Customer Reviews

Mule Skinner Blues

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

 

 

If you are into documentaries and you enjoyed AMERICAN MOVIE I can practically guarantee that you're going to like MULE SKINNER BLUES since it almost begs to be compared to that earlier film by Chris Smith and Sarah Price. AMERICAN MOVIE is about a hard drinking guy from Wisconsin named Mark Borchardt who is consumed by his passion to make a movie in spite of all the obstacles placed in his path and all the nay sayers he encounters. In MULE SKINNER BLUES the film takes place in the upper right hand corner of my old stomping grounds, Florida, in a nowhere-land called Mayport located near Jacksonville on the Atlantic coast, and our primary mover and shaker is Beanie Andrew who looks to be at least 60 something, quite a bit older than the dreamer in AMERICAN MOVIE. Unlike Mark, Beanie has absolutely no training or film experience, just the life-long urge to jump out of the mud dressed as a gorilla and scare people. His big chance came when a young film maker named Stephen Earnhart came to town one day--and Beanie pounced.

Earnhart was in Florida scouting locations for a low budget horror film he hoped to do called DEVIL DEER (oh boy). Fortunately for us that deal fell through, but he did wind up producing a music video called "Book of Angels" for Jim White instead and they decided to film it in Mayport. Beanie Andrew and some of his friends were cast in the video. The die was cast too. After that there was no escaping Beanie who sent numerous unsolicited tapes to Earnhart trying to convince him that there was tons of local talent and endless amounts of wonderful locations around Mayport and Earnhart should really come back and make a film with them. Earnhart was charmed by the entire thing and amazed by the sheer energy and persistence of Andrew. He knew there was indeed a film there and that he was going to make it, but he had no idea how it was going to end.

What follows is more than just your usual parade of colorful and eccentric characters, although there is that of course. We get to know Beanie the best. He's a born salesman--half P.T. Barnum, half Elmer Gantry, he fervently believes everything he says and he does everything humanly possible to make this little horror movie come to fruition. He's a singing, dancing, dynamo who seems indestructable. Then there's the quiet, introverted Larry Parrot who co-writes the movie's script with Beanie. Larry is an aging fanboy with a mailorder wife. He was a member of Christopher Lee's fan club (his son is named Christopher) and he even won an autographed script from THE MUMMY in one of the club's contests. There's Miss Jeannie who likes to yodel and sings the film's title song with the help of copious amounts of schnappes to get her past her really bad smoker's cough. Earnhart also produced a music video of Miss Jeannie singing her "DUI Blues" which is included on this dvd. We can't forget Annabelle Lea-Usher (sound like a stage name to you?) who tried and failed in the Big Apple. She does the costumes and special effects for the film and has something special in her freezer. And last but not least the film's two muscians, Steve Walker and Ricky Lix. Ricky is probably the more talented musician, but at the end of the film the older Walker claims that true happiness is having enough money to buy beer, cigarettes, and take his lady to the Renaissance Fair, so he has achieved some degree of enlightenment.

MULE SKINNER BLUES is not a freak show. It doesn't hold these characters up to ridicule and say look at the redneck drunks, aren't they amusing. Director Earnhart treats his subjects with dignity and frankly identifies with them a great deal--they are novices at film making and so is he. And that attitude is part of what makes BLUES stand out from the average documentary. Yeah, they're flaky, and they're sometimes unintentionally funny, but I think that could probably be said about all of us if we were able to see ourselves exposed as they are here. You'll really get to know all of these people by the end of this film and you won't feel that the time you spent with them was wasted. You may even learn a little life lesson from Beanie who says "If you're gonna do something, DO it. If you fall in the mud, maybe you'll come out as a gorilla."

WOW! What a great film that gives those without a clue a slice of reality and really entertains those of us who can relate. "Don't be a wish-a-woulda"

Destine to become a cult classic for alcoholics everywhere,"Mule Skinner Blues" conveys a message of hope for every poor, down-and-out individual.

i just finished watching this dvd for the 2nd time and like usually the 2nd,3rd,4th time around even hits harder. well this film has made my life better today. i am a creative person i write and i sing and i do all sorts of things.and the wild part is that i have been very succesful in 35 years of doing this. a lot furthur down the road than any of the people in this film could even imagine of doing. i have been depressed lately becasue i have been on a cold run, i have been very creative, but no one is biting on the product, and that has led me to really question why i do this....the answer came in this film, it is because i have that love and devotion for the creative process............all i wanna do right now is write a song and record it....simple as that....i gotta learn more about the director and more about how and why this film was shot, but it a masterpiece.............in everyway....the world is full of dreamers but sometimes the dreamers get there dreams mixed up with the business of creativity and there could be nothing futhur from the real truth about how and why music and film and all sorts of things are done. i am so thankful i got to see this film on this day. i feel like it has turned the corner for me and i cannot wait to get around the next curve...rock on beanie you s.o.b. and all you people, i love ya...stephen allen davis muspac@aol.com

