December 20th, 2009 / 11:23 pm
Author Spotlight
Ryan Call
Author Spotlight
Headache?
I had a headache the other day (hangover?) and remembered this video that got emailed around my program a few years ago: Rip Torn hitting Norman Mailer in the head with a hammer on the set of Maidstone. Read the comments of the poster for more info? If you haven’t seen it, then I hope you like it. If you have seen it, then I hope you enjoy it again.
Tags: Norman Mailer, rip torn
hahahahahahahaha….Thanks for dredging this up Ryan…..you don’t know how many times I’ve watched this…will waste several more hours watching this….
hahahahahahahaha….Thanks for dredging this up Ryan…..you don’t know how many times I’ve watched this…will waste several more hours watching this….
Reminds me of The Spooky Art: “…once when a gang broke up a party in my loft, I had taken two cracks on the head with a hammer and had still been able to fight.”
Reminds me of The Spooky Art: “…once when a gang broke up a party in my loft, I had taken two cracks on the head with a hammer and had still been able to fight.”
this is pretty damn cool. rip torn doesn’t look like rip torn.
this is pretty damn cool. rip torn doesn’t look like rip torn.
one of my favorite moments in all of cinema. sweet jesus.
one of my favorite moments in all of cinema. sweet jesus.
If anyone ever deserved to be hit in the head with a hammer it was Norman Mailer.
If anyone ever deserved to be hit in the head with a hammer it was Norman Mailer.
This is my first time viewing this and I have no clue what is going on. Is this for real? Doesn’t seem like it.
This is my first time viewing this and I have no clue what is going on. Is this for real? Doesn’t seem like it.
oh sorry andy, i thought it would let you read the info from the youtube poster. here’s what the youtube poster wrote about the clip:
This is the final scene from Norman Mailer’s MAIDSTONE, in which he played the part of a famous movie director running for President of the United States, who is supposed to be assassinated in the finale.
Mailer concluded principal photography without resolving the final scene, and Rip Torn (playing his brother-in-law and assassin) allegedly decided to take it upon himself to “improvise” an attack by hitting Mailer on the head with a small hammer, drawing blood. Mailer retaliated by tackling and then nearly chewing Torn’s ear off as they grappled viciously, and it rapidly escalated into an unhinged on-camera brawl as Mailer’s horrified kids screamed in terror.
This is the completely uncut sequence. I have to wonder how “unplanned” it was, as the camera is obviously following Rip closely in the moments before the attack, and if principal photography had finished the day before, why was the camera crew still hanging around filming Rip and the Mailer family? Its more like Mailer knew Rip would pull something for the camera, but didnt know what, and overreacted because he wasnt expecting him to use a real hammer and actually start hitting him with it.
Mailer’s verbal reaction is oddly artificial (although the ear chewing is very real and painful to watch) and his wife seems to be lurking just off camera, and then she suddenly starts screaming like a banshee, which is what sets the kids off. Rip seems to be truly apologetic and convincing in the moments after the fight, but Mailer is barely audible and withdrawn and struggling to improvise lame insults to throw back at Torn, who starts becoming irritated at the end by Mailer’s weak and phony outrage. It’s rather ironic considering his fame as a great writer that he cant come up with snappier dialogue, or deliver it convincingly.
Whatever the circumstances of the event, it’s a truly strange and classic sequence indeed, and Rip’s demented final facial expressions are unforgettable.
For more information on Mailer’s ultrarare 60s trilogy of experimental films (Wild 90, Beyond the Law, Maidstone), check out the page on my site:
http://subcin.com/mailer.html
oh sorry andy, i thought it would let you read the info from the youtube poster. here’s what the youtube poster wrote about the clip:
This is the final scene from Norman Mailer’s MAIDSTONE, in which he played the part of a famous movie director running for President of the United States, who is supposed to be assassinated in the finale.
Mailer concluded principal photography without resolving the final scene, and Rip Torn (playing his brother-in-law and assassin) allegedly decided to take it upon himself to “improvise” an attack by hitting Mailer on the head with a small hammer, drawing blood. Mailer retaliated by tackling and then nearly chewing Torn’s ear off as they grappled viciously, and it rapidly escalated into an unhinged on-camera brawl as Mailer’s horrified kids screamed in terror.
This is the completely uncut sequence. I have to wonder how “unplanned” it was, as the camera is obviously following Rip closely in the moments before the attack, and if principal photography had finished the day before, why was the camera crew still hanging around filming Rip and the Mailer family? Its more like Mailer knew Rip would pull something for the camera, but didnt know what, and overreacted because he wasnt expecting him to use a real hammer and actually start hitting him with it.
Mailer’s verbal reaction is oddly artificial (although the ear chewing is very real and painful to watch) and his wife seems to be lurking just off camera, and then she suddenly starts screaming like a banshee, which is what sets the kids off. Rip seems to be truly apologetic and convincing in the moments after the fight, but Mailer is barely audible and withdrawn and struggling to improvise lame insults to throw back at Torn, who starts becoming irritated at the end by Mailer’s weak and phony outrage. It’s rather ironic considering his fame as a great writer that he cant come up with snappier dialogue, or deliver it convincingly.
Whatever the circumstances of the event, it’s a truly strange and classic sequence indeed, and Rip’s demented final facial expressions are unforgettable.
For more information on Mailer’s ultrarare 60s trilogy of experimental films (Wild 90, Beyond the Law, Maidstone), check out the page on my site:
http://subcin.com/mailer.html
Wild 90 is unwatchable. Makes Joe Swanberg look like Godard.
The only movie Mailer made that is worth anything is Tough Guys Don’t Dance, and that’s because 1) Wings Hauser, and 2) Frances Fisher is super hot.
Wild 90 is unwatchable. Makes Joe Swanberg look like Godard.
The only movie Mailer made that is worth anything is Tough Guys Don’t Dance, and that’s because 1) Wings Hauser, and 2) Frances Fisher is super hot.
I see it on there now. That’s my fault. This was super surreal for me.
I see it on there now. That’s my fault. This was super surreal for me.