Andy Warhol

The man who once said that everyone would be famous for at least 15 minutes certainly had a much longer moment in the spotlight as one of the most recognized artists in the world during his lifetime. His role in the film world, while maybe not as celebrated as his art and his ties to music via the Velvet Underground, were revolutionary in their impact. It is his films that we will celebrate here, and that ensure his stature as a grindhouse legend.

In the 60's, Warhol was prolific with his movie camera, creating hundreds of shorts shot mostly at his "factory" and starring the members of his circle, including Edie Sedgwick and Mary Woronov, who would go on to act in many cult movies over the course of her career. The most well known of these is probably The Chelsea Girls featuring Marie Menken and Woronov, notable mostly because it was actually two movies being shown simultaneously, each one featuring a different story. It was also during this era that Warhol created his nearly 500 famous "screen tests" of renowned (and sometimes unknown) visitors to the factory. These icluded the likes of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Salvador Dali, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Donovan, and Nico. Many of his films were frankly sexual, often dealing with gay themes that were extremely taboo at the time and were thusly relegated to "underground" screenings, or merely at his own private exhibitions.

Warhol stopped directing after he was shot in 1968, and interestingly enough this began the period when the most well known of the films associated with him were produced. A trilogy of films, Flesh, Trash, and Heat, were directed by Paul Morrissey and starred Joe Dallesandro ("Little Joe" from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side") beginning in 1968. Warhol was the producer, and they achieved modest success and gained instant cult status. All three are remarkable portrayals of underground city life and regarded as exploitation classics.

The 70's brought a move toward horror with the release of Flesh for Frankenstein in 1973 and Blood for Dracula in 1974. Also known as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Andy Warhol's Dracula, both films found Morrissey again in the director's chair and Dallesandro starring. The two movies turned out to be the most successful and well known of Warhol's career, and are good, albeit different (it's Warhol, whaddya expect?) genre pieces. Both were rated X upon release because of the excessive sex and violence, and were trimmed for an R but are now easily attainable in unrated versions.

Warhol would go on to produce a small number of films after that, most notably Andy Warhol's Bad in 1977, and his movie career effectively came to an end upon his death 10 years later. Warhol can certainly be viewed as a pioneer of avant-garde cinema with his 60's directorial efforts, and a less pioneering but effective purveyor of exploitation with his 70's productions. With his contributions to the arts in any medium, he was nothing if not a true original.