The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.

SCORPIO RISING (1963)

Run Time: 28:20
Director: Kenneth Anger
Writer: Ernest D. Glucksman
Key Cast: Ernie Allo, Bruce Byron, Frank Carifi

FILM MAKERS

Unless you’re a serious film buff, you probably haven’t seen the work of Kenneth Anger, whose short films have profoundly impacted cinema, advertising, and pop culture. Since 1947, when he was 17, he has been experimenting with difficult and obscure subject matter, using his own milieu as his inspiration, and his cast.- Paul d’Orleans

SUMMARY

Scorpio Rising was completed in 1963, and its central character, Scorpio (Bruce Byron), is symbolic of the mythos of post-Wild One American Bikers. It’s hardly flattering, as he projects a homoerotic, sadomasochistic aura, snorting methamphetamines from a salt shaker, humiliating a man at a party, and defiling a church. Through jump shots to clips of other films (including The Wild One and a very bad black and white Jesus biopic), comic strips, and nazi imagery, Scorpio is alternately compared to Jesus, Hitler, and the Devil. Pop culture icons like James Dean and Lucky Strike cigarettes wallpaper the scenery. – Paul d’Orleans

RELATED MEDIA

The Vintagent: Scorpio Rising

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