Customer Reviews

The Cockettes

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

beautifully constructed of original 1960/70s footage and modern day reminiscences--great scenes and great, as well as realistic, view of hippie life and dreams--honestly showing the transformation that commercialization brought to a clearly doomed utopian experiment. If you were there, this is a great memory piece; if you weren't there, this might help you understand the power of that transforming time.

I lived down the street from the Palace Theater in the early 70's and had a chance to see the Cockettes. They were, as the film shows vividly, fabulous! The clothes, the makeup, the in-your-face nonconformity! America has become so bland now in comparison. I love the music in the film, the silent movie quality, and the way they pop back and forth between the survivors and their remembrances. It's visually interesting and the characters draw you into their magical world. They may demonize welfare moms now, but, welfare did give the mentally disabled something creative to do with their time back in the 70's. This is proof positive. Much better than pushing a shopping cart and mumbling, I should say.

John Waters, Janis Joplin, David Bowie, Elton John, Bette Midler and many others got some of their style and attitude from this local San Francisco theatrical group. It was theater that literally scraped itself up off the streets and onto a stage at the Palace Theater -- and nothing has been the same since. You owe it to yourself to see something here that you will not see the likes of again. The film is beautifully made, historically accurate, and true blue. Don't miss this movie!

I have played this movie at least three times a week since purchasing it. I never tire of it. It gives me inspiration to go out and face an excruciatingly dull and dreary world--even without dropping acid!

As a result of purchasing a used video at a local chain, I saw the preview of this title on the video. Even though I was a young adult at the time, this documentary was a total surprise to me. I knew nothing about this subject, nor had I ever heard any reference to it. Of course I had heard of the "Hippies" and what San Francisco was like at the time.
The interviews with participants, while making this film years later, was fascinating. One can see the devastating result of drugs and AIDS on some of the participants.
I certainly thought it was interesting and very well done. I highly recommend it.

"The Cockettes" is a unique documentary. While most people assume the gay rights movement started at Stonewall in NYC or with Harvey Milk in '70s San Francisco,the Cockettes were strutting their stuff during the Summer of Love era. The Cockettes was a troupe of cross-dressers (quite a few kept their facial hair),along with a woman,who provided campy psychedelia. They influenced people such as director John Waters,his icon Divine,and even Iggy Pop spent time with them to get drugs.

"The Cockettes" appears to glamorize the era of sexual liberation, when gender identity was up for grabs. They were part of the first generation of gays to "come out of the closet." The Cockettes seem to have inspired groups like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (who parody Catholicism) and the pagan Radical Faeries. For all the free love and psychedelia,there was a price. There are few remaining members of the Cockettes,since several died from AIDS.

"The Cockettes" is a fascinating,trippin' portrait of an era.

The Cockettes were an in-your-face, hippie, drug-and-drag theatrical collective. There was nothing too outrageous or offensive that they wouldn't do. The existed for a very brief time in San Francisco but while they existed they became a local legend. We flocked to their midnight shows at the Palace Theatre in North Beach. Their performances made it possible for many later mainstream performers to present exuberant and outrageous shows. Without the Cockettes, John Waters would probably have been simply a strange little man in Baltimore, Ziggy Stardust would never have become a rock persona, Bette Midler would never have become "Divine," and Harris Glenn Milstead would probably have just been an overweight transvestite.

This video should be required viewing for every student of contemporary American history, although it's guaranteed to turn conservative's hair white. For that reason alone it should be preserved as a cultural artifact in what has become a drab and dreary country.

Those were the days ...

I saw the documentary at a film festival in London this year. I love John Waters and Divine and this documentary gave me an insight into the times and their wonderful wackiness. ...

I had heard of Divine, only through her music and was unaware of his start. i had seen the movies BUT this archival documentary bring it all back into one place and a specific time. the Cockettes were a product of the turbulant 60's in USA but in San fransicso that could be anyone they wanted, and they were.
The inclusion of the old footage is well worth the price along, and most of these relic get lost or jusy thrown out.
It is a marvellious tribute to mostly now dead trailblazers.Well recommended,

This full two hour documentary does a great job of transporting you back to the early 1970s in San Francisco. Hippies and counter-culture and just the effort to be outrageous and original! The interviews and clips of their various art and theater projects are great to see and hear. Pot and poetry everywhere and The Cockettes creative spirit lives on.