Customer Reviews

I Shot Andy Warhol [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I suppose "I Shot Andy Warhol" is different things to different people. I have argued vehemently with friends whose opinion I respect about the extraordinary merits of this film. I think "I Shot Andy Warhol" was one of the finest films of 1998. I also think this film is blessed with one of the most intense performances of any era by Lili Taylor, unforgettable in the lead role of lesbian-prostitute-feminist-deranged-Warhol-groupie Valerie Solanas. Hers is a brave, utterly believable portrayal, wrought with desperation, loneliness and a creative need chained by conventions of American society.

To expect a by-the-numbers retelling/recreation of the true events portrayed in this film - Solanas' assault of Andy Warhol - is entirely missing the point. I believe film director/writer Mary Harron was trying to reveal a type of exploitation of women that existed during this time, and certainly hovered in the shadows of the pseudo alternative arts culture of Andy Warhol's Factory - a dream-like warehouse littered with black-clad artists/writers/filmmakers instinctively creating against-the-grain works while rebelling against the conservative conventions of 1950s-1960s American culture.

Harron's version of Solanas, who would go on to publish the frightening though fascinating work "SCUM Manifesto," is a lonely, out-of-place soul. She initially appears to have found a comrade haven in Warhol's Factory. But her rage, plus her radical feminist views, eventually causes her "excommunication," leading to her assualt of Andy. The shooting itself essentially ended Warhol's artistic career, leaving wounds which would never entirely heal.

I like the contrast Harron makes several times throughout the film between Warhol (well played by Jared Harris) and Solanas - with Warhol as the effeminate introverted male and Solanas as the masculine extroverted female. These two are definitely opposite sides of the coin. I was also impressed by Harron's pointed observation of the women-hating exploitation that existed in much of the Factory's art. It has always been cool to admire Warhol and the legend of his Factory. Harron's recreation of several of the warehouse parties, including a memorable Velvet Underground concert, are some of the many highlights of this film.

But eventually in Harron's film, Solanas' radical views are too counter culture for even Warhol and company. And once again Solanas is an outcast, lonely and adrift within the confines of the New York art scene of the 1960s. "I Shot Andy Warhol" is such a sad film in many ways, detailing lost souls void of acceptable identity. Solanas' rage is the angst of all struggling outcasts, cursed by a need to create, but unable to find the proper forum or audience. That she took her rage to the ultimate extreme should not be applauded. But to place her into the conventional (and safe) category of demented psycho is not entirely accurate. It's a brave stance "I Shot Andy Warhol" makes, and perhaps it is just another form of the emotional truth of this story.

Harron's "I Shot Andy Warhol" is an alternative examination of alternative lifestyles. It's stance is disturbingly unique, with a creative style undeniable.

Director Mary Harron invades the sixties tinfoil castle of Andy Warhol and spins a kind of art deco loser romance with the very talented Lili Taylor playing the very butch Valerie Solanas, who actually did shoot Andy Warhol. I have been driving myself crazy trying to recall who Taylor is taking off on, some little guy, ghetto denizen from a forgotten flick of my mind. If anybody recognizes the style, please let me know. Anyway, she manages to be surprisingly sympathetic as the authoress of the SCUM manifesto (that's "Society for the Cutting Up of Men") and a play entitled "Up Your ...," which I suppose is appropriate considering the decadence depicted. Taylor's Valerie Solanas is strangely winning as a victim of a desperate, mad integrity. (I suspect the real Valerie was anything but sympathetic.) She won't take a job but will beg, panhandle, turn tricks and steal. She's a true believer whose main tenet is that men are something akin to a disease. Because she is bright and witty and courageous she wins us over even though she hates us. We forgive her because we know she hurts a lot and can't help herself. (To which she would say, "...")

