American Stag
₱1,606.00
Product Description
From the birth of cinema through the 1960s in the United States, most pornographic films were brief, black and white, anonymously produced films known as stag films , blue movies , or smokers, so called because of the smoke-filled rooms where men would gather for private screenings. Initially shot on 35mm film, the advent of 16mm and 8mm consumer film stock allowed for production of about 1,000 of these films between 1915 and 1968. Benjamin Meade s American Stag examines the stag film not as much for the subject matter or lack of production value, but as a metaphor and reflection of American popular culture. Featuring film footage from the largest private stag film collection in North America, American Stag is an amazing study of a subterranean phenomena of cinema in the western world. Featuring interviews with Adam Carolla, Melvin Van Peebles, Tommy Chong, Barbara Hammer, Linda Williams, Chris Gore, David Skal, and Rupert Jee.
Review
This is quite an interesting look at the what were referred as stag films mostly made during what was considered The Golden Age of Hollywood. Of course, these silent, one-reelers, were made outside of the system of the time and before VHS, DVD, and the internet exploded. Interesting commentary from the likes of Tommy Chong and Adam Carolla as well as others. While there’s some sex scenes, whenever a woman is about to get a man’s penis out, the film cuts to avoid an NC-17 as I found out in the commentary track. One of the clips is of a notorious cartoon called Eveready Hardon in Buried Treasure which I reviewed on this site several years ago. Supposedly there are clips of Joan Crawford, Barbra Streisand, and Marilyn Monroe in these films but the commentary track contradicts that. Anyway, on that note, I recommend American Stag. –Rotten Tomatoes
About the Director
The son of a Baptist inner city minister (father) and a music teacher (mother), Benjamin Meade grew up in Kansas City under extreme adversity. A brain injury at the age of 11 left him unable to speak for nearly two years, forcing him to relearn language skills through cognitive trial and error. At an young age he began immersing himself with music, movies, and readings on contemporary philosophy. He attended the Music Conservatory in Kansas City studying six years with the piano, guitar, and several woodwind instruments. He and his two brothers formed the musical ensemble “Tuck Point” when he was 15. An Eagle Scout, at the age of 17 he put himself through college by playing in several different rock bands and working at an auto repair shop while pursuing a degree in filmmaking at Central Missouri State University. After graduating in 1977, he met and worked with Stan Brakhage in Boulder, Colorado for several months learning experimental film technique and aesthetic. Soon after, he was offered an entry level job at Universal Pictures in Los Angeles but soon returned to the mid-west hoping for a film community to develop. Discouraged from lack of employment opportunities in the film industry where he lived, he took a job as a financial services consultant with New England Financial and remained there for nearly three decades. He became partner of the firm at age 28 while spending time studying interests from chiropractic to law and earned a masters degree in American History, then a Ph D in Film and Theatre from the University of Kansas in 1999. While at Kansas, he again met Stan Brakhage who worked with him in the development of many short experimental films. While presenting a paper in Denmark in 1999, he met Laszlo Tarnay of Pecs, Hungary who invited him to teach there the following year. While teaching, he met Hungarian Filmmaker Andras Suranyi and made the controversial but touching film Vakvagany (2002) in 2001 (acquired by the Sundance Channel). He completed Das Bus in 2003 (acquired by the Sundance Channel), and 2004 co-produced Confederate States of America, directed by Kevin Willmott which played at