Scorpio Rising (1963) User Reviews

Blue Velvet Underground

[Lechuguilla · 8/10 · 27 January 2012]

One of Kenneth Anger's most popular and thematically accessible short films, "Scorpio Rising" consists of a series of montage images overlain by thirteen pop songs of the early 1960s. The film expresses nonconformist themes that herald the onset of the American counterculture movement. As the visuals focus on a group of New York City motorcyclists, viewers perceive a bohemian lifestyle, a nihilistic subtext, elements of erotica, and an amusing sense of irony from the juxtaposition of images and music.

There is no plot, no dialogue, no sets, no acting. Anger simply records on camera what he finds as he happens onto these bikers, who are not actors. Sans music, the film could easily be thought of as a polished home movie. It conveys a sense of realism and frankness. Cinematography is somewhat grainy; colors are muted. There are many close-up camera shots, and quite a few extreme close-ups.

The music gives thematic depth to the images and imposes varying moods and feelings, not the least of which is nostalgia, along with melancholy, lost childhood, rebellion, humor, and just a hint of fatalism. Probably one of the better sequences is the Bobby Vinton recording of "Blue Velvet" recorded over images of a couple of young guys who don their biker uniforms. A sequence or two in the middle seems either unnecessary or out of place. Editing is a bit fast and erratic in the second half.

Prospective viewers should expect the unexpected, given that "Scorpio Rising" is a 1960s underground film. It is definitely different. This is one of several that Anger made, all experimental. In retrospect, he can be thought of as a poetic visionary whose cultural influence is still being felt in the 21st century, especially in cinema.

Popular as Anger's most famous, recognized as his apotheosis

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 28 February 2008]

In terms of Kenneth Anger, it's all here: his artifice, his glamour, his homosexuality, his rebellion, his tongue-in-cheek irony, his love of the process of dressing, his soft-focus romanticism, his use of "found audio" in popular music, his stagy quality, and his formal experimentation. He builds the story of a biker from slow to fast as the biker named Scorpio works on the machinery, dresses in the garb/drag/costume of his rebellious role, purveys homoerotic content in pop-culture contexts, leads a bike gang, and crashes and demises. In the meantime, Scorpio is compared to Jesus, Hitler, and Brando. "Magick" is never far away in the forms of skulls, necromancy, and the shifting alchemical symbols of various multi-identity tropes.

--PolarisDiB

Scorpio Rising

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 10 December 2016]

I found this short film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I remember seeing the image of a character wearing a military cap and smoking a cigarette, and I was intrigued by the title, so I hoped for something good. Basically the film sees a group of homosexual Nazi bikers getting ready for a night out, building their bikes, dressing themselves in leather, and partaking in a cult night out, with pain and pleasure. There is no dialogue in the film, but there are flashes of footage from The Wild One with Marlon Brando and Cecil B. DeMille's religious epic King of Kings with Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ, and the editing moves with the rhythm of the rock and roll soundtrack, including Bobby Vinton – "Blue Velvet", Elvis Presley – "(You're the) Devil in Disguise", Ray Charles – "Hit the Road Jack", The Crystals – "He's a Rebel", and Surfaris – "Wipe Out". Starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio, Johnny Sapienza as Taurus, Frank Carifi as Leo, Bill Dorfman as The Back, John Palone as Pinstripe and Ernie Allo as Joker. It is a very simple film, gay bikers getting ready for a night on the town and masochism, the key themes of the film are the occult, biker subculture, homosexuality, Catholicism, and Nazism, so it is a tasteless film in many ways, but that makes it all the more interesting, a surprisingly watchable short underground experimental film. Very good!

One of the best experimental films ever shot

[CoreyBoy86 · 9/10 · 28 March 2006]

Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising", set to the tune of thirteen 1960's pop songs, ranks as one of the best films ever shot in the experimental genres, which to some people might translate as the best pile of dog poop ever made, but in terms of visual imagery, context, and use of music, it ranks up there as one of the most important films of the 60's. Kenneth Anger's trademarks (outsider as protagonist, homosexual iconography, pop culture looked at in a different light) are at their most poignant here with most memorable scenes set to 'Blue Velvet", "I Will Follow Him", and "Wipe Out". Also classic is the use of clips from Cecil B. DeMille's "King of Kings" of Jesus and his disciples walking superimposed between shots of gay bikers. A classic piece of Americana.

