Rossi) emerges from the ocean, pushing a large sculpture. Seeing Rax, the woman turns towards him, caressing his wounds and eventually masturbating in front of him. The shot cuts to a seemingly rejuvenated Rax entering an icy cave where he meets a seven-foot-tall shaman known as the Attenuated Man (Nate Thurmond). Addressing Rax in distorted Arabic, he induces a vision of a sculpture of three corpse-like beings emerging from the cave's ceiling. Dispersed throughout the segment are clips of a procession of the blue people proceeding across an otherworldly countryside, accompanied by a strange vehicle. At this point, the segment cuts from the cave as Rax, alongside the Attenuated Man, joins the blue people who embrace him as their "savior". The procession escorts Rax in regal splendor as it marches through a ghost town, sparsely populated by blue and purple people, before they arrive at a railway terminal. There Rax bids the group goodbye as he boards the train, and the sequence ends with a shot of Rax as he merges with the sculpture of the three beings.

The film then cuts back to Hobbs as he has completed the painting, unveiled as a grotesque figure of a woman whose extended arm hangs the faces and forms of humanity. Satisfied with the painting, Hobbs exists the frame and the film ends.

Production

Development

Hobbs' sculpture The Trojan Horse (1964) as it appears in the film.

Hobbs graduated from Cornell University in 1953 with a bachelors degree in arts, and hoped for a career in the visual arts. ^{[5] [6]} Between the late 1950s and early 1960s, he produced a series of paintings and sculptures acclaimed for their unique and avant-garde style, ^{[7] [8] [9]} which explored environmentalist and spiritualist themes. In 1967, Hobbs collaborated with the filmmakers Ron Bostwick and Robert Blaisdell on a twenty-five minute ^{[Note 1]} documentary on his "parade sculpture" Trojan Horse, a metal sculpture bolted over a Chrysler chassis cab. ^{[12] [13] [14]} Hobbs financed the project in conjunction with the independent production company Inca Films. ^{[15] [16]} During the collaboration, he became fascinated with film as an art form and began to develop the concept for Troika, which he described as a "modern miracle play – but not underground". ^{[10] [15]}

Troika was developed during the late 1960s arthouse cinematic movement, ^[17] when visual style often too precedence over lineral narration. ^[17] While contemporary writers categorized the film as a comedy or art film, ^{[18] [19]} it incorporates several different narratives and genres for each segment. ^[10] Hobbs crafted Troika as a series of increasingly bizarre segments, with the final segment being his favorite. ^[10] The film expands upon Hobbs' prior works, exploring environmental and spiritual themes through series of images. ^[10] Religious motifs incorporated into the film were taken from various cultural backgrounds. The dialogue of the Attenuated Man, according to Hobbs, was taken from a portion of the Quran discussing the concept of Universal Brotherhood and modified later in post-production. ^[20] The procession sequence, where Rax is paraded through the ghost town, was inspired by the traditional religious processionals Hobbs had witnessed during a brief stay in Madrid. ^[21] Historical events were also used as inspiration for some of the film's sequences. For the "Alma Mater" segment, shot in the narrative style of an expressionist documentary film, Hobbs reportedly took his inspiration from the Kent State riots, ^[4] which occurred in 1967 and later in April 1969. ^[22]

Casting

Hobbs mainly cast unknown performers, several of whom had backgrounds in theatre. ^[23] Hobbs also appears as a fictionalized version of himself and as the chef and fantom characters. ^[24] The San Francisco-based basketball player Nate Thurmond plays the mystical Attenuated Man in the final segment; ^{[3] [4]} one writer described the character as a Christ-like figure. ^[25] Morgan Upton, later known for his roles as Wally Henderson in The Candidate (1972) ^[26] and Mr. Gilfond in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), ^[27] appears as Rax, the bug-man. ^{[3] [4]} Members of the San Francisco Art Institute were hired for several other roles, including the blue and purple people, and the students in the "Alma Mater" scene. ^{[28] [3]} Some of the characters in the marching sequence were student activists from the UC Berkeley School of Law. ^{[4] : 359}

Locations and filming

Facilities at the San Francisco Art Institute were used as one of the film's shooting locations.

