Andy Warhol

[sevenarts]

How can tnhey own distribution rights to them? Distribution rights are in the hands of Museum of Modern Art...

These are bootlegs.

Well the materials for the films were provided by the Warhol Foundation, so if they're bootlegs then Warhol's own estate is involved in the bootlegging.

[Lino]

Well the materials for the films were provided by the Warhol Foundation, so if they're bootlegs then Warhol's own estate is involved in the bootlegging.

Exactly. Which is absolutely not true at all. David, why don't you email Raro Video yourself about all of this (and contact a lawyer while you're at it; you might even get some free DVDs, who knows? ).

[David Ehrenstein]

It's not for me to contact a lawyer. That's up to the Warhol estate.

Raro Video appears to be an Italian company. I have no idea as to how they got hold of these particular titles. But they are NOT their property.

[Cobalt60]

I'm gald to see Rosenbaum included Whale's oft over looked 1932 masterpiece "The Old Dark Horse", many a cinephile will tell you it doesn't even exist.

Kind of takes the venom out of making fun of someone else's typo when you make one yourself.

It sure as hell does, that's awesome. Its way funnier that the joke boomeranged back on me.

[Lino]

Raro Video appears to be an Italian company. I have no idea as to how they got hold of these particular titles. But they are NOT their property.

Does a company actually have to own films as property in order to distribute them?

[zedz]

Raro Video appears to be an Italian company. I have no idea as to how they got hold of these particular titles.

Through the Warhol Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art, as repeatedly stated. The Foundation is all over these editions, and MoMA is credited onscreen in most cases and on the packaging of Chelsea Girls at least. So somebody at MoMA supplied Raro with digital transfers of the films from their prints - not a service I expect they provide for your common or garden bootlegger.

That's the prima facie evidence that these discs were legitimately licensed. If you want to dispute that, by all means present your counter-evidence.

[In Heaven]

Is this RARO dvd sale they're having now really worth it? Are they good dvds and all? I'm very interested, but it is a hundred...

[Lino]

Is this RARO dvd sale they're having now really worth it?

The sale ended January, 7th. It was 30% off every item.

[denti alligator]

Is this RARO dvd sale they're having now really worth it?

The sale ended January, 7th. It was 30% off every item.

The Warhol set is still 25% off. I just ordered it.

[zedz]

They also used to offer % discounts for ordering multiple titles - don't know if that still applies. They can be hit and miss, but there are plenty of excellent titles - see the Raro thread for more info. Their sparkling Medea is essential, I believe they have some great Godard releases, and their Oshimas are middling (but the films are decidedly not).

[zedz]

Last lap:

The Nude Restaurant

A terrific film, driven along by the force of Viva's personality. She spends much of the film free-associating, and she's great. Her sparring partner is the equally appealing Taylor Mead (who takes over towards the end of the film with a very amusing encounter with deserter Julian Burroughs). The film has a freshness and innocence that's infectious. More strobe cuts, but this is a film in which content dominates form.

Lonesome Cowboys

A somewhat awkward, transitional film, paving the way for Morrissey's more accomplished genre subversions. To me, the film resembled a (nominally) grown-up game of cowboys-and-indians, with home-movie roughness and seat-of-your-pants improvisation. The genre and plot stuff was less convincing than the free-form observational elements. Nobody makes much of an effort to stay in period (or in character) and the soundtrack is filled with the mumblings of the crew (or passersby) and overhead aeroplanes. Viva and Taylor are back, enlivening the screen.

Both discs offer decent transfers from rough elements and brief contextualising interviews with a Warhol Foundation spokesperson as extras.

[David Ehrenstein]

The Nude Restaurant is terrific. There's a marvelous moment when Viva suddenly realizes that Taylor Mead hasn't been paying attention to a word she's been saying, and complains about it. He says the sound of her voice is all he really needs to hear.

"Julian Burroughs" took his name after that of the author of Naked Lunch. No idea who he actually is (was). But he sure is (was?) pretty!