He's a rebel

[matt-201 · 14 April 1999]

Ever sit there looking at a Michael Bay movie, or a Martin Scorsese movie, or a Portishead video, or a CK1 commercial, and think, "So where did this come from, anyway?" The answer is Kenneth Anger's remarkable 1964 short film, the barbaric birth yawp of modern (and postmodern) cinema as we know it. Ostensibly a fetishistic self-generated porn reel, made, as Genet wrote his fiction, for the maker's masturbatory pleasure, SCORPIO RISING pulls together unlicensed pop songs with obsessive images of hunky guys, leather, chrome, comic strips, and death, to create a code for the programming of music, picture, and unspoken content that would go on to inform everything you see from Nicolas Roeg to VH-1. God knows where poor Anger is rubbing two nickels together, but tonight, say a prayer of thanks for the guy who made all your culture, the good, the bad and the ugly, possible.

"It's like a HEATWAVE!"

[Quinoa1984 · 9/10 · 10 May 2016]

I know I'm not the first person to point this out, but I'm fairly certain without this uncanny, sort of experimental short film (I say 'sort of' since it's experimental mostly in it having a lack of a clear story and definable characters, but more on that just a moment), we wouldn't have Martin Scorsese. It may seem obvious to some, but it's confirmed when reading the book of interviews he did with Richard Schickel several years ago, when he recalled seeing the film when it was first released - in an underground format, as it was that kind of picture, on someone's rooftop or in a basement or other - and that it really made an impact that he couldn't articulate.

Seeing this today it's somewhat easy to see why: the rock and roll music, the emphasis on montage that cuts in flow and sync with the image, and how the image of a man is based on how he looks (we see in Mean Streets and Taxi Driver how a man looks will define him, both in clothes and in style, i.e. Travis Bickle or, on the comedic side, the awkardness of Pupkin). There may have been some influence on Lynch too, if only through the 'Blue Velvet' song, though somehow, someway, I think Anger comes away with using the song in a more iconic way: a soothing tale of a woman putting on and being beautiful in a dress juxtaposed with a man putting on his jeans and jacket and being in front of the camera like 'yeah, what?' It's probably in a mocking tone that Kenneth Anger shows his figures in biker garb, and yet it's hard to tell exactly what the intention is. This is not a bad thing; the way it's presented different people will take away different aspects. If it is satirizing the culture of rebellion it's that it's like, 'well, this guy thinks he's tough and manly and yet wait until that erect genitalia comes out' (and if you look close enough it's not hard to miss, no pun intended).

The majority of this film is really about its style, if that makes sense. The first 16/17 minutes is simply seeing set up. We don't know what for since there are no characters and there's no dialog: the soundtrack is made up of songs (really great ones by Elvis and Ray Charles and Martha and the Vandellas and the Crystals and so on) and sometimes the sound of motorcycles revving up. So it's all about ritual - how to put together the bicycle, how a little kid (who is only there briefly) plays with his toys, and how the men put on their jackets and rings and stand in front of the camera like any moment they might just start masturbating to their own image. As if by some happenstance as well (according to Anger this was a coincidence by some miracle) The Wild One is on TV, which lends this to being akin to Godard's Breathless as far as figures trying to attain their ideal images.

Only this isn't Brando; these bikers are, I think gay Nazis(?) It's hard to tell exactly, but then the substance in this case *is* the style. I'm still pondering over what the religious symbolism means as well, as Anger cuts in shots from some other black and white film showing Jesus (I think it's him, he had the beard and all). Is this meant to be mocking as well, as if to say 'well, you think YOU got a crew?' This was lost on me as I was watching it, but it's fine to think about it later on too.

The whole experience of Scorpio Rising is just one of total fascination. There's nothing as far as there being a concrete story - maybe there is one and I just missed it - but as far as simply showing us things, it's an excellent example of how to marry image and music. Without the songs this wouldn't really be all that much, just a lot of well-shot but randomly and at times very wildly cut together images of male perversity and hedonism (and sometimes just showing us shots of bikers riding around is simple). But you get the sense that in a weird way this is almost like a documentary of how men who go into the world of dangerous rebellion see themselves, and to go one further how if you do happen to be a gay nazi motorcycle man who gets in leather and rides around and does things with other men... well, do these guys even exist? Probably, or probably not.

