A combination of the Old West and the New Testament; a zoot-suited drifter (Allan Arbus) discovers his true calling and begins to perform miracles. What he really prefers though is doing his boogie-woogie song-and-dance ac... more »t. In his wanderings he attracts many followers and finally gets to play The Palace, a saloon run by ruthless Seaweed Greaser (Albert Henderson). The act is a success, but Greaser's spoiled daughter, Cholera (Luana Anders), his hitherto star, is furious--"A man with holes in his hands is a bigger hit than me?"--and all according to the Gospel of cult filmmaker Robert Downey (Putney Swope, Pound).« less
"This movie is amazing. Amazing in the way it effects people. One in five will love it, the other four will hate it, all five will never stop talking about it. I saw this movie when it hit the theaters in NYC in 1970. I, as everybody else in the theater, was confused. For some reason we thought the movie was a fifties revival movie. No one was prepared to see a return of Jesus to the wild west. I bought a copy of this movie and view it at least once a year. It takes me a year to recover. After viewing it many times with others, the power of this movie never fails to exert itself on it's viewers. I have aquaintances who saw this move over twelve years ago. They still bring it up (or blame me for it) when they see me now. About four years ago I read the Bagavad Gita a number of times. One of the many insights I enjoyed was .... "what Greasers Palace was about." After viewing this movie numerous times since 1970, I finally got it. It is worth getting and viewing this movie and trying to figure out why it upsets people so much. Greasers Palace does something to dig into the psyche. When I watch Mick Jagger in the movie "Performance," I wonder how that movie could have become the leading cause of in-theater violence in U.S. history. Like "Greasers Palace," it makes you wonder."
Instant B-fest Classic!
Baby Turtle | Chicago, IL United States | 03/01/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I had the extreme pleasure of seeing this film at A&O Films B-fest 2001. Wow! It's so hard to describe, but if you're into strange things this is a definite must see. It is guaranteed to mess with your head and keep you begging for more. When I tell people about this movie they just don't believe me. Yes, there really is a mariachi band playing every time that guy goes to the toilet!"
"I shake my white locks at the runaway sun..."
Stephen M. Amy | Portland, OR United States | 12/18/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Addendum to my previous review of "Greaser's Palace": in this film, God The Father looks like Walt Whitman. Since we all know that to be truly the case, it is another reason to recommend the film."
Pretentious hip drivel
Wayne A. | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 09/24/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"(Sorry, I'm being a bad boy--the negative review below really got to me) I'm sorry but it seems any adventurous film out there gets at least one "pretentious hip drivel" review. It's almost always a mercifully short review too because, well, where do you go from there; how do you prove a movie is pretentious or drivel? Strange films always have this potential which is why I generally cut to: Was it fun, weird, interesting, amusing, whatever?
This is a fun film and it's full of surprises so it passes fine. Hey, I hated "Being John Malkovich" because there was little in the movie I hadn't seen before. It seemed like a compendium of the film maker's favorite oddball films. You want really oddball? Try "The Dark Backward" still awaiting DVD release."
Like American Idols' William Hung
Movie Rubberneck | Hot and Sweaty Florida | 07/02/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"You just can't help but want to watch more. I mean, this movie is soo weird you keep asking yourself "Is this for real, are they serious?!" My favorite quote in this movie was definitly by Alan Alda...or is it Arkin...anyway "What's going down here?" and you'll trully be asking yourself that as you watch this oddity."