Titicut Follies (1967)

Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.

Director:

Frederick Wiseman

5 wins.

Storyline

Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.

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Plot Keywords:

banned film | 1960s | title appears in writing | convicted pedophile | sex talk | 

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Taglines:

Don't turn your back on this film... if you value your mind or your life.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Titicut Follies was not banned completely by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The final decree of the Suffolk Superior Court EQ. No. 87538 said it could continue to be screened, but only for audiences comprised of the medical or legal community, specifically naming Legislators, Judges, Lawyers, Sociologists, Social Workers, Doctors, Psychiatrists, Students in these or related fields, Organization(s) dealing with the social problems of custodial care and mental infirmity. Wiseman would rent the film to people who signed a statement of intent that they would limit the audience to those allowed.

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Quotes

Patient: How did the first Great War start? Because of a demand by the Austrian Hungary Dynasty for the execution of an accomplice who already was sentenced to life imprisonment in, um, in Serbia. Yet they demanded a prosecution for execution for Austria-Hungary laws! What does that mean? They wanted execution! The war was fought over execution! The same execution that is going on in Vietnam; over making an execution over these natives of Vietnam. They're not Vietcong, they're not communists. Whatever ...

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Crazy Credits

Re-release: 'The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has ordered that "A brief explanation shall be included in the film that changes and improvements have taken place at Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater since 1966".

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Connections

Referenced in Cinemania (2002)

User Reviews

A very unpleasant film.

Fred Wiseman's documentary about the lives of inmates at a Massachusetts mental institution is a very disturbing film to watch. I dare anyone to watch this with out feeling at least a bit uneasy. Watching this film one can't help thinking if the "treatments" given to these poor lost souls actually worsens their condition. One articulate inmate argues the treatment and medication he is given are making him sick. He begs to be sent back to prison, rather than spend another day in this wretched institution. The doctors respond by claiming he has developed paranoia and orders his medication increased! The doctors come across as cruel and callous. They seem to regard the inmates as guinea pigs rather than patients to be treated. One doctor, who is shown constantly chain smoking, looks and sounds like a Nazi concentration camp doctor.

TITICUT FOLLIES is a very shocking film, I would only recommend it with caution to others.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 September 1992 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Titicut Follies

Filming Locations:

State Prison for the Criminally Insane - 20 Administration Road, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1