(Movie clip shows me unfurling banner for SHOWBOAT 1988-THE REMAKE—it was strung across entrance of California Hall, San Francisco, July 22,23,24, 1975, to welcome auditioners during the filming.
TRAILER: Showboat 1988
BEFORE The Gong show, BEFORE England's Got Talent, BEFORE American Idol, BEFORE America's Got Talent, BEFORE The Voice...there was SHOWBOAT 1988—THE REMAKE (91 1/2 minutes, B&W/Color, ©1978 L.L. Productions).
The second films of the Rick Schmidt trilogy (A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A KILLER, and EMERALD CITIES fill the bill),1988 is about a huge audition for the remake of the classic American musical "Showboat." For three nights, July 22-24, 1975, hundreds of San Francisco’s most bizarre talent turned up, while actor ED NYLUND, a real-life librarian and musicologist, tried to enact his dream of bringing "the stench of death" to the musical comedy form. As he narrates real-life stories of his childhood failures, the viewer can better understand any auditioner’s leap for glory.
Actors ED NYLUND RICHARD A. RICHARDSON and CAROLYN ZAREMBA again supplied pivotal Actor roles, along with WILLIE BOY WALKER, SKIP COVINGTON, BRUCE PARRY, RICHARD MARCUS. Directed by Rick Schmidt. Script by me, BILL FARLEY (OF MEN AND ANGELS, PLASTIC MAN, I WANTED TO BE MAN WITH A GUN, etc.), NICK KAZAN (AT CLOSE RANGE, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, DREAM LOVER, MATILDA, etc.), and HENRY BEAN (INTERNAL AFFAIRS,THE BELIEVER, etc.).
READ FULL STORY ABOUT “THE MAKING OF” SHOWBOAT 1988, PLUS INFO ON MY OTHER TWO “TRILOGY” FIRST FILMS: A Man, a Woman, and a killer & Emerald Cities, IN PAPERBACK, HARDCOVER, OR KINDLE.
1st PRIZE – ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL.
Additional Fests: ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL, LONDON FILM FESTIVAL, FLORENCE FILM FESTIVAL (Italy), FIGUEIRA DA FOZ (Portugal).
Village Voice "Choice of the Week" / J. Hoberman.
TV premiere: CHANNEL FOUR , UK.
Featuring performances by rock star Sylvester, bluesman J.C. Burris, Jesus Christ Satan, Ral-pheno, Darryl Wagner (in dress, swirling around/dancing in trailer), interviewers; Feminist author Constance Penley, and Kelly Brock Boen from Muskogee, OK, many others.
-------
Some Reviews
“1988 recounts the fictitious tale of a middle-aged librarian’s attempts to finance and remake the film musical “Showboat” in contemporary terms. The auditions are arranged on a San Francisco stage, and range from incredible to merely bizarre.”
— VARIETY
The big hit of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, it’s easy to see why. The film has carved a unique nitch for itself, somewhere between FREAKS and Fellini’s 8 1/2. It’s as though someone forgot to lock the studio door and Luis Bunuel and William Burroughs sneaked in and began a hatchet job on Hollywood."
— David Harris, THE BOSTON PHOENIX
“1988 in its cumulative preposterous flummery is a spirited outcry for people to throw off the covert and overt forms of oppression and be themselves. Beneath the film’s Quixotic humor and surprisingly touching pathos stands the surrealist belief that art is never more important than life. An outrageous tout-de-force.”
— Vic Skolnick, CINEMA ARTS CENTRE
SEE THE FULL “SHOWBOAT 1988” MOVIE: Here.
—————
AND IF YOU CURRENTLY LIVE IN BROOKLYN, NY, OR NEARBY, PLEASE DON’T MISS WATCHING MY COLLABORATIVE MOVIE, CHETZEMOKA’S CURSE-DOGME #10 at THE FILM NOIR THEATRE, JULY 12TH, 9-11PM.
“CHETZEMOKA’S CURSE—One of the coolest backdoor genre films I have ever seen.” ––Ian Simmons, KICKING THE SEAT movie reviews..
A FILM BY: Maya Berthoud, Morgan Schmidt-Feng, Dave Nold, Lawrence E. Pado, Rick Schmidt, Marlon Schmidt, and Chris Tow.
Chetzemoka's Curse: TRAILER
Chetzemoka’s Curse—click here for: Tickets: Film Noir Cinema, July 12 (Friday) 9-11PM)
Film Noir Cinema, Address: 122 Meserole Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222 Phone: (718) 389-5773
AND HERE’S A GREAT IN-DEPTH PODCAST DISCUSSION ABOUT THE MOVIE (with Ian Simmons and Sujewa Ekanayake
(Cosmic Disco Detective Rene, etc.)
———-
HAPPY 4TH! I'm posting my SHOWBOAT 1988-THE REMAKE banner to celebrate! (See TRAILER). ***And if in Brooklyn, please attend Premiere of my movie, CHETZEMOKA'S CURSE, July 12, 9-11PM Film Noir Cinema!