''Lonesome Cowboys'' is a 1968 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film 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 Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

and written and produced by Paul Morrissey. The film is a satire of Hollywood Westerns, and was initially screened in November 1968 at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...

, where it won the Best Film Award. On May 5, 1969, it was shown for initial viewings at the

New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre The Garrick Cinema (periodically referred to as the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre, Andy Warhol's Garrick Cinema, Garrick Theatre, or Nickelodeon) was a 199-seat movie house at 152 Bleecker Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower ...

in New York City.

Production

''Lonesome Cowboys'' was shot in January 1968 in Old Tucson and the Rancho Linda Vista Dude Ranch in

Oracle, Arizona Oracle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,686 at the 2010 Census, falling to 3,051 at the 2020 Census. Buffalo Bill Cody owned the High Jinks Gold Mine in Oracle briefly and, in 191 ...

on a budget of $3,000. The film features

Warhol superstars Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his fam ...

Viva,

Taylor Mead Taylor Mead (December 31, 1924 – May 8, 2013) was an American writer, actor and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films filmed at Warhol's Factory, including ''Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of'' (1963) and ...

Louis Waldon Louis Waldon (December 16, 1934 – December 6, 2013) was an American film actor, whose career spanned nearly 45 years. He was born in Modesto, California. Waldon began his acting career in 1965. He was best known for his collaboration with Ameri ...

Eric Emerson Eric Emerson (June 23, 1945 – May 28, 1975) was an American musician, dancer, and actor. Emerson is best known for his roles in films by pop artist Andy Warhol, and as a member of the seminal glam punk group the Magic Tramps. Career Growing ...

, and

Joe Dallesandro Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III (born December 31, 1948) is an American actor and Warhol superstar. Having also crossed over into mainstream roles such as mobster Lucky Luciano in the film '' The Cotton Club'', Dallesandro was a sex symbol of g ...

. The plot loosely is based on '' Romeo and Juliet'', hence the names Julian and Ramona of the two leads. While in Arizona on a college lecture tour in November 1967, Warhol booked film screenings of excerpts from ''

Chelsea Girls ''Chelsea Girls'' is a 1966 American experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films (both feature-length and short). It w ...

'' followed by a question-and-answer session with the artist, Morrissey, Viva, and

Allen Midgette Allen Midgette (born as Allen Joseph Midgett; February 2, 1939 – June 16, 2021) was an American actor and painter who is perhaps best known for playing Andy Warhol on a 1968 University lecture tour after the artist was shot by Valerie Solanas. ...

at Arizona State University and the Cinema I Film Society at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Warhol and Viva apparently both enjoyed their time in Arizona so much that they made plans to find a way to return, which culminated in Paul Morrissey's writing the screenplay for ''Lonesome Cowboys'' to be shot there two months later. A detailed first-hand account of Warhol's time in Tucson by Cinema I director Shirley Pasternack was published in the May 1989 issue of ''Tucson City Magazine''. The film was shot on 16 mm film using an

Auricon Auricon cameras were 16 mm film Single System sound-on-film motion picture cameras manufactured in the 1940s through the early 1980s. Auricon cameras are notable because they record sound directly onto an optical or magnetic track on the same film ...

camera, recording the sound directly onto the film. Warhol deliberately stopped and started the camera during takes to include flash frames and audio pops in the middle of shots. Warhol initially planned to title the film ''Fuck'', then ''The Glory of the Fuck''. Warhol and Morrissey settled on ''Lonesome Cowboys'' while Warhol was convalescing following the attempt on his life by

Valerie Solanas Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) was an American radical feminist known for the ''SCUM Manifesto'', which she self-published in 1967, and for her attempt to murder artist Andy Warhol in 1968. Solanas had a turbulent child ...

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

was filming ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...

'', which featured several members of Warhol's entourage, including Viva and

Ultra Violet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

who, with Morrissey, shot a separate short film during shooting of ''Midnight Cowboy'''s elaborate party scene. Warhol initially endorsed the participation of his people but grew resentful at what he perceived as Schlesinger's poaching of Warhol's scene. Warhol decided to undercut Schlesinger by naming this film ''Lonesome Cowboys'' as a reference to ''Midnight Cowboy''. The original poster promoting the film, designed by George Abagnalo, is shown prominently in a portrait of Warhol by Jack Mitchell.

Cast

as Joe "Little Joe" * Julian Burroughs as Brother *

as Eric * Tom Hompertz as Julian *

as Nurse * Viva as Ramona D'Alvarez *

as Mickey * Francis Francine as Sheriff

Reception

In August 1969, the film was seized by police in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, personnel at The Ansley Mall Mini Cinema were arrested, and the entire audience was searched by police for their identifications.WarholStars entry
/ref> The event was considered a turning point in the city's LGBT community and led to the first

Atlanta Pride Atlanta Pride, also colloquially (and formerly) called the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival, is a week-long annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) pride festival held in Atlanta, Georgia (United States). Established in 1971, it is one of th ...

two years later.

Remakes

A 2010 remake by

Marianne Dissard Marianne Dissard (born 20 May 1969 in France) is a singer, lyricist and author, and filmmaker who lived in the United States from 1985 to 2013, including Tucson, Arizona from 1994 to 2013. "A central figure in Tucson's desert music community" wi ...

titled ''Lonesome Cowgirls'' was shot in Tucson, Arizona.

References

External links

*
''Lonesome Cowboys'' at WarholStars
* {{Romeo and Juliet film adaptations 1968 films 1968 LGBT-related films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Andy Warhol 1968 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Films based on Romeo and Juliet LGBT-related adaptations of works by William Shakespeare 1960s American films