Harron decorates this sixties cum nineties version of New York chic/flophouse reality with the kind of degenerate personalities for which the Big Apple is justly famous. Jared Harris plays Andy Warhol brilliantly with something like a truer than true characterization, combining a sympathetic, eccentric and gentle exterior with an exploitive mercantile heart. One gets the sense that he had it coming. Stephen Dorff is Candy Darling, a transvestite so fetching that he makes a guy like me wish he had a sister. Lothaire Bluteau as Olympia Press publisher Maurice Girodias seems a little young, but otherwise fits the bill, and Martha Plimpton as Stevie does a nice job in a modest part. The sound track might catch your ear with Blue Cheer performing the Coasters' "Summertime Blues" and Bettie Serveert doing a fine interpretation of Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine." Jewel (yes, the very same) sings "Sunshine Superman," and completing the nineties accent on the sixties, REM does "Love Is All Around." Probably outright anachronistic is the use of an aluminum soda can to smoke grass. I don't think that came into practice until later when the skunkweed got so strong you could smoke it like hash.

Some other sights: the Andy Warhol hanger-ons doing a faux sand-painting mandala with pills as they party, and then one of them rolling her naked torso into the pills so that they stick to her body. Or the guy coming out of--an encounter, we'll call it--with a jar of Vaseline in hand in time to greet some slumming French aristocratic ladies whose hands (one gloved) he kisses. In a bit of haute culture ridicule, another of the hangers-on asks poor Candy Darling, "We've been wondering, how often do you get your period?" To which s/he replies, "Every day. I'm all woman."

If you're the kind of person who watches the Disney Channel, I would recommend you skip this. Otherwise you might want to check it out. I found it surprisingly smart and witty. The print is finely cut, the acting is superior, and there's an underlying sense of something close to the heroic in a clearly quixotic way.

"I Shot Andy Warhol" is an interesting look at the life of the disturbed feminist Valerie Solanas. Its a brilliant film that takes you into a world that is often ugly yet impossible to turn away from. The first time I watched it, I felt a little uncomfortable with some of the subject matter. I don't see this movie as making a judgment call on either side. It just tells the story of the deterioration of this woman and her growing hatred and obsession with Andy Warhol that led to the shooting. Valerie wrote this odd little play with a name I can't write here. She found her way to the Factory through Candy Darling, a drag queen brilliantly portrayed by Stephen Dorff. None of them were interested too much in the play and it got tossed out with the trash. After being duped by a shady publisher for her feminist manifesto, she became increasingly enraged and obsessed with Warhol who she believed was trying to steal her book.

I have to admit that this would be a disturbing film for most people. Her ideas were very warped and skewed by a hatred and distrust of men. The ironic thing was that she probably could have been a good writer if her bitterness and insanity hadn't taken over. I think this shows what can happen to a person sexually abused as a child. Its a really depressing film that always makes me wince whenever I see it. However, its so powerful that I've watched it many times. I think Lily Taylor should have got an Oscar for this film. She put her heart and soul into this character.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. Its definitely a film that offends a lot of people. I didn't see this film as glorifying this woman nor condemning her. It told the story the best that it could. Its definitely a film that will be remembered.

It must be Manhatten. The distance between the Warhol art scene and the Times Square porn scene seems to have been small. A "Midnight Cowboy" for the 90's.

This is one of my favorite films from the 90's. Certainly more of an edge than Oscar winners from the '90's Forrest Gump, Titanic and Shakespeare in Love.

Lili Taylor as Valerie Solonas is superb. The overall cast is excellent. Stephen Dorff as Candy Darling is ... irresistible. Going beyond the fine acting is the direction, Mary Harron making it all just too real. She also co-wrote the script with Daniel Minahan, who later directed "Series 7: The Contender". Without Harron's tight handling, this film probably would have just been odd. Now it's great and odd. Billy Name, who was responsible for covering the actual Factory's inner walls in foil, was an advisor. He seems to have been put to good use.

I've watched twice now, the second time seeming even more powerful than the first. The second half was especially absorbing. The entire Warhol scene seems fascinating. Reading about it first in a book like "Popism: The Warhol Sixties" might enhance viewing of this movie. Something to watch but perhaps to be glad not to have been part of. Well, who's bold enough?

And yet somehow these wild side walkers have been made to seem familiar, perhaps not the girls next door but maybe just up the street. "I Shot Andy Warhol" begins as a look at the fringe and ends much closer to home.