For Kenneth Anger there's some satire to mine in the ritual of getting ready, the image of over-hyper-WTF-masculinity, and how far the world of Marlon Brando and his "What are you rebelling against" "Whaddaya got?" can go. It's sophisticated and daring and campy and deranged, and it feels still fresh today in its craft that it almost doesn't feel like it's from 1964, rather that it's from the 1990's and it's looking back at that period - it's post-modern to the core.

King of Kings Reference

[mondocane69 · 10/10 · 28 February 2008]

During the early 80's I attended many screenings where Anger was present to introduce "Scorpio Rising." The clips of Jesus are not from "King of Kings" as one viewer wrote,but according to Anger, the clips are from a religious instruction film that he received by mistake one day while he was editing the film. He took it as sign to use some clips in the film. This is a great work of art and one of the best and most influential underground films ever created. It's influence on the modern music video and other aspects of popular culture cannot be dismissed. I urge everyone to get the 2 volume DVD set that's out now. Check out Anger's other films among them "Puce Moment," "Rabbit's Moon," and "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome."

"It's my happening and it freaks me out!"

More of a straight forward documentary than other Anger films.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 5 December 2009]

This is from the second DVD of a set called "The Films of Kenneth Anger"--a collection of avant garde films by this odd film maker. I found the first disk to be more satisfying--the second has a lot about Aleister Crowley and Satanism that I found a bit dreary.

The synopsis listed on IMDb is incorrect. I watched this film and listened to Kenneth Anger's commentary and the bikers are NOT meant to be gay Nazis. While they might appear to be homosexuals to some, Anger explains that you don't see their girlfriends who are off camera because the bikers didn't want them in the film. And, incidentally, the Nazi imagery and paraphernalia that appears later in the film was the property of the film maker---not the bikers. And, incidentally, Anger did not say he was making a film about gays or Nazis--the swastikas were there more for a sense of alienation and contempt for social norms.

The film follows a biker nicknamed 'Scorpio' as he does some of his normal routine (such as getting dressed and hanging out with his cats--the feline type). In addition, the biker and his friends put on a show for Anger--dancing about and acting up in a soon to be demolished church. Afterwords, you see scenes from a motorcycle race in which a guy is killed right in front of the camera (he breaks his neck). Anger chose to keep the footage as well as a closeup of the dead man's face as a shocking ending to the film.

While the film has a lot of artsy touches, this is a mostly documentary style film set to 60s biker music and with no dialog. It's not high art or something that the average person would enjoy, but it's moderately enjoyable and well filmed.

Strange? definitely. Good? Not really.

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 10 October 2013]

I am a bit surprised this movie, which was written by Ernest D. Glucksman, the producer from quite a few Jerry Lewis comedies, has become a bit of a cult classic. I'd understand if that was only the case for people from the biker scene, but beyond that I can't really see a reason why people would enjoy watching these slightly over 28 minutes. Nothing in this movie warrants such a running time.

It's nothing more than a few (gay?) motorcycle bikers preparing for their rides and afterward we see these rides depicted. The only thing that kept me from stopping was, besides the hope it could get better, the music. It features a couple classic songs like Blue Velvet, Elvis and a couple more that made it easier to sit through. The hope was disappointed and besides the music (of course I simply could have listened to an old record as well for that experience), I can't really see any redeemable qualities that make it better than Kenneth Anger's recent work including the panned "Anger sees Red". I surely prefer his other Rising film from the early 70s, Lucifer Rising, mostly for the Egypt-related Isis&Osiris-scenes although I'm not exactly a big fan of that one either.

Gains a certain rhythm

[Itchload · 17 December 2002]

Homoerotic bikers, nazism, suicide, 50's/60's pop songs, Jesus, pulp cartoons, mustard, and quite a bit of leather, i.e. everything I look for in a movie. This had me questioning "This Kenneth Anger guy achieved notoriety?" at the first 3 minutes, but by the end, the whole thing gained a certain rhythm and I began to understand what it was trying to do. This is for fans of experimental underground/midnight cinema, anyone else I would recommend staying far away.

