![]() Initially I was no more interested in ‘Him’ than any of the other films, it was only after I found people on web forums and blogs claiming that it had never existed, that the whole thing was a hoax, that I really got into researching it further. Anyway, of all the films mentioned on Pimpadelic Wonderland, ‘Him’ probably had the least info: just a newspaper ad and a note saying it was a gay porn take on the life of Christ. “Lost films remind us that that is not the case, which is sad, but there is an exciting side to it too the mystery and intrigue aren’t dead. “In this age of DVD imports and online streaming it sometimes feels like film is immortal, like we have access to everything ever made and always will,” said Captain Obscurity. Perhaps not surprisingly, Captain Obscurity also discovered “Him” via the brief mention on Pimpadelic Wonderland’s list of lost titles. Writing on a website called To Obscurity and Beyond, this intrepid cinematic detective has been able to dig up a surprising amount of detail about this elusive title. One person deserves credit for trying to piece together much of the mystery: a blogger that goes by the name Captain Obscurity. So, what was the story of “Him”? What was it really all about? And what became of the film? Perhaps the idea of a gay porn film about Jesus was too upsetting for some people to accept, hence the archivists’ fury. Back when “The Golden Turkey Awards” came out, I corresponded with the Medveds and they informed me that their essay on “Dog of Norway” was the hoax element of their book. To my utter amazement, the inclusion of “Him” on that list set off a firestorm among several professional archivists that were members of the Archive of the Moving Image Association’s list-serv – those scholars claimed that “Him” never existed, and their evidence was the claim by the Medveds that they intentionally planted a hoax film in “The Golden Turkey Awards.” The anger of the archivists was the subject of an article on Fishbowl NY, an online site covering the New York-area media industry, which only perpetuated the concept of “Him” as a nonexistent work.īut I knew that the professional know-it-alls were wrong about “Him” being a hoax. In 2008, I included the film in a Film Threat article on what I considered the top 50 lost film films of all time. The Pimpadelic Wonderland website tried to find “Him” but had no luck locating a print, and in 2003 it listed the film as lost. Wood Jr., who had ended his career making X-rated films under pseudonyms. The mystery surrounding this filmmaker led some Internet buzz generators to speculate that Mr. Louie as the director of this work – his name was nowhere to be found in any resource relating to adult cinema. Over the years, no trace of “Him” could be found beyond the Medveds’ book complicating matters was the Medveds’ mention of someone named Ed D. (Yes, back in the day Variety and other major media actually reviewed X-rated films playing in porn cinemas.) Whether the Medveds actually went to a gay porn theater to see the film is not clear – columnist Andrew Sullivan openly challenged Michael Medved for an answer, which Medved never provided – though from the description of the film in “The Golden Turkey Awards,” it is possible that Medveds may have learned of the film from a brief Variety review of the production. Ouch! And what caused that level of vituperative commentary? Well, it seems that “Him” was a gay porn film that incorporated the figure of Jesus Christ into its plot the authors took particular umbrage over a scene where a priest pleasures himself in a confessional booth. “Those pathetic few who might want to see ‘Him’ ought to come to the theater dressed in plain, brown paper wrappers, that hopefully cover their eyes along with the rest of their faces.” “For sheer tastelessness, this film has no equals,” the Medveds wrote. canon and the anti-classics “Robot Monster” and “Terror of Tiny Town” – emerging from obscurity and into the popular culture.īut one film in the book failed to emerge: a 1974 gay porn film called “Him,” which the Medveds cited as the prime example of the “Most Unerotic Concept in Pornography.” Indeed, the Medveds did not lavish their snarky humor in describing “Him,” turning instead to a level of self-righteous indignation over the film’s contents. The book created a new era of film appreciation, with a parade of so-bad-they’re-good flicks – most notably the Edward D. In 1979, Harry and Michael Medved released the book “The Golden Turkey Awards,” which celebrated what they considered to be the most outrageous bad movies of all time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |