Greaser's Palace (1972)

Summary

Satire sets story of Jesus in the Old West.

Director

Robert Downey Sr.

Downey Factor

Very low. Appears in a few scenes but has no lines.

Character

Uncredited, young boy at a pioneer camp who gets his throat slit by god.

Looks

Seven years old.

Performance

Mopey, ragdoll.

Dies, Gay or Villain

Yes, he's only 7, no.

Cast

Allan Arbus, Albert Henderson, Luana Anders, George Morgan

Connection

Robert Downey Sr.'s Hugo Pool, Pound, Up the Academy, Moment to Moment, Rented Lips, America, Too Much Sun, in The Last Party, Johnny Be Good and Sr.

Elsie Downey (mother) in Pound and Moment to Moment.

Allan Arbus in Too Much Sun.

RDJ Says

Seeing [my mother] being directed my dad, she was wildly devoted to whatever creative stream of silliness that he was onto. I remember when we were doing Greaser's Palace, she was climbing up these sand dunes over and over again. She had no problem doing something that's exacting … I had a lot of pride in [this movie] because I was old enough to know I was in it, and I'm starting to feel like a little bit of a movie brat and it was a good time … Greaser's Palace was about a messiah, it was about how even god is an actor. It just seemed like part of my day was: Dad isn't into the child-labor laws, but he wants to have an eight-year-old get his neck slit by god in Greaser's Palace, so you're in the movie. I was pissed. I wasn't into it ... I didn't understand why more than one take was necessary ... When my dad was shooting Greaser’s Palace, some dope deal had gone south between Senior’s crew and Dennis Hopper’s — it was kind of like Hollywood motorcycle gang and there was this big moment of confrontation that I remember. I was 5, 6 years old. It was like all this tension on set and all wound up culminating at a place called the Dragon Room.

Time & Place

Nineteenth century, American old west.

Availability

Released on 31 July 1972. Rare. Released on DVD in Region 1.

Rotten Tomatoes

40% Fresh | 5 Reviews

Critical View

Vincent Canby, The New York Times: Greaser's Palace does to vulgar humor what the George Stevens film did to Christianity: it embraces it with awe and far too many technical resources. The film, I'm told, cost close to $1-million, and it looks it, which depresses me even more than its witlessness. Just a few years ago, Downey could have made a couple of dozen movies with that money.

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: As a product of an unusually adventurous time in cinema history, Greaser's Palace has perverse appeal. As a comedy, it's virtually unwatchable.

Does It Hold Up

Robert Downey Sr's movies in the 1960s and 70s were considered experimental, outsider type things - they were far from mainstream. It's safe to say this was not a popular movie when it originally came out and it never achieved a "cult classic" status.

2 Reasons to See It

1. You dig forgotten '70s satire.
2. You also have the hubba hubba in your soul.

Overall

It is a strange, underground movie from the 1970s.

If You Liked It

You might also like Rented Lips (1988), The Singing Detective (2003)

Photos

Video