Principal photography began in 1969. Gordon Mueller was hired as the editor and directed the scenes where Hobbs was on camera. ^[4] The photographer and filmmaker William Heick was brought in as cinematographer; he was a close friend of Hobbs and had worked with the filmmakers Sidney Peterson and Robert Gardner between 1948 and 1953. ^{[10] [29]}

The "Chef" sequence was shot inside a local brewery where the crew utilized the vat as a stand-in for the chef's alchemy pot. ^[4] The "Alma Mater" sequence was shot at the San Francisco Art Institute, with additional filming in Hillsborough, California. ^[30] The segment's documentary footage was shot during the 1960s Berkeley protests. ^[18] The ghost town in the final "Blue People" sequence was filmed in Collinsville, California, while the "otherworldly" landscape was shot in the outskirts of a town where a brush fire had recently occurred. Hobbs drilled the student activists portraying the characters in the marching sequence to march in step. ^{[4] : 359} Hobbs intended to include a sequence involving Thurmond's character as he runs alongside the skyline. The scene was filmed at Fort Cronkhite, but was abandoned when the military fired Nike missiles during an artillery exercise, ruining the shot. ^[31]

Hobbs designed the costumes and many of the background paintings and sculptures, many of which were artworks he had made earlier; notably the Trojan Horse appearing in the processional scene. ^[21] He produced the soundtrack with the co-director Mueller, generating sounds that Thrower described as echoing the works of the avant-garde composer La Monte Young. ^{[4] : 359}

Release

Promotional poster for the film for the Weird Weekend Cult Film Festival

Troika was first screened on October 12, 1969, and had its official premiere on November 21 in New York. ^{[28] [25]} The associated paintings and sculptures were exhibited at the John Bolles Gallery in San Francisco between November 1969 and January 1970. ^{[21] [30]} It was screened at the Granada Theater in Wilmington, California on November 28 as a double feature alongside John Perry's short film Dandelion (1969). ^{[32] [33]} During its release, some theaters ran advertisements with the caption "Means Three", ^[34] a translation of the Russian name the title was based on. ^[35] Troika aired on UK and Canadian television between May and December 1979. ^{[36] [37] [38]}

In later years, Hobbs repeatedly blocked its release on home video as he was dissatisfied with the quality of the print and was holding out to finish an edit ultimately never completed. ^[10] The only known print is stored at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives and includes additional materials. ^{[39] [40] [41]} Prints were unobtainable until October 2022 when the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, in collaboration with Hobbs' estate, acquired a copy for restoration efforts by the American Genre Film Archive. ^{[42] [41]} The film was screened for the first time in over fifty years at the Weird Weekend Cult Film Festival on October 28, 2022. ^[43] As of 2024 there have been no further announcements or screenings.

Reception

Reviews of Troika have been largely positive, with critics praising its unique visual style and narrative. In 1969, Howard Thompson of The New York Times highlighted the unconventional plot, describing the film as "a cluttered and disconnected collage of art objects, paintings, live-action fantasy and symbolism". ^[19] Its surreal and psychedelic visuals were also praised by video retail company Blockbuster Video, in their annual movie guide, described as a "wildly offbeat look at the movie business". ^[44] The TV Guide echoed this sentiment while also noting that the film would only appeal to viewers who did not mind its unconventional narrative. ^[45]

While the film's cinematography and narrative were generally well-received, they were criticized by some writers. Cue magazine described the cinematography as "grotesque", lambasting it as a self-indulgent parade of sequences "devoid of talent". ^[46] Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times wrote that the narrative was original but incoherent while the comedic elements were too heavy-handed to be funny. ^[18] The LA Times dismissed it "obscure and boring". ^[47] In a 1969 review, Wanda Hale of the Daily News wrote that while the film had artistic merit, it was compromised by "amateurish" production. ^[3]

Legacy

After the release of Troika, Hobbs developed three additional films in the 1970s. ^{[6] [14]} In 1970, Hobbs was approached by pornographic film producer Habib Afif Carouba who offered to fund the director's next film, with the stipulation that it would be an adult film. ^{[15] [48]} The resulting Roseland: A Fable (1970), is a surreal philosophical satire on the porn industry. The film gained controversy due to its sexual content, which was considered scandalous for a mainstream film at the time. ^[49]

