Norman Mailer

Maidstone

Maidstone

Over a booze-fueled, increasingly hectic five-day shoot in East Hampton, Norman Mailer and his cast and crew spontaneously unloaded onto film the lurid and loony chronicle of U.S. presidential candidate and filmmaker Norman T. Kingsley debating and attacking his hangers-on and enemies. This gonzo narrative, “an inkblot test of Mailer’s own subconscious” (Time), becomes something like a documentary on its own making when costar Rip Torn breaks the fourth wall in one of cinema’s most alarming on-screen outbursts.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1970
  • 105 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.33:1
  • English

Available In

Collector's Set

Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer

Eclipse Series 35: Norman Mailer

DVD Box Set

2 Discs

$31.96

Maidstone
Cast
Norman Mailer
Norman T. Kingsley
Rip Torn
Raoul Rey O’Houlihan
Ultra Violet
Herself
Buzz Farbar
Luis
Leo Garen
Producer
Joy Bang
Joy Broom
Lee Cook
Lazarus
Beverly Bentley
Chula Mae
Jean Campbell
Jeanne Cardigan
Robert Gardiner
Secret service chief
Credits
Director
Norman Mailer
Produced by
Buzz Farbar
Produced by
Norman Mailer
Story
Norman Mailer
Cinematography
Jim Desmond
Cinematography
Richard Leacock
Cinematography
D. A. Pennebaker
Cinematography
Proferes Nicholas T.
Cinematography
Sheldon and Diane Rochlin
Cinematography
Jan Pieter Welt
Editing
Jan Pieter Welt
Editing
Lana Jokel
Editing
Norman Mailer
Music
Carol Stevens

Current

Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer
Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer

In the 1960s, Mailer, already a literary legend, was inspired by the avant-garde film movement to take a stab at his own, anti-Warholian underground cinema.

By Michael Chaiken

Pennebaker on Mailer: Maidstone
Pennebaker on Mailer: Maidstone

The legendary documentarian talks to critic Michael Chaiken about his experiences on that most notoriously mad of Mailer’s movies.

Maidstone’s Notorious Fight Scene
Maidstone’s Notorious Fight Scene
There are disturbing movie scenes, and then there are disturbing movie scenes. The following, from Norman Mailer’s Maidstone, is not for the faint of heart. The 1970 film is the ultimate example of Mailer’s cinematic philosophy, which held that…