Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 12, Week 10

Speaking of torture porn (with extra emphasis on the porn), Eli Roth has nothing on auteur/smut-merchant Bob Guccione, whose Caligula boasts legendary stars of stage and screen (Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, and John Gielgud) as well as hardcore sex scenes with dwarves, amputees, and former Penthouse pets. But when you get right down to it, the making of Caligula is far more interesting than the film itself. Working with a script from Gore Vidal, and (initially) directed by Tinto Brass, Guccione managed to pull together a cast and crew of over 2500 to make his epic about the crazed Roman leader. However, the production was beset with a myriad of problems, and both Vidal and Brass demanded that their names be removed from the finished product, which included hardcore inserts directed by Guccione himself. Vidal hated the changes to the screenplay, and Brass was basically tossed out of the editing room by Guccione, who took over the entire project. His complete lack of experience shows, and the editing in the film is atrocious -- scenes are out of order, and occasionally out of focus (due to his use of wrong takes). When the film was released in New York in 1980, Guccione rented a theater and charged the then unheard of price of $20 per ticket. I can distinctly remember the ads in the daily papers, with their warnings of extreme sexual content. As pubescent fifteen year-old boys, my friends and I wanted nothing more than to see it. Fortunately (I guess), it wasn't until college that I saw the film, thanks to a VHS copy that made its way around the dorm. At the time I thought this was the most dangerous film ever made. Ah, sweet, sweet innocent youth. I am slightly ashamed at owning the DVD, but the included hour-long making-of documentary is worth its weight in gold, if just to hear Guccione pontificate in that sleazy, gravely voice of his. Actual quote: "This isn't pornography, it's paganography." Brilliant. This week: ever since Sunday night's Sopranos finale, I've not been able to get two things out of my head -- Journey's Don't Stop Believin', and grey Members Only jackets. Unable to locate a film in my collection that contains Mr. Perry's power-ballad, I had to settle on the latter. The combination of jacket, hair, and chain scream of a certain era, and this film was always one of my favorites from that decade. Name it. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[john]

The actor pictured is one of my all-time favorite scenery chewers, and his speech impediment makes him all the more lovable. His costar(s) in this picture gives good screen presence as well.

I just submitted my official quiz answer; it was more of a optimistic guess. And then I read the clue - one of your more "generous".

[dubarry]

jeez i love this movie. this is a hilarious choice actually. music-wise too.

[dubarry]

jeez i love his movie. actually it is a hilarious choice (music-wise too).

speaking of bob guccione, would you be surprised that i knew him? of course not. his house was ro and co and co squared. i loved caligula then. haven't seen it since then. it was before the division of porn and regular movies. before videos, porn was almost an acceptable movie genre. sort of. at least guys like guccione thought so. and other guys who frequented platos retreat and le trapeze. you know, although the budget for caligua differed significantly for caligula, the "film producers" were not unlike those of "cleaver".

[Andy]

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[colinr]

That scene from Caligula is up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePiiUsBxrKs&NR=1

[John]

You'll recall said power ballad was featured in Monster, a movie that you can easily be forgiven for not having in your collection.

[colinr]

By the way there is apparently going to be a 4 disc(!) set of Calgiula released by Image in October including two commentaries with Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, alternate version of the film, CD soundtack, a DVD-ROM of Gore Vidal's original script etc!

http://www.lasersedge.com/item_detail.asp?id=87745&tMedia=1

[Filmbrain]

And the sad thing is Colin, I'll probably wind up buying it.

[colinr]

I'm already saving up...this will be the third version I'll own, but I promise I'm not a pervert looking forward to the hardcore sex! (I'm buying it for the ultra-violence ;-D )

"Calgulia...soundtack?" Sorry for my poor spelling (though I like the idea of soundtacks!)

It was probably the idea of seeing Mirren nude again that caused the blunders. As a recent film said of her: "I think we are going to need considerably bigger buns!"

[harkin]

"Cop sh*t his pants!!"