A Day with the Boys

Truly one of the finest examples of ultra-creative late 60's avant garde filmmaking. And so perfectly captures the haunting, mysterious, dreamy, metaphoric and visually poetic style of the time. Perhaps better than anything has or ever will. Clu Gulager was a tormented demented genius who serves as another unfortunate example of how "being too brilliant" as an artist trying to work in the realistic arena of the film industry, often simply can not work out. At least not within this dimension on this planet.

Artsy nonsense rescued by Criterion from obscurity. Gulager, whom I remember for unpleasant macho roles, was, according to those who knew him, quite the opposite. Perhaps after a few more shorts or directing episodes of all the TV series he worked on, he would have moved on from experimentation to ambitious works, but apparently he never finished another film besides this not-very-good short.

Thirty years later, Brian Stirner (the main actor of "Overlord") directed the feature "A Kind of Hush", with a similar but more explicit storyline, based on "Getting Even", a semi-autobiographical story by actor Richard Johnson about the revenge of adolescents who were sexually abused in their childhood.

Clu Gulager is a familiar face as a veteran character actor. I had no idea he had briefly gone in for directing at one time and made this fine short, in the sixties poetic / experimental mode.

Note: this short is on the Criterion Collection DVD of "George Washington", evidently because David Gordon Green felt influenced by it. I'm glad it has been retrieved from the archives and made available to viewers of today's independent cinema. Green comments on the painterly visual effects (cinematography by László Kovács!), but the more obvious similarities are thematic: the world of kids in the semi-rural south, and how the world of adults impinges on them (and vice versa here of course).

A Great Film, the visuals, the music, the times. I was 8 years old when the film came out, but oddly enough I can relate to it, more so on a subconscious level as I hardly remember being eight. The visuals affect me deeply, as well as the music. Someone pointed out it being haunting, I definitely got the same feeling. The movie made me cry, but I don't know why, at least not on a conscious level. The story line does remind me of when I was a kid, a time when kids played outdoors using nothing more than their imagination and whatever they could find to play with and being content. Also it reminded me of a carefree time of boys being boys. A must to watch and enjoy!

I first saw this film in a small theater in Gainesville, Florida 1974. I remember the theater in total silence as the end credits rolled...we were deeply affected. I have not forgotten this movie, perhaps bits and pieces, but certainly not the overall feeling I had after watching it. Now, after 25 years, I find myself wanting to see this movie again...if I could find it!