Lonesome Cowboys is more Paul's film than Andy's. Eric Emerson teaching ballet exercises is hilarious and Tom Hompertz is gorgeous.

[Matt]

"Julian Burroughs" took his name after that of the author of Naked Lunch. No idea who he actually is (was).

If he appeared in a Warhol "screen test," there is probably some more information in the catalog raisonné. That's how I discovered the real name of the guy in Blow Job (and submitted it to IMDb). I'll look when I get home from work (if I can remember).

[David Ehrenstein]

Here's what the IMDB says

[Matt]

He doesn't appear in the catalog raisonné (but that only covers the "screen tests.")

[Anonymous]

BLOW JOB, BEAUTY #2 and CHELSEA GIRLS are absolutely great works of genius. But I tend to think of the SCREEN TESTS as Warhol's finest achievement. The wide variety of faces captured on film, running in silent speed, reduces cinema to its barest essentials and yet creates such an overwhelming emotional depth and delicacy. One doesn't need to see all of them, but I'm sure that ten screen tests will suffice to convince even a neophyte of Warhol's centrality in the film world.

[Lino]

I have been going through the Warhol set and amazingly (for me, anyway) I still haven't watched any of the DVDs yet because I have been immersing myself in the reading of all the fantastic and highly informative booklets the films come with. Gathering informations from all kinds of sources, they manage to give the reader many facts about the making of these films and the people behind them but in a way that is highly imparcial, offering different views and perspectives from many and varied writers.

Now off to those groundbreaking pieces of filmmaking!

[Max von Mayerling]

Raro is selling all its Warhol dvds at 30% off - through tomorrow (March 31), in honor of the anniversary of his death (?). Sorry for the late notice - I just discovered this today (and promptly placed an order).

Also, it appears that Mr. Ehrenstein is correct - these are bootlegs. So said a curator at the Andy Warhol Museum circa 2004.

[David Ehrenstein]

My friend Bill Jones (a great filmmaker in his own right) bought the Raro set and says it looks quite good. I'll have to borrow it from him to check.

[denti alligator]

Also, it appears that Mr. Ehrenstein is correct - these are bootlegs. So said a curator at the Andy Warhol Museum circa 2004.

But is it the Warhol Museum who actually owns the rights? Isn't it the Warhol Foundation? (same thing?)

[Max von Mayerling]

Also, it appears that Mr. Ehrenstein is correct - these are bootlegs. So said a curator at the Andy Warhol Museum circa 2004.

But is it the Warhol Museum who actually owns the rights? Isn't it the Warhol Foundation? (same thing?)

I would say that the Foundation controls the rights.

But I imagine the museum and the Foundation are pretty tight. This link suggests that the museum has some role in questions related to licensing the films, whether on their own or as a gateway to the Foundation.

Of course, just because someone from the museum said "Empire" is a bootleg, it doesn't necessarily mean they're all bootlegs. But it does suggest that Raro & the Warhol rights holders are not necessarily the best of buddies.

[denti alligator]

Shouldn't it be possible to rip the Raro versions of Kiss and Blow Job onto one's harddrive and somehow change their length so as to correspond to 16 fps and then re-burn them? I'm toying with how one would do this but can't figure it out. Surely this can't be that hard to do.

[Zillertal]

it's possible, but it takes a lot of work, just use a program like dvd shrink to copy the vob files and Ifo of the part of the dvd you want, convert the vob to mpeg2 and edit it, with adobe première or a similar video editing program. But you can have some serious ghosting problems if you mess with the frame rate and you dont know what you are doing...

[Antoine Doinel]

Amy Taubin interviews Gus Van Sant about the films of Andy Warhol.

It appears back in 1989, Universal asked Van Sant to write a script for a Warhol biopic but it ultimately was turned down by the studio. Does anyone know what Van Sant's take on Warhol was?

[David Ehrenstein]

All I know is that River hoped Gus would cast him as Andy -- and dyed his hair white with that prospect in view.