The Crazy-Quilt

Get this picture out on DVD!!!!! Given its short length, perhaps a double-feature with one of John Korty's other early films would be an interesting package.

Anyone know who owns the rights to Crazy Quilt these days?

I agree with other users that it is a shame this is not available. One commenter suggests a double feature with another Korty film. I think that 'Crazy Quilt' would be great as a double bill with 'Silence', which probably even fewer have seen, and is also very moving. Korty's Emmy-winning documentary about the family with 17 or so children I remember well from TV in the 70s. I don't know whether that's available either, though. Very sensitive filmmaker, along the lines of Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives) and, to some degree, Patrick Keillor ('London','Robinson in Space'}.

I was actually surprised to see this many comments on it, and it makes me aware of how many films have never made it even to VHS and sometimes these are very important ones like 'I Can Get It for You Wholesale', one of Susan Hayward's best, which I only managed to get from someone's taping on eBay. Then a lot of times people tell me everything that was on VHS is on DVD now, but that's not so at all. Plenty of VHS tapes that went out-of-print never have been put on DVD and probably won't be.

Anyway, things like these 2 Korty films used to be made more frequently by alternative directors, and you still find some. But back in the day, things like 'Crazy Quilt' even got a fair amount of publicity, were reviewed in magazines like The New Yorker. By now, you might find a hidden write-up in the Village Voice, and a week-long showing at a place like Quad Cinema, but the audience for this kind of quiet film, never large, is much smaller still today.

This film is like several, barely remembered snippets of dreams. I saw this film many years ago, yet the visual images stay with me. It is a simple, plotless story about two extremely ordinary people, yet you come to care about them. This film is about as far from Hollywood as you can get. Wonderful direction- another one of John Korty's jewels. A true treasure for those who don't need to be knocked out- but who want to think and feel something real.

Like many others, I only saw this movie once on TV one Saturday afternoon, many years ago, but I think it is one on the most realistic and endearing movies I have ever seen. Some scenes and the narration have stayed with me for a long long time. It is short, in black and white and, if I remember correctly, only two lines of dialog from the characters in one scene near the end, but it is narrated throughout with near perfection. The story is told mostly from the man's perspective, but the movie also shows the woman's perception of the marriage, and the phases her husband is going through. By the end of this movie, you will know these people, you will feel for them, and you will see a bit of them in yourself.

I was just looking at a book about quilts, ran into the term 'crazy quilt', and for the umpteenth time, recalled seeing this film some four decades ago. I've also read the book, "The Illusionless Man" by Allen Wheelis, upon which it was based. I would very much like to view it again, to see "how it holds up". One theme that I got out of it was the danger of being overly analytical, yet wanting to have fun, live in the moment. One image that definitely remains (if significantly morphed over time) is the house--what a joint that is, or was. An intriguing factoid is Korty's alleged political stance (waay to the right). I'm wondering how this may have been expressed in this early work. As other reviewers have stated, this film left a large if blurry mark on my psyche as well.... Let's get to see it!