As for the guy below who claims this inspired Martin Scorsese, Calvin Klein commercials and Michael Bay...Okay, Martin Scorsese, yes, to an extent. Calvin Klein commercials...maybe. Michael Bay? What? If the comment was sarcasm, than I accept you as an evil genius, otherwise you might belong in an asylum. Although I guess you could argue his last two movies are far more depraved than Scorpio Rising.

fools rush in

[framptonhollis · 10/10 · 3 April 2018]

An influence on everyone from Scorsese to Lynch to Waters to most-music-video-directors-and-editors, 'Scorpio Rising' is one of the most important and revolutionarily inventive and subversive avant garde films of all time. Its content is edgy and over the top, and the film is filled to the brim w/obvious flaws and muddled messages, but all in all, it is one of my personal favorite films of all time. It was one of the first experimental films I ever saw, and the totally ironic usage of lighthearted pop songs juxtaposed w/the occasionally brutal and oft-deliberately-offensive-and-blashphemous-slash-sacrilegious content had a huge impact on me and the way I, myself, saw and made movies. So I owe a huge debt to Kenneth Anger and this film, even if, after quite a few rewatchings now, there are a few admittedly somewhat eye rollingly edgy moments, but, in the film's defense, it is important to acknowledge the time in which it was made and who exactly had made it. The "edginess" of the film isn't exactly the same brand of edginess an indie film that would contain some of the images in here would usually contain, as it was genuinely risky stuff to release back in the '60's. This film isn't afraid to intercut footage taken from some cheap and kinda cliche Sunday-school-style religious movie about Jesus w/some punkish occultist Neo-Nazis getting ready to wreak havoc and cause violent and sexual troubles (either respectively or not, depending on the individual wreaking the havoc, I guess), this film isn't afraid to be intentionally over-the-top homoerotic and practically worship the hunky male form, this film isn't afraid to show nudity or weird pervy sex acts or any of that. It is fearless and perhaps a bit ridiculous, but an important staple of experimental cinema and just plain old cinema in general.

A masterpiece exploring the toxic cult of masculinity

[erskine-bridge · 9/10 · 12 February 2018]

Sometimes experimental films have to be endured rather than enjoyed - this isn't the case with Scorpio Rising, which is utterly compelling from start to finish. This film's imagery has clearly been carefully studied by the likes of John Waters and David Lynch and it's hard to believe just how modern it still looks.

My take on this is that it's an exploration of the present day cult of toxic masculinity. Any truly great work of art allows you to suddenly see the familiar in a new way and thus adds to your own layers of understanding. Scorpio Rising looks at western culture through the eyes of a gay man, and through the juxtaposition of images and use of pop songs highlights its absurd fetishisation of masculine power and dominance. This can be seen by the masculine, phallic shapes of buildings and vehicles in western culture, which are invisible to us, as we are integrated into this culture, but clear to any outsider with a rudimentary understanding of Freudian psychology.

As I understand it, and I'm no expert, there are twelve Astrological Ages in total; one for each constellation of the zodiac. Each Age lasts for approximately 2160 years. Anger was a student of the work of Aleister Crowley and, like many in the 60s, believed that the present age would soon end and we would usher in the Age of Aquarius, characterised by a dominant world view in which the individual is allowed his/her freedom to actualise as an independently liberated being yet still participate in group life in the spirit of altruism and humanitarianism.

The age we are living in now, however, is dominated by Scorpio, which is concerned with issues like sex, power, control and death. As traditionally feminine values are derided in our culture we have built machines in our own masculine image. We have over-powered weapons which can destroy the globe 100 times over and we revel in our mastery over machines. We fetishise cars and weapons in our films and books and we celebrate creativity which is destructive rather than constructive. Our God is an angry father and our religions are male death cults; the cutting between the images of Jesus and the all-male disciples and the images of the all-male biker gang hammer this home. Masculinity has reached its zenith and this celebration of the ridiculous and over-inflated male ego suggests that it will all end as it began - in violence. I loved this film.

