Word: dwarf
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...like a confused army of extras recruited from Central Casting. This is not really the fault of Director Minos Volanakis or the Chelsea Theater Center, which has staged Volanakis' translation at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Rather the flaw is in the script's grandiose pretensions, which dwarf interest in any individual...
...rider becomes the penitent, shaves his head and commits himself to the task of digging a tunnel out of the cave. Because he is bigger and stronger than all the prisoners, he can climb out of the cave. With the dwarf women who took care of him on his back, he goes into the town to collect money by begging for supplies to dig the tunnel. The town is an exaggerated stereotype of a Hollywood Western town; boorish, fat old women in 1890's dresses, who ooh and aah as they watch two men kill each other; black slaves branded...
When the penitent and his dwarf woman ask to be married in the town church they discover that the priest is none other than the abandoned son. The son wants to kill his father for abandoning him, but agrees to wait until he has finished digging the tunnel...
...toward the town and are met by a barrage of rifle fire. When the penitent arrives they are all dead. The townspeople shoot him also but he refuses to die and picks up a gun and again, as the avenger, kills all the townspeople. The only survivors are his dwarf wife, their newborn son, and his priest son. The penitent pours kerosene over himself and self-immolates, leaving the other three to ride off into the desert, and keep civilization going (or perhaps star in a sequel...
...leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of his composition 200 Motels, which is made up of equal parts of Spike Jones, John Cage and Buddy Holly. There are episodes involving lust-crazed groupies, a sleazy impresario named Ranee Muhammitz (Theodore Bikel) and a character called Larry the Dwarf, who is played by Ringo Starr made up to look exactly like Frank Zappa. There is even an animated cartoon ostensibly about the "dental-hygiene dilemma," which is set inside the mouth of none other than Donald Duck. Zappa and Co-Director Tony Palmer, shooting with video tape, overindulge...