''Blue Movie'' (also known as ''Fuck'') is a 1969 American erotic film written, produced and directed by

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

. It is the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and is regarded as a seminal film in the

Golden Age of Porn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-whitelist/Archives/2018/01#Another_Worthy_Journal_Article_on_Wordpress ---> The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American porno ...

. It helped inaugurate the " porno chic" phenomenon, in which porn was publicly discussed by celebrities (like

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six P ...

and

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

) and taken seriously by film critics (like

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

), in modern American culture, and later, in many other countries throughout the world. According to Warhol, ''Blue Movie'' was a major influence in the making of '' Last Tango in Paris'', an internationally controversial erotic drama film starring Marlon Brando and released a few years after ''Blue Movie'' was made. Viva and Louis Waldon, playing themselves, starred in ''Blue Movie''. In 1970, '' Mona'', the second adult erotic film that received a wide release, was shown. Afterwards, other adult films, including ''

Boys in the Sand ''Boys in the Sand'' is a landmark American gay pornographic film, released early in the Golden Age of Porn. The 1971 film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan.Deep Throat'', '' Behind the Green Door'', and '' The Devil in Miss Jones'', were released to continue the Golden Age of Porn, beginning with ''Blue Movie''. In 2016, ''Blue Movie'' was shown at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

Development

The film includes dialogue about the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, various mundane tasks and

unsimulated sex In the film industry, unsimulated sex is the presentation of sex scenes in which actors genuinely perform the depicted sex acts, rather than simulating them. Although it is ubiquitous in films intended as pornographic, it is very uncommon in ...

, during a blissful afternoon in a New York City apartment (owned by art critic David Bourdon). The film was presented in the press as, "a film about the Vietnam War and what we can do about it." Warhol added, "the movie is about ... love, not destruction." Warhol explained that the lack of a plot in ''Blue Movie'' was intentional: According to Viva: "The Warhol films were about sexual disappointment and frustration: the way Andy saw the world, the way the world is, and the way nine-tenths of the population sees it, yet pretends they don’t."

Cast

* Louis Waldon as Himself * Viva as Herself

Production

Andy Warhol described making ''Blue Movie'' as follows: "I'd always wanted to do a movie that was pure fucking, nothing else, the way ''

Eat Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...

'' had been just eating and ''

Sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...

'' had been just sleeping. So in October '68 I shot a movie of Viva having sex with Louis Waldon. I called it just ''Fuck''." The film was supposedly filmed in a single three-hour session, with 30 minutes initially cut for the 140-minute version. The climactic section was shot in a 35-minute take. According to ''Variety'', the film has only 10 minutes of actual sex. The film acquired a blue/green tint when Warhol utilized film stock that was meant for filming with tungsten lights, and the daylight coming through a large apartment window resulted in the film's middle reel turning blue. According to Wheeler Winston Dixon, a filmmaker and scholar who attended the first screening of the film at Warhol's Factory in the spring of 1969:

Release

The film had a benefit screening on June 12, 1969, at the Elgin Theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. ''Variety'' reported that the film was the "first theatrical feature to actually depict intercourse". While it was initially shown at

The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities and Warhol's supersta ...

, ''Blue Movie'' was not presented to a wider audience until it opened at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theater in

on July 21, 1969, with a running time of 105 minutes. The film was also screened at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. On its opening day in New York, the film grossed a house record $3,050, with a total of $16,200 for the week. Warhol received 90% of the gross, which recovered the film's $3,000 cost quickly. Viva, in Paris, finding that ''Blue Movie'' was getting a lot of attention, said, "

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

loved it. Gene Youngblood did too. He said I was better than Vanessa Redgrave and it was the first time a real movie star had made love on the screen. It was a real breakthrough."

Controversy

On July 31, 1969, the staff of the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre were arrested, and the film confiscated. The theater manager was eventually fined $250; afterwards, the manager said, "I don't think anyone was harmed by this movie ... I saw other pictures around town and this was a kiddie matinee compared to them." Warhol said, "What's pornography anyway? ..The muscle magazines are called pornography, but they're really not. They teach you how to have good bodies ..I think movies should appeal to prurient interests. I mean the way things are going now – people are alienated from one another. ''Blue Movie'' was ''real''. But it wasn't done as pornography—it was done as an exercise, an experiment. But I really do think movies ''should'' arouse you, should get you excited about people, should be prurient. Prurience is part of the machine. It keeps you happy. It keeps you running." ote – in "view all"/"page 327" – from the book text, "In a final defence of his methods, which were used in ''Blue Movie'' for the last time, Andy told Leticia Kent, [in a ''Vogue'' interview..."]

Aftermath

Afterwards, in 1970, Warhol published ''Blue Movie'' in book form, with film dialogue and explicit stills, through Grove Press. When '' Last Tango in Paris'', an internationally controversial erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Marlon Brando, was released in 1972, Warhol considered ''Blue Movie'' to be its inspiration. '' Mona the Virgin Nymph'', an erotic film depicting explicit sex, also received a mainstream theatrical release in the United States in 1970. Shortly thereafter, other adult films, such as ''

that began with ''Blue Movie''. In 1973, the phenomenon of porn being publicly discussed by celebrities (like

and

) and taken seriously by film critics (like

), a development referred to by Ralph Blumenthal of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as " porno chic", began for the first time in modern American culture and later throughout the world.

Revival

In 2005, ''Blue Movie'' was publicly screened in New York City for the first time in over 30 years. In 2016, the film was shown at the

References

External links

* * * *
Blue Movie
' at the

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections o ...

''Blue Movie'' stars – Warholstars
*
Images: Blue Movie – Andy Warhol

Images: New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre
{{Portal bar, 1960s, Film, Society, United States 1969 drama films 1969 films 1960s erotic drama films 1960s pornographic films American erotic drama films American independent films American pornographic films Films directed by Andy Warhol Films set in New York City Obscenity controversies in film Films shot in 16 mm film 1969 independent films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films