Best movie ever made

[thijmen · 10/10 · 5 November 1999]

Kenneth Anger is the god of modern film underground. Scorpio Rising told directors like Lynch, Scorsese, Fassbinder and others what to do to become brilliant. Overwhelming, powerful, controversial, unique, bizarre... The best movie ever ma

Pretty lame

[Groverdox · 5/10 · 9 July 2019]

"Scorpio Rising" is one of those short films that has words like "avant-garde", "post-modernist", or "surreal" bandied around in its description, but the only thing strange about it is the lack of genuine interest it provokes. It's a movie without plot or point, and doesn't even work as smut or shock value.

The movie basically just shows a group of bikers working on their bikes, putting on the accessories of their gang, and riding away. Intercut is some footage of Marlon Brando in "The Wild One", and what looks like a movie about religion. The most 'shocking' moment, which of course is not shocking at all today, apparently shows a man having his pants yanked down and mustard poured on his abdomen as though he is a hot dog.

If you freeze frame it you might be able to get the briefest glimpse of the top part of the man's junk, or maybe just his pubic hair, which probably would have been scandalous in '63.

The movie also has a constant soundtrack of rock hits from the year the movie was made. As soon as one song stops, another starts, like a jukebox, hence these songs don't really underline any action on the screen - not that there is much action.

Supposedly Anger was some kind of occultist, but I'd be lying if I said I got that from this. It's just guys getting their biker kit on. Big deal.

Fools Rush In (Where Anger fears to tread)

[mrdonleone · 10/10 · 27 January 2006]

I saw this movie when the Filmmuseum in Brussels held an Anger marathon, and I was hypnotized by this masterpiece of work from the very beginning, with that great soundtrack Fools Rush In (sung by Ricky Nelson, I believe) mixed with images of leather and bikes shot in a Brooklyn garage. It's really fascinating to see how 'Scorpio Rises'. But Scorpio isn't only the kind of hero in this movie, it's also the sign Anger has with 'Scorpio rising'. Interesting info. I enjoyed this movie, because I like biker movies, such as 'The Wild One' with Brando, and 'Rebel without a Cause' with James Dean. But I was a bit disappointed too, I found it not so homo-erotic as everybody thinks it is. Surely, there are some things like a gay party and the whole leather outfits, but I wasn't actually thinking that this was a gay film. Some other short films directed by Kenneth Anger I liked, Kustom Kar Kommandos and Lucifer Rising, for example. But nothing caught my eye the same way this one does. The thing I liked the most about 'Scorpio Rising' was the title shot. A red wall is seen on the background, and suddenly appears this man dressed in leather in front of the camera. We see his back, 'Scorpio Rising' spelled in very big letters. I'll never forget these opening credits. I recommend this movie to everyone, but if you're not keen on leather or bikes, please do not see this movie.

Confusing And Weird

[mystflexagon · 5/10 · 19 July 2006]

Look, if there's one thing I know, I know movies. And I don't know what to make of this. My film appreciation professor just showed it to me and I was really weirded out. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the Bikers came across as a little gay. It's really weird that Elvis Presly and that guy who sang Blue Velvet would approve of this kind of stuff, but I guess they are in show business where gayness is like normal.

Another weird thing, why did Charle Chaplin look all old and mad? Is it because this guy filmed him for the movie without permission? If that's the case, it's just not cool. It's amazing what make-up will do for some people, he looked really stern and scary! But there's a really sweet bike wreck at the end. You have to wait a long time to get into it, but this guy totally spills off his bike. So I guess that was cool. So I'm going to give it a 5.

I don't know, you might like it better.

A film of Perversion, Sub Culture, and Brilliance

[mr.smith-2 · 12 October 1999]

When Jonas Mekas, Alfred Leslie, etc sat down to compose the mainfesto of "The New American Cinema" in 1961, the amount of films made under this artistic statement doubled. Out of this period, we see the creation of some of the greatest underground films the world has seen. Taylor Meed's The Flower Thief, Bruce Conner's A Movie and Report, and most importantly Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising.

