Scorpio Rising (1963)

Directed by

Kenneth Anger

Genre

LGBTQ-related film

Country

United States

Runtime

28 min

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 152 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The film follows a group of bikers getting ready for a night out. It uses pop songs and colorful lighting to create a stylized mood.

experimentalstylizedprovocativeatmosphericedgysubversivemusic-driven

What happens

Scorpio Rising is a 1963 American experimental short film shot, edited, co-written and directed by Kenneth Anger, and starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio. Loosely structured around a prominent soundtrack of 1960s pop music, it follows a group of bikers preparing for a night out. Anger shot most of the film in New York City over the course of three months. His unique style makes extensive use of colorful non-diegetic lighting. Central themes include the occult, biker subculture, homosexuality, Christianity and Nazism. Scorpio Rising also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, such as James Dean and Marlon Brando (referred to by Anger as Byron's "heroes", likely a direct reference to the trope of the Byronic hero). The film premiered on October 29, 1963, at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City. It became the subject of protests and a lawsuit by the American Nazi Party, an obscenity prosecution overturned by the California Supreme Court, and a copyright lawsuit by the Lutheran Church. Scorpio Rising received praise from film critics and was credited with igniting leather gear and motorcycles as a fad in New York. The film is recognized as a predecessor to the development of the modern music video and has influenced directors such as Martin Scorsese, John Waters, and Nicolas Winding Refn. In 2022, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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