Cannibal! The Musical
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| Cannibal! The Musical | |
|---|---|
 A film poster for Cannibal! The Musical. |
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| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Produced by | Trey Parker Matt Stone Jason McHugh |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Starring | Juán Schwartz Matt Stone Dian Bachar Jason McHugh John Hegel |
| Distributed by | Troma Studios |
| Release date(s) | 1996 (USA) |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,000+ |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Cannibal! The Musical is a student film directed by the future creator of South Park, Trey Parker, while studying at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A black comedy, it is loosely based on the true story of Alferd Packer and the sordid details of the trip from Utah to Colorado that left his five fellow travellers dead and partially eaten. Trey Parker stars as Alferd Packer, with frequent collaborator Matt Stone featured as James Humphrey, and Stan Brakhage—experimental filmmaker and University of Colorado teacher—as George Noon's father. Trey Parker is listed in the film's credits under the name "Juán Schwartz", which is a variant of "John Schwartze", a pseudonym used by the real Alferd Packer. Character George 'California' Noon is played by Dian Bachar, who also works with Matt Stone and Trey Parker in Orgazmo, BASEketball and provides some voices for Team America: World Police as well as South Park.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film begins with a reenactment of the gruesome events of cannibalism as described by the prosecuting attorney during Alferd Packer's trial in 1883. Packer insists that things happened differently than what has been recounted, and begins to tell his story to journalist Polly Pry (Toddy Walters) through flashback.
In 1873 a group of miners in Provo, Utah hear of new gold discoveries in Breckenridge and decide to travel to Colorado Territory to stake a claim. After the original guide dies from a lightning strike, Packer is nominated as the replacement since he claimed knowledge of the area. He and his trusty horse, Liane, set off with five miners, Shannon Wilson Bell, James Humphrey, Frank Miller, George Noon, and Israel Swan, on what Packer estimates will be a three week journey.
Four weeks later, they become convinced they are lost. At a nearby frontier post, they run into a group of three fur trappers, led by the diminutive Frenchy Cabazon. The trappers despise the miners, “diggers” as they call them, yet seem to like Packer’s horse. They tell the group they are heading towards Saguache. The next day, Packer wakes up to discover his horse and friend, Liane, is missing. The men press on and cross the Green River near the Utah border. The group asks Packer if there are any other big rivers they’ll have to cross to which he replies, “Oh no, just the Colorado River.”
Eventually, the Packer party is spotted by two Nihonjin Indians (obviously played by Asians and speaking Japanese) and taken back to the tribe where they learn the trappers are waiting for the winter storm to pass as recommended by the chief.
The flashback returns to “present” time, where Polly continues her research of Packer’s story by herself, revealing her growing affection for him through song. The next day, Packer is sentenced to death by hanging after a woman throws a tomato at him. Polly visits Packer once again in prison, where he continues his story.
The men set out in the wilderness after Packer learns the trappers have already left. The group begins to suspect that Packer is really only interested in following the trappers to find his horse. They soldier on until they encounter the foreboding Cyclops who recalls how a Union soldier shot out his eye in the Civil War. He realizes the Packer group are not Southern boys after they can’t finish the lyrics to Dixie. They escape but soon run out of food, resorting to eating their shoes as they become lost in the snow covered Rocky Mountains. Swan tries to cheer everybody up with a song about building a snowman which includes an inexplicable tap-dancing solo. Out of frustration, Bell shoots him in the head. The men discuss their dire situation that night over the fire, speaking of the cannibalism that the Donner Party had to resort to in California. They decide to consume the body of their dead companion, but “not the butt”. After a few more days of searching for civilization, the group begins to talk about sacrificing a member of the party so the rest can survive by eating him. Packer asks for one more chance so he can search over the next mountain. He returns unsuccessful, only to find Bell surrounded by the slaughtered remains of his comrades. A fight ensues where Packer (eventually) strikes the final blow that kills Bell.
Days later, Packer emerges alone from the wilderness in the city of Saguache, where the suspecting sheriff begins an investigation. Packer finds Liane has taken to Frenchy Cabazon, despite their mutually exclusive relationship. Broken hearted, Packer wanders into the local saloon where the drunken sheriff levels charges of cannibalism against him, based on evidence he found. The crowd attacks him, but he uses his kung fu skills (especially against Cabazon’s crotch) to fend them off. Packer flees for Wyoming, and rues to Polly, “I should have let them kill me”. When asked why he replies, “Have you ever been to Wyoming?”
Packer’s execution day arrives and he is marched to the gallows. At the last minute Polly stops the execution, carrying a pardon from the governor which states that Packer could not be convicted of a state crime since Colorado was not a state at the time of the incident. Packer realizes that Liane had aided Polly in one final act of friendship. Outraged, Cabazon rushes the gallows and throws the switch to release the trap door. Struggling for breath, Packer is once again saved by the Indian chief, who cuts noose (Packer's) and neck (Cabazon's) with a samurai sword. All is well as Packer and Polly kiss – only to be startled by a resurrected Bell.