If you want to see a tour de force performance--well, two, actually--buy, rent, borrow or steal this vid. Taylor as Solanus is amazing as well as Dorff as Candy. Recall those old WB cartoons in which there's the big Bowery bulldog prancing down the street with his little dog protege?--"Hey, Spike, let's chase some cats! Yawanna? Yawanna? Do ya?". Well, that's a bit how hustling street girl Solanus comes off as sometimes. Her line is "For 'you,' a quarter--fifty cents"..The way she cocks her hat and smokes tons of cigarettes while spewing forth her rampages about how men are genetic mistakes is priceless--she totally gets into her character. There are hints at the infamous Warhol subversive videos and cinema, the Underground and the Swinging Sixties--Yeeeah Baybaay! And the genius of the fringe and near fringe. And Noo Yawk Citay! Was Warhol exploiting the poor for his art? Or did he have a certain kinship because he was the ultimate outsider? Who's to say? Anyway, this is a great production that slipped by many movie goers when it was released. Enjoy it, now!

When I first found this film I wasn't sure whom it was about. I recognized the name from the title, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't all going to be about Andy Warhol. I was perplexed and ready for yet another adventure down the path of our nation's undiscovered history. When I first started watching this movie I knew nothing about Valerie Solanas. She is not in the history books labeled next to Andy Warhol, or is she one that oozes sympathy. Solanas is a trash talking, independent thinker that somehow found herself next to one of the most modern men of our century, Andy Warhol.

Lili Taylor helms this unbridled beast Solanas like no actress I have seen before. I honestly felt as if Taylor had transformed herself into this brutal feminist. After the first ten minutes, I didn't even recognize Taylor because she had successfully transformed herself into this insane (?) character who carried this film on her shoulders. Taylor plays this woman who, for reasons unknown, constantly seeks Warhol's attention and approval. When Andy refuses to devote his entire attention to her, her mental stability begins to fail. In hopes to bring her back into the spotlight, and hopefully demonstrate to the world her manifesto, she does what the title of this film suggests. Sadly, this has the opposite effect and she is forced to live with the act that she committed instead of the words that she has written.

Taylor was phenomenal in this role. She stole the scene from everyone and was never afraid to take Solanas to the next level. Thankfully, she has some help from some amazing back-up stars to only help boost her performance. Jared Harris is superb as Andy (one of the best reincarnations of him) and Stephen Dorff blazes onto the scene as Candy Darling. Oscars should have been handed out for their parts in this film, but unfortunately this was yet another film the Academy ignored.

Outside of the acting, director Mary Harron does a fabulous job of setting the scene and building the image of this era. Warhol was a genius, and because of his fame and notoriety he somehow attracted some of the most interesting people in the world. This is one of those stories of a woman that wanted to attach herself to this great man, yet somehow couldn't. Harron directs these actors to show this with perfection. Her brash cinematography and direction seem to blend perfectly in this boiling pot of history. Her mix of documentary and biography genres works well in this film. She commands attention behind the camera, and her actors react with positive responses. This was a gritty story not for everyone's tastes. It was a very true story that is more than just Andy Warhol, but also develops themes of feminism and women's rights. Was Solanas crazy? I don't think so, I just think she was ahead of her time and not afraid to be herself.

Grade: ***** out of *****

Before I saw this film, I never knew Lili could be so, loud. Normally, on shows and in other movies she's very soft spoken in most of the scenes. She portrays a Lesbian writer, Valerie Solanas, who is a man hater. She decides to write a manifesto, and create S.C.U.M., or society for cutting up men. She worked her way through collage by prostitution, and got a degree in psychology. Then she is often homeless, sleeping on ruffs, with her typewriter, and paper bag of things.

She even comes up with weird ways of earning money, ten cents any dirty word, six bucks for an hour worth of conversation, and even some chest stepping, odd but true. This is how she meets Maurice Gerodeious. He's major porn publisher who wants her to write him two novels. She declines at first but later goes to dinner, all dolled up, and signs the contract. Then the next day she read the whole contract and sees that she got screwed...(... a rate of six percent for the first 20,000 copies, a rate of six percent for the first 20,000 copies, he wants to own scum....).

