Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer

During the late 1960s, pugnacious novelist Norman Mailer decided that he wanted to become a filmmaker, so he banged out a trio of no-budget, mostly improvised productions that blurred the lines between home movies and experimental cinema. His first effort, Wild 90 (1967), finds three foul-mouthed gangsters (Mailer, Buzz Farbar, and Mickey Knox) hiding in an apartment from unspecified enemies. Beyond the Law (1968) puts Mailer in the role of an Irish cop who runs a precinct where police brutality is part of the daily routine. And in Maidstone (1970), Mailer plays a controversial filmmaker who decides to become a presidential candidate. All three films are disasters—albeit in unique ways. Wild 90 features some of the worst sound recording ever in a theatrically released feature—perhaps just as well, considering the absurd abundance of scatological words and pointless name-calling. Beyond the Law offers a funny surprise with writer George Plimpton's acting turn in a devastating parody of then–New York mayor John Lindsay, but Mailer's direction is hopelessly muddled and his own acting is worse. Maidstone is infamous for the bizarre moment when Rip Torn, playing Mailer's brother, inexplicably freaked out while in character and attacked the director/star with a hammer (Mailer replied by biting Torn's ear). Aside from that strange flare-up, however, the movie is enervated and offers no meaningful insight into the political process. Missing from this anthology, sadly, is Mailer's final attempt at filmmaking: 1987's Tough Guys Don't Dance, which—despite its deficiencies in screenwriting and acting—at least boasted professional-level standards that were painfully absent from these ramshackle efforts. Extras on this barebones Eclipse set are limited to liner notes. Except for Mailer addicts and devotees of outrageous underground cinema, this is not a necessary purchase. (P. Hall)