10 Successful Low Budget Films (That Weren't As Good As You Think)
6. Chelsea Girls (1966)
It is a little known fact that Dante actually had 11 levels of hell, and that the eleventh is being stuck for all of eternity in a room full of people explaining how Chelsea Girls was a brilliant piece of innovative art and not just 3 1/2 hours of Andy Warhol performing autofellatio while figuring out where he can score some obetrol. This split screen effort somehow comes off as if it is trying way too hard and not trying enough at the same time. Maybe that was the point, but that still doesn't make it entertaining at all. In the 50 years since its release, it has become suspect if there is any cross over at all in the Venn diagram of people who "liked" Chelsea Girls and people who "saw" Chelsea Girls. Considering Warhol's history as a self-promoting artist, it could be possible assume that he and Paul Morrissey made this movie entirely to expose just how far the art community will contort itself in order to sound knowledgeable and hip. If that is the case, than this was a rousing success. This is just Warhol using "anti-film" as an excuse to not have to make anything actually interesting: Chelsea Girls is 210 minutes of absolutely irredeemable and unwatchable amateurish preening. Definitely Andy Warhol's best work.
Gavin Bard was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambiance of his home city of Los Angeles. His work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work. In 1986 Time called Bard a "laureate of American lowlife".
Wait, crap, hold on a second. That is Bukowski. Sorry. Gavin plays too many video games, thinks pro wrestling is the world's best performance art, and considers Hunter S. Thompson a better journalistic influence than Edward R. Murrow.
