FOLLOW US ON:
GET THE NEWSLETTER
CONTACT US
Classic documentary on William Burroughs

image
 
Last year, Dangerous MInd writer, Bradley Novicoff posted a link to this excellent BBC documentary on William S. Burroughs. At the time it wasn’t possible to embed Arena: Burroughs onto our site, but now it is.

Burroughs was originally made in 1983 by Howard Brookner and Alan Yentob, as part of the BBC’s art strand Arena, and repeated after Burrough’s death in 1997. It is an exceptional documentary, one that gives an intimate and revealing portrait of Burroughs, as he revisits his childhood home; discusses his up-bringing with his brother, Mortimer; his friendship with Jack Kerouac, Allen Gisnberg, and Brion Gysin; and has a reunion with artist Francis Bacon, who Burroughs knew in Tangier. Other contributors include Terry Southern, Patti Smith, and James Grauerholz.

 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
|
01.15.2011
02:01 pm
|
Burroughs: The Movie
01.13.2010
04:35 pm
Topics:
Tags:

image
 
Some fresh Burroughs loot was just added to the mountain of treasure that is Ubu: the entirety of Howard Brookner’s Burroughs: The Movie.  Previously available on VHS only (a used copy on Amazon runs you 40 bucks), Burroughs: The Movie was released in ‘85 by poet, Warhol associate, and dial-a-poem instigator, John Giorno, through his Giorno Poetry Systems.

The film features such familiar-but-always-welcome luminaries as Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Francis Bacon, Patti Smith, and Terry Southern.  And while there’s a new Burroughs doc just around the corner, there’s still plenty of juicy bits in Burroughs: The Movie.  Don’t miss Lauren Hutton introducing Burroughs as “the greatest living writer in America,” before his first appearance on Saturday Night Live (he reads an excerpt of Naked Lunch, by the way!).

Sadly—and unusual for Ubu—Burroughs: The Movie is unembeddable, but to quickly have your ticket exploded just click here.

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
|
01.13.2010
04:35 pm
|