A Gary Graver Movie

[Terry]

2004 documentary, apparently. I'd never heard of it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G9uPgI58yiA

[Mr. Bernstein]

Very interesting and l-o-n-g documentary. The laid back style is very similar to Orson's "Filming Othello". Perhaps we can refer to it as "Filming Gary Graver". Actually, there's quite a few neat, little clips from Gary's little known movies. I like how Gary tells it like it is on Part 1 when he says: "I've directed 20 films in 35 years. Most of them nobody's ever seen or heard of". Now that's honesty! RIP Gary & Jillian.

[Glenn Anders]

Yes, one can tell from the rasp in his voice, his exhausted manner, and the way he tugs up that collar around his throat that he is not well. This little film was probably like a final private testament, in the medium he obviously loved.

Thank you, once again, Hadji.

Glenn

[Harvey Chartrand]

Gary Graver directed THE BOYS, starring Cameron Mitchell and Peter Jason. It may be Graver's best film as a director, but chances are you'll never see it. THE BOYS (a heavy drama) was tampered with by its producers and turned into a good ol' boy comedy called TEXAS LIGHTNING (1981).

When the producers reshot the original uncompromising and deeply moving ending, Mitchell would not come back to redo those scenes. He said the powerful ending was one reason he did the movie. Mitchell's reaction shots were cleverly re-edited and so he does appear in the mutilated film's final scenes. The producers test-marketed the TEXAS LIGHTNING title and found out it was highly commercial, even though it has nothing to do with the story.

In A GARY GRAVER MOVIE, the late cinematographer/director/actor documents other such instances of excessive tampering of films he directed – the worst example being an almost total reworking of his horror thriller MOON IN SCORPIO (a vampire story shot on a boat, which sounds like Graver's attempt to film a B-movie version of THE DEEP). Graver claimed the original cut of MOON IN SCORPIO was excellent. He didn't know if it still existed.

Doesn't this all sound kind of familiar... like the indignities suffered by another more famous film director we all know and love (despite or because of his faults)?

To read that Welles agreed to edit a porno movie directed by Graver's alter ego Robert McCallum shows the trough into which the Great One had sunk. Maybe Welles should have taken some of those important phone calls he avoided earlier in his career.

As for BEGGARS WOULD RIDE, Welles' narration was added almost 20 years after this rather silly anti-war short subject was made. Possibly another example of Welles paying off a debt to Graver.

In the early to mid-sixties, Graver directed some very good short films but BEGGARS WOULD RIDE was not one of them. His best short subject was a compilation of hundreds of images of closed/abandoned/converted- to-other-uses/soon-to-be-demolished movie palaces taken during his travels around the world. This was definitely a labor of love, as the film – the title of which escapes me – was never released. It was certainly an editing achievement on a par with F FOR FAKE.

And yes, I thought there was a drastic change in Graver's appearance and voice since he appeared onscreen in the 1993 documentary WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES. Now we know why.

[LamontCranston]

Harvey Chartrand said
To read that Welles agreed to edit a porno movie directed by Graver's alter ego Robert McCallum shows the trough into which the Great One had sunk.

?!?!
I have never read that, link or source?

[Harvey Chartrand]

It's mentioned in Joe McBride's new book... What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career, according to a film scholar friend of mine. Big Ben writes:

"one arresting note in joe's book is that welles did a day's editing on "3 am" (graver's hardcore porn flick) to allow graver to do the other side of the wind that day...!"

[Le Chiffre]

To read that Welles agreed to edit a porno movie directed by Graver's alter ego Robert McCallum shows the trough into which the Great One had sunk. Maybe Welles should have taken some of those important phone calls he avoided earlier in his career.

I recently purchased a copy of 3AM, the porn flick Gary Graver directed (as Robert McCallum). The film has a lesbo shower scene in it that, according to WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ORSON WELLES, was edited by Welles himself. After viewing the scene I must say I was rather struck not only by it's intensity, but also by it's artistry (for a porn flick, that is). Not only the visuals, but the soundtrack is interesting too, with a wordless, moaning female singer that reminded me of George Antheil's score for the avante-garde horror classic DEMENTIA, as well as, strangely enough, the wailing female chorus in CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT's battle sequence. Since Welles considered editing to be THE most important aspect of filmmaking, should we consider this scene to be part of the Wellesian ouvre?

His best short subject was a compilation of hundreds of images of closed/abandoned/converted- to-other-uses/soon-to-be-demolished movie palaces taken during his travels around the world. This was definitely a labor of love, as the film – the title of which escapes me – was never released. It was certainly an editing achievement on a par with F FOR FAKE.

I'd like to see it. Jaglom did a similar thing when he set SOMEONE TO LOVE in a theatre earmarked for destruction. Maybe Welles had a hand in editing that one, too. I sympathize with Gary Graver's Welles-like battles with producers, and was amazed at some of the budgets he cited: 55K for TRICKS OR TREATS and 125K for MOON IN SCORPIO. That probably wouldn't pay for catering on most major Hollywood projects today.

Lock outs are common today. They're called "down-sizings," or "lay-offs," and our movies and other popular arts say little about them.

Most of our fine arts, as well as our popular art, is decorative, easily adapted to commercial advertising, of little lasting value to ordinary people, except as the sensory Muzak in their lives. We value our art, as we do everything else, by how much money it makes.

…learn some history of why our Popular Arts offer so many explosions, meaningless sexual encounters, fart jokes and appeals to our greed. The fact is that large corporate, political and commercial interests think we are stupid; they have profits and data to support that idea. In case you hadn't noticed, they have defanged the once dangerous beast known as American Art.