In 1973 Hobbs increased his theatrical output, writing and directing what would be his final two films. ^[50] The first was Alabama's Ghost (1973), a horror film that combines the themes and motifs of blaxploitation and vampire films. ^[51] His final film, Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973), continued his exploration of the blaxploitation genre, placing the film in a horror western setting. ^[14] Both were critical and commercial failures, ^{[50] [52]} which, combined with behind-the-scenes conflicts with producers caused Hobbs to grow discontent with the film industry, who later retired from filmmaking. ^[50]

References

Notes

1. While some sources list the runtime as thirty minutes, ^{[5] [10]} a 1968 publication from the Library of Congress gives the runtime as twenty-five minutes. ^[11]

Citations

1. Nash & Ross 1985, p. 1290.
2. Aros 1977, p. 461.
3. Hale 1969, p. 56.
4. Thrower 2007, pp. 357–359.
5. Albright 1985, p. 107.
6. Thrower 2007, p. 363.
7. Olmsted 1962, pp. 36–37.
8. Polley 1963, pp. 16–17.
9. Frankenstein 1965, p. 26.
10. Thrower 2007, p. 364.
11. Library of Congress 1968, p. 487.
12. French 1968, p. 59.
13. The Art Gallery 1967, p. 59.
14. Hinckle & Hobbs 1978, p. 173.
15. Albright, Thomas (April 29, 1971). "Visuals: Two films from San Francisco artist Frederic Hobbs". Rolling Stone . Retrieved April 13, 2021.
16. Jimenez, Laird (July 3, 2018). "Fredric Hobbs And The Cult Afterlife Of GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS". Birth.Movies.Death . Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
17. Bordwell 1979, pp. 56–64.
18. Thomas 1969a, p. 106.
19. Thompson 1969.
20. Thrower 2007, p. 360.
21. French 1970, p. 78.
22. Means 2016, pp. 22–26.
23. Thrower 2007, pp. 372.
24. Lee 1972, p. 504.
25. Lewis 1969, p. 88.
26. Aros 1977, p. 64.
27. Welsh, Phillips & Hill 2010, p. 267.
28. "Troika". AFI Catalog. American Film Institute . Retrieved April 20, 2021.
29. Aitken 2013, p. 282.
30. Morch 1969, p. 51.
31. Lynch 1971, p. 8.
32. Los Angeles Free Press 1969, p. 6.
33. The Los Angeles Times 1969, p. 26.
34. Los Angeles Evening Citizen 1969, p. 8.
35. Thrower 2007, p. 357.
36. Red Deer Advocate 1979, p. 50.
37. Birmingham Post 1979, p. 1.
38. Edmonton Journal 1979, p. 90.
39. "Troika". Berkley.edu. University of California Berkeley . Retrieved August 20, 2023.
40. "Fredric Hobbs motion pictures--outtakes. Selects". Berkley.edu. University of California Berkeley. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
41. "Troika (Fredric Hobbs, 1969)". Weird Weekend Cult Film Festival. October 12, 2022. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
42. Matchbox Cine (October 12, 2022). "Matchbox Cine on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
43. "WEIRD WEEKEND III: Troika". Center for Contemporary Arts. October 28, 2022. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
44. Castell 1995, p. 1159.
45. "Troika - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide . Retrieved August 20, 2023.
46. Glankoff 1969, p. 3.
47. Thomas 1969b, p. 28.
48. Weldon 1996, p. 474.
49. Bladen 1971, p. 13.
50. Thrower 2007, p. 371.
51. Renshaw, Jerry (January 1, 1999). "Scanlines: Alabama's Ghost". The Austin Chronicle . Vol. 18, no. 18. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
52. Renshaw, Jerry (October 17, 1997). "Scanlines: The Godmonster of Indian Flats". The Austin Chronicle . Vol. 17, no. 7. Retrieved August 21, 2023.

