The Savage Eye in 35mm
The Savage Eye in 35mm
When the minds responsible for writing The Asphalt Jungle (1950, Ben Maddow), editing Edge of the City (1957, Sidney Meyers), and the eventual directing of Tropic of Cancer (1970, Joseph Strick) joined forces in the late 1950s, the only possible outcome was the fiercely independent ethos that spawned this idiosyncratic experiment. Shot over several years in a handheld, vérité style by celebrated documentary filmmaker Haskell Wexler, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jack Couffer, and notable street photographer Helen Levitt, viewers lurk alongside freshly-divorced Judith (Barbara Baxley) as she sleepwalks into dive bars, burlesque clubs, and dubious religious congregations for one of the most ominous visions of a mid-century Los Angeles underbelly ever committed to film.
DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick. WITH: Barbara Baxley, Gary Merrill, Herschel Bernardi, Jack Hidey. 1960. 68 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Restored by the Academy Film Archive.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
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