Ghetto Freaks
| Ghetto Freaks | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster for "Ghetto Freaks" edition of film | |
| Directed by | Robert J. Emery |
| Produced by | George B. Roberts,Paul Rubenstein |
| Screenplay by | John Pappas, Robert J. Emery |
| Starring | Paul Elliot, Gabe Lewis, Mickey Shiff |
| Music by | Tomas Baker, Al Zbacnic |
| Cinematography | Paul Rubenstein |
| Edited by | Robert J. Emery, Ellen Rubenstein |
Production company |
Cinar Productions |
Release dates | 1970 |
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Ghetto Freaks is a 1970 American independent hippie exploitation film directed by Robert J. Emery and written by John Pappas and Robert J. Emery.[1] It was filmed entirely on location in Cleveland, Ohio, and originally opened in Cleveland under the title Sign of Aquarius, alternately titled Love Commune.[2]
Shortly thereafter, the film was retitled Ghetto Freaks and edited to include two additional minutes of footage showing a young, handsome black man performing a blood ceremony with a group of robed young women. The Ghetto Freaks version was marketed as a blaxploitation film, despite almost all the film's actors, including the male and female leads, being white.[3][4]
The film has also been distributed under the titles Wages of Sin[4] and The Aquarians (not to be confused with the 1970 television film The Aquarians starring Ricardo Montalbán).
Plot
The film is largely plotless, following the daily activities of a group of hippies living in a communal apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. The hippies encounter hostile police at a peaceful gathering in a park, get arrested and spend a night in jail. They earn money by panhandling and selling copies of an underground newspaper on the street. They stage a protest march against the Vietnam War on Cleveland's Public Square, discussing their viewpoints with random passersby. For recreation, they attend a rock concert at a club, and frequently use marijuana and LSD. Under the influence of LSD (illustrated by the filmmakers using various psychedelic effects), the hippies engage in nude dancing and uninhibited sex, and one girl experiences a bad trip.
A rudimentary plot concerns the hippies' handsome, womanizing leader, Sonny (Paul Elliot), becoming attached to Donna (Gabe Lewis), a naive young girl who runs away from her parents' home to join the commune after a chance meeting with Sonny at the rock club. Sonny and Donna's newfound happiness is threatened by Billy, a violent drug dealer, who pressures Sonny to push drugs for the local rackets. Sonny refuses, leading to a tragic conclusion in which Donna is killed.
Cast
- Paul Elliot as Sonny
- Gabe Lewis as Donna (aka Diane)
- Mickey Shiff as Halo
- Jim Coursar as Mousey
- Nick Kleinholtz III as Stringbean
- Toni Ceo as Marla
- Tom Baker as Cleaver
- Virginia Morris as Girl on bad trip
- Bob Wells as Donna's father
Production
The film was set in, and shot on location in Cleveland, Ohio. Locations include Public Square and the surrounding downtown area, University Circle, and the Detroit-Superior Bridge.
Bob "Hoolihan" Wells, who in 1970 was well known in Cleveland as a television weather presenter under the name "Hoolihan the Weatherman" and as co-host of the late-night movie and comedy program The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show, appears briefly in the film as the father of a runaway girl who joins the hippies.[2]
The dance scenes were choreographed by Jeff Kutash, a dancer on the locally produced TV series Upbeat.[2]
Reception
Gene Siskel wrote that the original version of the film, which according to him was called The Aquarians, "did no business", leading to "a title change and hot, but misleading, advertising". Although the Ghetto Freaks version of the film had engagements in major cities including Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., the film received few reviews, and those it did get were generally negative.
Siskel, reviewing the Ghetto Freaks version, called the production "technically inept" and "shot on a frayed shoestring", and observed that despite "being billed as a black film ... the title characters are almost without exception middle class white kids who have left home and let their hair and paranoia grow." The Cleveland African-American newspaper Call and Post panned the film as "one degree higher than a home movie" and said, "There is no plot in this crazy mixed-up film which lacks anything else. If you like garbage, you will find Ghetto Freaks to be a groovy flick because it stinks!"
Michael Weldon, in his Psychotronic Video Guide to Film, later described the film (under the title Love Commune) as an "embarrassing, plotless hippie/drug movie with imitation Hair songs". A Turner Classic Movies review summarized it as "an impressive compendium of hippie clichés and kitsch that are belabored into a fine pulp of unfocused tedium."
Despite its bad reviews, director Quentin Tarantino is reportedly a fan of the film, and Ghetto Freaks was selected as one of 16 films from Tarantino's private collection to be screened at the second Quentin Tarantino Film Festival in 1998. Entertainment Weekly listed Ghetto Freaks as one of the "highlights" of the festival, and the then-managing director of the Austin Film Society said of the film and others selected, "Quentin loves them, and the film geeks love them, but most people…”
Home video releases
Something Weird Video released the original version of the film on VHS as Love Commune in 1992, and released the later Ghetto Freaks version on VHS and DVD in 2002 and again in 2004 as a special edition DVD.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films 1961-1970. Univ. of California Press, 1976, p. 987. ISBN 0-520-20970-2.
- 1 2 3 Weldon, Michael J. The Psychotronic Video Guide. St. Martin's Press, 1996, p. 342. ISBN 0-312-13149-6.
- ↑ Pablo Kjolseth, "Something Weird's 'Hippie Double Feature' on DVD", TCM.com, accessed Mar. 4, 2015.
- 1 2 "Ghetto Freaks", grindhousedatabase.com, accessed Mar. 4, 2015.
- ↑ "Something Weird Video (SUV)(us)", IMDB.com, accessed Mar. 4, 2015.