Sources

Books

• Library of Congress Catalog: Motion Pictures and Filmstrips. Vol. 3. Library of Congress. 1968.
• Aitken, Ian (January 4, 2013). The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film (reprint ed.). Routledge. ISBN   978-1-1365-1206-3.
• Albright, Thomas (August 11, 1985). Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980: An Illustrated History. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-5200-5193-5.
• Aros, Andrew (January 1, 1977). An Actor Guide to the Talkies, 1965 Through 1974. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-1052-5.
• Castell, Ron, ed. (August 1, 1995). Blockbuster Video Guide to Movies and Videos, 1996. Dell Publishing. ISBN   978-0-4402-2114-2.
• Hinckle, Warren; Hobbs, Fredric (January 1, 1978). The Richest Place on Earth: The Story of Virginia City, and the Heyday of the Comstock Lode. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN   978-0-3952-5348-9.
• Means, Howard (April 12, 2016). 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence. Hachette Books. ISBN   978-0-3068-2379-4.
• Nash, Jay; Ross, Stanley (January 1, 1985). The Motion Picture Guide. Cinebooks. ISBN   978-0-9339-9700-4.
• Lee, Walt (January 1, 1972). Reference Guide to Fantastic Films: Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror. Vol. 3. Chelsea-Lee Books. ISBN   978-0-9139-7403-2.
• Thrower, Stephen (July 23, 2007). Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents. FAB Press. ISBN   978-1-9032-5446-2.
• Welsh, James; Phillips, Gene; Hill, Rodney (August 27, 2010). The Francis Ford Coppola Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-7651-4.
• Weldon, Michael (August 15, 1996). The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film. St. Martin's Press. ISBN   978-0-3121-3149-4.

Periodicals

• "Trojan Horse". The Art Gallery. Vol. 11. Hollycroft Press. 1967.
• "Troika". Los Angeles Free Press . Vol. 6, no. 280. November 28, 1969. p. 6. JSTOR   28039862.
• "'Troika' on Screen at Granada Theater". The Los Angeles Times . November 28, 1969. p. 26. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
• "Troika (Means Three)". Los Angeles Evening Citizen. November 29, 1969. p. 8. Retrieved August 20, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• "Troika (1969)". Red Deer Advocate . May 31, 1979. p. 50. Retrieved August 20, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• "Troika (1969)". Birmingham Post . September 8, 1979. p. 1. Retrieved August 20, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• "Troika (1969)". Edmonton Journal . December 28, 1979. p. 90. Retrieved August 20, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Bladen, Barbra (January 29, 1971). "The Marquee". The Times. p. 13. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Bordwell, David (Fall 1979). "The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice". Film Criticism. 4 (1). Allegheny College: 56–64. JSTOR   44018650.
• Frankenstein, Alfred (September 19, 1965). "The Russian Little Guy Comes Through". The San Francisco Examiner . p. 26. Retrieved June 21, 2024– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• French, Palmer (February 1968). "Reviews: San Fransisco". Artforum. Vol. 6, no. 6. p. 59. ISSN   0004-3532 . Retrieved June 23, 2024.
• French, Palmer (January 1970). "Reviews: San Fransisco". Artforum . Vol. 8, no. 5. p. 78. ISSN   0004-3532 . Retrieved June 23, 2024.
• Glankoff, Mort (1969). "Untitled". Cue . Vol. 38. North American Publishing Company. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
• Hale, Wanda (November 26, 1969). "Arty 'Troika' Has Limited Appeal". Daily News . p. 56. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Lewis, Dave (October 12, 1969). "Buckeyes Don't Rate as Playboys". Press-Telegram . p. 88. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Lynch, Jack (January 31, 1971). "The Essence of Filmmaker Hobbs Is an Elusive Business". The San Francisco Examiner. pp. 8–9. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Morch, Albert (November 7, 1969). "Games of Skill Aid Lamplighters". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 51. Retrieved April 3, 2024– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Olmsted, Robert (June 1962). "Fredric Hobbs". Artforum . Vol. 1, no. 1. pp. 36–37. ISSN   0004-3532 . Retrieved June 23, 2024.
• Polley, E.M. (March 1963). "Fredric Hobbs, Edward Quill Gallery". Artforum. Vol. 1, no. 9. pp. 16–17. ISSN   0004-3532 . Retrieved June 23, 2024.
• Thomas, Kevin (November 27, 1969). "Fredric Hobbs Features Trilogy in His 'Troika'". The Los Angeles Times. p. 106. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Thomas, Kevin (December 7, 1969). "Troika". The Los Angeles Times. p. 28. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).
• Thompson, Howard (November 26, 1969). "Screen: 'Troika' Arrives: Collage of Art Objects Marks Hobbs Film". New York Times . Retrieved April 3, 2024– via Newspapers.com (subscription required).

External links

• Troika at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Troika at AllMovie
• Troika at IMDb
• Troika at Rotten Tomatoes
• Troika at the TCM Movie Database
• Troika Press Book at the Internet Archive