Scorpio Rising's devices are fundementally simple-didactic montage, ironic sountracks, and archival footage. What seperates SR from the realm of mediocre is its deep underooted message of sexual perversion, S&M, and the cruelty of sexuality to a point of Nazist ideology. Scenes such as young man with a smile on his face being "raped" by leather clad bikers is a point of sadio-estasy. To say that SR is not a 22 min. perversion is to ignore its fundemental principles and the principles of its filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Anger has emerged himselfin both the terror of the haunte monde of Hollywood in the 30's (hence the birth of his hugely read Hollywood Babylon- a study as perverse as SR) and the drug and sexually illusioned world of the 50's/60's lower bohemia.

Scorpio Rising is a film of a generation. As Allen Ginsberg put it: "a generation starved on madness". It's signifigance ranks up there with Keroauc, Ginsberg, and Burroughs. Anger's film is a portrait of a world so far from our 90's train of thought- yet so strikingly fimiliar.

Nazi gay bikers...now I truly have seen everything.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 8/10 · 25 May 2011]

This is an art-house movie, that is being shot as a documentary but without really telling a story. I like it!

Yes, as weird as the concept of this movie sounds and its execution may seem, this is really a great short to watch. The style of filming and editing as simply superb and seemed to be ahead of its time. I can definitely see how this film inspired some well known film-makers and why this is a relevant movie to show in movie classes for instance.

It's a movie filled with great looking shots and some nice quick editing, which provides the movie with an unique looking style. It all got shot on the spot and without a script, which is the reason why this movie comes across as a documentary, while it isn't trying to tell a story really with its images. It's just simply a movie that you have to experience.

A special nice touch is that the movie features no dialog or spoken lines at all. All the movie consists out of are popular and well known '60's musical tracks. And as far as music goes, the '60's of course wasn't the worst decade for it. It truly enhances the mood and style of the movie.

Don't let the subject scare you off, this is a movie well worth watching.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Real Experimental!!

[a-j-n-aa · 9/10 · 15 August 2021]

If you didn't feel while weird watching this masterpiece, you have something wrong within you.

Just a little experience of experimental cinema, violent people with cute classic music in the background.

Something like Alex beating up Mr. Alexander while singing "singin in the rain". Just Epic.

Butch bikers or closet queers?

[MWadman · 30 March 2001]

What is significant about this text is that Anger got many of the shots from the initiation rites of American biker gangs. As such, the butch ruggedness of these ostensibly "straight" men is conflated with the none-too-subtle homoeroticism of their rites--which leads the viewer to question the rigid dichotomies of "straight" and "gay" that dominate North American social discourse.

Also of significance is the extent to which, by appropriating "butch markers" such as leather and motorcycles, the homoeroticism undermines the stereotypicality of the "nelly" homosexual male.

Not a terribly accessible text, but it becomes pregnant with significance for the viewer who does a little background reading first.

Gay Black leather scene

[nycruise-1 · 6 February 2008]

The film turns out to be a riff on the gay fetish for black leather - and all the imagery/rites associated with it.

The Black Leather scene - certainly in the 60s - was very codified, and incorporated drugs (much like all gay culture at the time).

The songs chosen have, no doubt, much appeal to the gay community of the time ("Heat Wave" is also heard in "Boys in the Band), most of them citing lustful love from a female point of view.

There are coy/blatant references to water sports, anal rape, fisting and "pussy" (in the form of an on screen cat).

Anger's black leather queens doll themselves up in leather gear which is uber-accentuated with studs and other forms of steel (no real bikers ever wear that stuff). This is then intercut with footage of genuine, presumably str8 biker clubs (note the motorcyclers in the exterior shots - those racing each other - do not sport all the "accessories" that the black leather queens do, but, rather, "simple" black leather jackets, besides which, the biker clubbers actually seem to be wearing SHIRTS under their jackets - as opposed to the leather queens who do not).

There is also plenty of idolization of James Dean and Marlon Brando, two movie stars who, in addition to having gained fame as young punks who wear leather jackets, were also two of the most sexually-ambiguous male stars of their time. Anger, having grown up in Hollywood, might even have known men who slept with Dean and Brando! The whole Jesus/male-bonding thing is ingenious. As for the references to Hitler, well, perhaps Anger was Jewish and put Adolf in there to make it seem as if the life of a black leather queen is one which continually lived on the edge, always testing limits to see how far can go beyond them. Or maybe Anger was simply citing irony in the persecution of gays during the Third Reich compared to the subsequent gay American leather culture of the 50s/60s which is grounded in the role-playing of bondage and domination.