Mule Skinner Blues is a fine documentary that sensitively tells the story of a group of amateur artists and actors in a trailer park near Jacksonville, Florida; they want to make their own horror movie. After having some contact with director Stephen Earnhart who was originally in that area to film a music video, resident Beanie Andrew persisted in sending countless unsolicited videotapes to Earnhart and Earnhart eventually decided to return to Florida and work them to make their own horror film complete with costumes that they could dig up from the storage area of one of the residents, Annabelle Lea-Usher, a script that Beanie and especially his friend Larry slaved over and enough camera time using what few "sets" they had to make it all work out. In addition, Mule Skinner Blues has a fine musical score and the pace of the story moves along so well that you shouldn't feel bored watching this documentary.

These people, despite the fact that they are only amateurs and really not the most talented people, impressed me greatly as they worked so hard to turn their dream of making a horror film into a reality. It was practically a labor of love! We meet the people who worked the most on the film and we get to know them fairly well over the course of the film: There's Larry Parrot who writes the majority of the script after getting most of his ideas from Beanie Andrew, who is in seventh heaven that they are finally going to make their own horror film with the aid of someone who knows about filmmaking; and Beanie himself is quite a character who wants to live his life to the fullest. Indeed, it's great to see Beanie pushing so hard to get the movie done and even act in it as well. There are others who are very interesting: I liked Miss Jeannie, who sings with the aid of schnapps to overcome her smoker's cough; and musicians Steve Walker and Ricky Lix are fascinating to know as well. Of course, all of these people have so much to say about their lives both past and present; and when the filmmakers come back three years later to add what they thought would be a brief ending to the documentary they see how several people's lives have changed quite a bit! Some of the change will surely surprise you; and you will love to see the premiere of their movie.

It could seem as if I've given it all away but I assure you that I haven't. There is a great deal more for you to watch, enjoy and discover about these people as you watch this film! The human element to the film is touching, to say the least.

The DVD comes with a few bonus extras; I especially enjoyed a music video of Miss Jeannie's own song "DUI Blues" that features her with a dancing cop (Stephen C. Rhatigan) to shake things up a bit and make it very well done.

I highly recommend this underrated documentary for anyone interested in the themes of realizing your own dreams despite the odds; and people who enjoy somewhat campy biographical documentaries that also deal with social and political issues will not be disappointed.

This strange documentary takes place in the South near Jacksonville, Florida, and is about a group of the trailer park residents who decide to make a horror film. This is not a polished documentary; however, it works perfectly with the Southern characters in this film, all of whom seem to have come right out of the pages of novel by Flannery O'Conner, Erskine Caldwell or Tennessee Williams.

Where to begin. Hmm . . .

First, let me say that this documentary deserves three-and-a-half stars. It didn't get a four or five star rating because it just isn't the type of film that most viewers will "get". Some will rent or buy this and turn it off after the first fifteen minutes, poo-pooing the concept of filming---basically---a reality show in a trailer park community. Others will be riveted to the screen by its intense, real-life people who are flawed, and, somewhat delusional. But along with the delusion comes a dream; the dream of filming a horror movie for the silver screen. Can a group of alcoholics, a set of marginally talented musicians, and a woman who keeps a dead dog in her freezer (all set in a trailer park) really succeed on any level?

And the answer is an amazing "yes".

The "dream" of the horror movie surrounds these "real" people and spans about three years during which the filming takes place, relationships are strengthened or shattered, alcoholics relapse, the director becomes homeless, but the film still makes it into a local theater.

The "delusion" surrounds several of the trailer park residents (mainly Beanie Andrew...the director and the mover and shaker behind the film) who believe that their movie is superior to any ever made. Several times Mr. Andrew says this, and I cringe at his words and his delusional state that would make him believe---even for a minute---that his film could rate higher than "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" or "Five Million Years to Earth" or other low-budget films (although "low-budget" is pretty relative). But Mr. Andrew makes no distinctions between low-budget or top-dollar films.

Even with these flaws, these delusions, the film is interesting because of the content, and these men and women who choose to live their lives on the fringes of the down and trodden. And even though they live on this precarious precipice, they had enough imagination, initiative, and enough of a dream, to see that their movie got made.

Congratulations to the delusional few!

Creative energy and lively off beat charcters that entertain with personality and charisma as we learn who these folks are. Good music.

This was given as a gift and the recipient didn't like it. I haven't seen it so my 1 star above wasn't correct. I just had to put something in.