Hi, speaking with a friend online and the subject was porn, (I know...shocking), and both he & I were unsure of what is considered to be the first true gonzo movie. We both threw out there The Adventures of Buttman but we were wondering is something pre-dates it. Would something like the Swedish Erotica shorts count? Just curious and I'd thought I would throw it to the more senior & educated viewers of filth to enlighten and engage. Thanks
Max Booty As evil plans go, it doesn't suck.
[Link]
Planet Sex Deactivated User
1951 Posts 6/01
Posted - Jan 31 2003 : 8:54PM
Buttman schmuttman . Gonzo goes WAAAAAY far back than you can possibly imagine. If you watch Alex DeRenzy´s HISTORY OF BLUE MOVIE, you´ll see that DeRenzy himself planted the seeds of gonzo style in those interview scenes at the end. And he was just copying something he saw in Denmark!
However, I think that the term was coined for Buttman's movies.
I also think that the term is now being used more loosely than it used to be when describing movies. Initially, "gonzo" was used to describe movies that had some type of a story line, but the cameraman was acknowledged as being present (a la Buttman or Seymore Butts).
Gonzo seems to be used more now for all-sex movies (no plot line), movies with a series of vignettes or movies with a short interview before a sex scene.
Bill is correct in that the genre known as "gonzo porn" really was created by the filming style of John Stagliano back in the 80's. As to the legendary Swedish Erotica movies (and magazines for that matter) - they really were ahead of their time and were among the first to feature anal, interracial and DP action that we all take for granted these days.
I'm not sure for sure but I heard there use to be a guy called Ugly George in the walking in NY with a camera on his head or something and he was asking girls on the street to pose for him. It was suppose to be the real deal. I think he made his movies like in the seventies or something.
Of course in my opinion the gonzo genre was born the day Stagliano released The Adventures of Buttman. It actually pushed porn into the right direction. He's been often imitated but never duplicated!
[Link]
Planet Sex Deactivated User
1951 Posts 6/01
Posted - Feb 1 2003 : 9:21AM
I still want to figure out why it´s called "gonzo".
Good question, Planet. Maybe you can guess by considering both the porn definition and the conventional definition of the word "gonzo."And then consider again what Bill wrote:This is only a guess, but the term "gonzo" might have been coined to describe what was then John Stagliano's unconventional approach to porn moviemaking which acknowledged the presence of the cameraman (himself) in the story line of the movie. And as has been pointed out, the first time that this was done was in the movie The Adventures of Buttman.
Pontus
[Link]
Planet Sex Deactivated User
1951 Posts 6/01
Posted - Feb 1 2003 : 11:20AM
That´s, um, not entirely accurate. The first time the presence of the cameraman was acknowledged was in some DeRenzy´s loops back in the 70´s. Later on, in the early 80´s, Anthony Spinelli did a couple of movies in this vein as well.
John made it popular, that´s for sure, but it has been done before.
Planet, you missed the point. The operative words were "story line." The movie, The Adventures of Buttman, had a story line. In fact, the plot of that movie revolved around the cameraman throughout. That's the distinction. That's what makes it the first true gonzo movie, because, as Bill pointed out, that is the original meaning of gonzo.
Pontus
Edited by - Pontus Maximus on 2/1/2003 12:51:44 PM
[Link]
Planet Sex Deactivated User
1951 Posts 6/01
Posted - Feb 1 2003 : 1:19PM
And so´s the movies I mentioned. I even remember a third one, "Candy Camera", shot on video somewhere around 1984 that´s pretty similar.
Even tho he may not have been the first to shoot this particular style, it doesn't really matter - John Stagliano was the true innovator and driving force of the gonzo genre, period.
I first heard the term gonzo in relation to Hunter S. Thompson's writings. First-person, highly subjective, point-of-view journalism that injected the writer into the meat of the story rather than adhering to a (perhaps artificial) objective "distance." In journalistic realms, this could be looked on as unprofessional or even outlaw, though to me it seems a natural thing.
Similarly, when you see the documentary "Sherman's March" by Ross McElwee, he's a nerdy guy who goes around the Deep South with a heavy movie camera interviewing women who are potential mates, then sitting alone late at night making diaristic comments about the women and his failure to connect happily with any of them [though, he does to some degree].
My sense is that "gonzo" as a porn term really does apply to and generate from the birth of the "Buttman" persona, and I think the sources I cite above are the two pop culture vectors that directly (or indirectly) influenced the genre. That, and yes, Ugly George. And Woody Allen, as is sugggested by Constance Penley, who teaches porn history at USC Santa Barbara, in a fine essay that discusses Stagliano, published in some scholarly journal that I can't locate right now.
Posted - Jan 31 2003 : 8:37PM