See this!

[Sanchez · 13 May 1999]

i totally agree with a previous guy...this movie is on par with a bout de souffle for sheer vision. like nothing that came before it. the first time i saw a gregg araki film, i was very impressed...then i saw this and kustom kar kommandos. that someone could have produced this in 1964 is almost unbelievable.

Anger's orgy (and Bobby Vinton).

[aliasanythingyouwant · 5 April 2005]

Scorpio Rising marks the beginning of the mix-tape approach to film-making, the technique of adding texture, flow, counter-point to images by over-laying them with a soundtrack of pop songs. Kenneth Anger takes this technique to its limit right from the start, eschewing dialogue, narrative and everything else in favor of a thirty-minute greatest-hits medley wedded to a chaotic assemblage of pictures having to do with some gay-Nazi-anarchists engaged in all manner of rebellious behavior, from reading comic books to smearing mustard on a fat guy's stomach and tearing his pants off. The result is a bizarre fusion of the innocent and the profane, the quaintness of yesterday's Elvis/Bobby Vinton hits alongside the amateurish depravity and two-bit spectacle of Anger's underground opus.

Despite its reputation as a sort of counter-culture landmark, the movie seems largely irrelevant, a museum piece commemorating the excesses of '60s cult movie-making. It consists primarily of badly-lit home-movies of some nameless, faceless leather-fetishists posing like the most slovenly male-models you can remember, then going to some degraded costume-ball that degenerates into the sort of orgiastic hi-jinks that were a staple of "controversial" sixties cinema. For kicks, Anger keeps cutting in little snippets from a silent movie about Jesus, demonstrating a grammar-school-level sense of how to shock middle-brow audiences. This is avant-gardism at its most obnoxiously pointless, the deliberate mingling of opposing elements (bubbly pop tunes over random sexual carnage, cross-cutting between a gay-Nazi orgy and shots of the Last Supper) for the purpose of suggesting all sorts of potential meanings, none of which have been sufficiently thought-out.

Anger is so concerned with creating an intense experience that he forgets anything he might've known about film technique and simply wallows in his own fanatical, vaguely Satanic weirdness. Yet despite the film's sloppiness, it occasionally points the way toward what later, better filmmakers would do with the director's indisputably pioneering idea. The fusion of pop-music and pop-image (see the Layla sequence in Goodfellas; bits of Easy Rider; much of Tarantino) can lead to a sense of electricity, a heightening, where a moment can come to summarize the whole of the film texturally. The first glimmers of this galvanizing effect can be felt for a second here-and-there in Scorpio Rising, but either Anger didn't understand what he was on to, or didn't care. As so often happens in experimental film, the pioneer has the inspiration but lacks the expertise, the know-how necessary to employ the technique in a meaningful way. The little ripples of potential energy never amount to anything for Anger, who winds up coming across like Roger Corman without the movie-making acumen.

Raw Power on Wheels

[romanorum1 · 19 December 2022]

Kenneth Anger's short film, which focuses on men and their motorcycles, has neither a plot nor dialogue. It highlights a non-stop impressive contemporary music score and skilled photography. The music is provided by contemporary artists like Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Bobby Vinton, the Angels, the Crystals, Little Peggy March, the Surfaris, and others.

It begins with men who ritually prepare their bikes and then dress in black leather and chains before they hit the open road. This slow-running first part shows visuals of Marlon Brando, James Dean, and an occasional skull. Is this a prognostication of a biker's destiny? These folks certainly are contemptuous of society's expectations.

The second part of "Scorpio Rising" turns dark and chaotic with its jump cuts and montages of Nazi images, cocaine-snorting, perverse rites, the occult, and sacrilege. It ends with a race on a dirt track where one biker loses control, crashes, and dies for real. There is a close-up of the dead biker's face at the end with an artistic skeleton head. These guys do live on the edge!

The avant-garde flick is Anger's mind at work. It was very strong stuff when it was released in October 1963.