Scrapple

Absolutely unlike ANY film I've ever seen before! The music, scenery, story and characters leave you wishing you could return to this simpler, care-free time. If only places like "Ajax" (Telluride) still existed today with it's good friends, good tunes, and good times. I've watched this video over and over and still find myself singing along, reciting my favorite lines, and discovering more of it's charm each time. All I can say, is if you lived through the 60's and/or 70's, (regardless of how much you actually REMEMBER...) you've got to give this film a look. It's appeal is so unusual it's hard to quantify. The search for one's self, trust and love, a renegade but loveable pig, "temple balls", Taj Mahal's music, outstanding film backdrops, good friends, all combine for a very charming and creative film. Give it a try if you can track it down...it'll be more than worth the effort!

of all the times that i've watched scrapple (some 100) in all kinds of venues (at 3 in the morning on a couch with other bar stragglers, at new york film festivals), nothing compared to seeing it in its hometown at mountain film festival, with a hometown crowd as they whooped and yelped at all the local references, ski town tributes and cameo performances (all of which still has appeal to broader less tuned-in audiences). it was like a screening of rocky horror picture show with the same level of participation and more; singing, line-readings, cat calls, wolf whistles, salutes (to Charlie Fowler and Bill Fandel). ten years down the road -- and still going strong -- scrapple has endured as a classic, and judging from last week's screening, it continues to mark a time, not only in skitown history, but as a way of life still worth celebrating.

Scrapple is a wonderful hippie comedy. Set in 1978,the town of Ajax, Colorado is poised on the edge of turning from a fun-loving hippie community to a yuppie ski resort. While a small time drug dealer is out for the ultimate score, the outcome could mean the end to a way of life, particularly for Scrapple the Pig. The groovy music is by Taj Mahal. Beautifully photographed by Robert Smith and sublimely acted by an ensemble cast, Scrapple sweeps you away to a more innocent time. Viewers have commented: "It makes you want to quit your day job."

"Scrapple" is a very well done and beautifully shot indie about a small time pot dealer who finds himself in over his head while trying to finance a humble house in a small Colorado hippie town to provide a better life for himself and his brother, a Vietnam vet who lives in a veterans hospital. Set in 1978, the film provides a look into the lives of a group of transient friends who have found a home sharing each others company in the town of Ajax, population 620. Well developed characters and a steadily moving plot-line keep the story going forward. And an outstanding soundtrack that features the considerable talent of Taj Mahal, Bob Weir and Jorma Kaukonen, to name a few, adds strongly to the beautiful, melancholy vibe of the film. I dug this film. Kudos to the Hanson brothers and I hope to see more from them.

I saw Scrapple when the director brought it to Colorado State University, and I had a blast. The story was very entertaining and -- living in Colorado -- I recognized a bunch of my ski-bum friends in the on-screen characters.

If you haven't seen it -- and provided you can actually find a place that's showing it -- go and watch. You'll be enjoyed, I guarantee.

At the very least, it's great to see what a porcine drug trip looks like. :)