After the closing credits roll, a warning card states “Due to the graphic nature of this film, it should not have been watched by small children.”
[edit] Production
The film's origins stem from a short trailer they made for film class. The trailer, which was about three minutes long, drew much attention. Following repeated requests upon Parker and Stone to make the movie, they raised approximately $70,000 and began shooting the film.
This film was originally filmed as Alferd Packer: The Musical in 1993. It was not released until 1996, however, when Troma Entertainment picked it up and renamed it Cannibal! The Musical for concern that not enough people outside of Colorado knew who Packer was. Few people outside of Colorado ever saw the film since Troma did not distribute it widely. Parker and Stone's animated satire South Park debuted the following year.
Following Matt and Trey's success with South Park, Troma rereleased the movie on VHS and DVD and it has enjoyed a cult following. The DVD contains a "Drunken Director's Commentary" where Trey Parker and Matt Stone along with most of the cast get drunk as they watch the movie, although there are a few times when the commentary cuts out (either because the recorder was turned off or they spoke of things they later decided nobody should hear).
Several student play productions have been made, with excerpts from one live version available on the DVD.
[edit] Songs
Contrasting with the musical's dark comedy are its cheerful songs, all composed by Trey Parker, including "Let's Build a Snowman," "On Top of You," "Hang the Bastard," and "Shpadoinkle" (pronounced Shpah-doink-el). The last of these is a transparent parody of the song "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!.
[edit] Trivia
- In the opening court scene when Packer exclaims "But that's not the way it happened!", it is a reference to the Star Trek episode "Court Martial" where Captain Kirk is court-martialed and exclaims the same thing after viewing video footage that points to him being guilty. Also, when the judge declares that Packer will be 'hung by the neck till you're dead, dead, dead!' is a line taken directly from another episode of Star Trek named "The Squire of Gothos".
- During the song Let's Build a Snowman, the camera moves from a close shot of Israel Swan to a zoomed-out view - at this point, the head of the snowman has been replaced with the head of an alien. Also, the skull of a steer hanging on the wall during the bar fight scene has large, alien-like eyes. Hiding aliens or 'Visitors' is a trait of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, as one can be found in almost every episode of South Park.
- Trey Parker's father played the role of the judge.
- The death sentence given in the movie was part of the actual death sentence that was read to Alferd Packer
- According to the audio commentary, Trey Parker based the story partially on Homer's Odyssey. Some of the similarities are very clear, especially the scene with the Cyclops. Also, earlier in the movie, Bell is seen reading the Odyssey.
- The film has been adapted to the stage several times around the globe.
- Packer's horse is named Liane after Trey Parker's former fiancee. He caught her with another man, so he also named the promiscuous South Park character Liane Cartman after her. (referenced from South Park Wiki). Ironically, the real Liane choreographed the film and appears briefly in the "Hang the Bastard" sequence.
- The "Braniff Airlines" jingle played at the end of every South Park episode comes from the song "Shpadoinkle Day".
- The woman at the very beginning of the "Hang the Bastard" sequence was played by Matt Stone in drag.
- When Polly traces her finger over Packer's picture during her song, you can see Packer is inmate #24601, a reference to Jean Valjean from Les Misérables.
- During the final chorus of "That's All We're Askin' For," the miners march towards the camera as they sing, "We're tired of being sick / We're sick of being poor." After the word "poor," Parker can be seen mouthing the word, "Cut!"
- Trey Parker's acting credit reads "Juan Schwartz", an alias that the real Packer used while in Wyoming.
- In the DVD menu under "A Cannibal Chorus", all the songs are played except for "This Side of Me" sung by Polly Pry.
- The Japanese "Indians" are really Japanese foreign exchange students from Trey Parker's college.
- The tribe of Japanese "Indians" that Packer and his group encounter on their journey is referred to as the Nihonjin tribe. "Nihonjin" is Japanese for "Japanese people."
- As the Nihonjin "Indians" walk away with the group at sword point, one of them is heard saying in Japanese (loosely translated), "This movie is really stupid!"
- According to the "Drunken Commentary" that's part of the DVD release, Jason McHugh dubbed the singing voice of Frenchy (Robert Muratore),
- Trey Parker dubbed the voice of The Voice of Doom (Aubrey Strafferd) and the two Indian braves' Japanese dialogue.
- Matt Stone's character, James Humphrey, wears a hat very similar to that worn by Kyle Broflovski in South Park. Also when he takes it off he is seen to have a large ginger Jewfro, just like Kyle's.
- While Humphrey was interpreting the Nihonjin Indians to the party with sign language saying, "Welcome to the land of blue light", his sign language reads, "Jesus Christ is dead".
- The shot of the courtroom is the actual courtroom where the real Alferd Packer was tried.
- When Packer awoke from his ballet dream, he shouted out the name "Ike". This was in reference from the 1980 movie, The Legend of Alferd Packer, where Packer himself woke from a nightmare and shouted out the name Ike.