So she tries to sell the manifesto, telling people it will change their life; she also charges 50 cents for girls, and 1.00 for men. Valerie has also written a play called up your a** about some experiences she has had with the "male species". Andy wont produce it, and it gets tossed out, but she specifically told them that she only had one other copy, that she needed that one back. she spends the remainder of the movie trying to get the script back, and develops the obsession. She now believes that Andy and the publisher are trying to steal scum and own it, alone.

In order to do what ever she really wants to do, she gets dolled up, again, and goes to the new factory. Here she shoots Warhol and his assistant before running out of bullets, then she tries to shoot the other assistant so she pulls the trigger anyway, only to make noise that it makes, and she goes out the elevator. Valerie walks down the street and sees a police officer, she goes up and tells him the police are looking for her and gives him the gun. "I shot Andy Warhol, yeah, I had to he had too much control over my life.", as she hands over her gun, out of the paper bag. See a couple of days ago she got the bag and putts all her belongings in it. "See I've been carrying all my belonging in the bag for a few days now, including the ice pick, which I'd forgotten." is what she says when she is asked why she needs the ice pick.

Lili masters this role, as usual, and SHOULD have walked away with that Oscar, she deserved it. Do you know how hard it is to believe you self in to a role the way she does? She has that unknown quality, the thing Judy Garland had, that magic, that nobody can copy. Not in a thousand years. Great movie, you should see it, but its not the greatest for children, they refer to a lot of sexual references, and intercourse.

This is an excellent flick with great performances by Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorff. Fans of indie-rock will enjoy seeing Yo La Tengo performing as The Velvet Underground at Warhol's Facory, which was perfectly depicted in this film.

The 1996 film "I Shot Andy Warhol" is a bizarre film based upon the true story of a bizarre woman named Valerie Solanas (Lili Taylor) who, in the late 1960's in Manhattan, became an acquaintance of the famous pop artist Andy Warhol (Jared Harris). Obsessed with misandry and blaming men for all of the world's problems, Valerie wrote a booklet advocating an anarchistic and violent revolution to be carried out by women in order to create a female-only society. Valerie used the booklet, which she named the "SCUM Manifesto" (where SCUM referred to "Society for Cutting Up Men"), as a way to try and make money, often by attempting to sell copies (that she had typed & copied herself) on the streets of New York City, and at parties given by Andy Warhol at his famous art studio known as "The Factory" to which Andy had invited her. (During the film, Valerie is often shown quoting directly from the "SCUM Manifesto".) Valerie also wrote a play equally hateful of men that she asked Andy Warhol to produce, but his apparent lack of interest and misplacement of her only copy that she had lent him to read angered the already highly irrational Valerie. This encouraged Andy to ignore Valerie and set the stage for the film's final scenes.

Though often times difficult to watch with the scenes involving drug use and the various odd people that were part of Andy Warhol's life in New York City, it is the quality of the acting performances given principally by Lili Taylor, Jared Harris and Stephen Dorff (who played the drag queen known as Candy Darling, the only man that Valerie appeared to trust) that made "I Shot Andy Warhol" worth watching. For her efforts, Lili Taylor won a special recognition award for her performance in "I Shot Andy Warhol" at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. The film, though low-budget, had very high production values and cinematography. Hence, my overall rating for "I Shot Andy Warhol" is 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon.com's Tom Keogh's remarks aside, this is a fine chronicle of the events leading up to the shooting of Andy Warhol by deranged fringe-dweller Valarie Solanas. Having grown up in the Warhol era, I thought the film rather accurately captured the essence and feel of the Factory and Warhol's groupies. As to Solanas' psychological deterioration--who's the expert? Keogh? I don't think there's anyone who can explain in gratuitous detail what the woman was actually going through and why she shot Warhol. The film only gives an account of what could have happened based on the information available. And it did a great job. Casting was perfect--specifically Lili Taylor as Solanas and Stephen Dorff as Candy Darling. Jared Harris was OK as Warhol. But truthfully, I don't think anyone could actually play Warhol but Warhol. He was that unique. I recommend this film to anyone who remembers that era and anyone even interested in it. The film is fine and stands it's own ground exceedingly well. If anything, just see the film for the performances. You'll still learn something.