Brandon Judell
Henry Rollins Rocks into Film Criticism
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| Henry's Film Corner Photo by Alison Dyer. |
By Brandon Judell
"Want a good body? Work at it. Want to be a success? Work at it. Want to be truly exceptional? Be a touch insane... You need a little bit of insanity to do great things." -Henry Rollins
The tattooed, muscle-bound, cerebral rocker Henry Rollins is now banging his head against the film industry on the Independent Film Channel's sedately named Henry's Film Corner. That title is the only sedate aspect of this highly opinionated interview/review show.
But one shouldn't expect less from the gent who became a controversial rock figurehead in 1981 with Black Flag. Then came the Rollins Band in '86. His own publishing company, a Grammy-winning spoken-word CD, and numerous film parts add to his accomplishments. Yes, he was beaten to a pulp by Al Pacino in Heat, played Guard Henry in Lost Highway, and will next be seen in Feast. The plot: a group of patrons locked in an isolated diner must fight off flesh-eating monsters or else become part of the menu.
No wonder The Scotsman's Fiona Shepherd in her review of Rollin's one-man Glasgow performance noted that this former shift manager for a Georgetown University Hagen-Dazs ice cream shop "is a stoic presence but also a very humane character, vehement without being vicious, a cultural and intellectual sponge but also an introvert who cannot help but leak undercurrents of dissatisfaction with his lot . . . He's for real."
(In the following interview, if clarity hides its head at moments, make believe you're reading a poem, such as The Wasteland. There is a point to it all.)
NYTW: What do you feel the purpose of film is? Movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) helped promote stupidity as a highly desirable trait, and hundreds of imitators followed. Fart jokes rule. But in movies of the 40s and 50s, there were highly desirable role models, youth that would get high grades and read a book now and then. Do you feel cinema helps shape society? Should it have that responsibility?
HR: I know that Animal House was a first-run theater movie when I was 14 or 15. It was one of those things that kind of gave me the guts to get through high school. I went to a fairly oppressive place, and just the spirit of Bluto and all those guys, I kinda went, "Man!" They just gave me such a shot in the arm because my school was like a bunch of military-type teachers telling me to shut up all the time. You see these guys, and you go, "YEAHHHHH! Stick it to the man."
Did it make me go and shoot a horse or put a bed sheet on? No. Was it a great thing to see when I was young? Absolutely. I get asked that a lot. Can a song stop a war? Can a rock 'n' roller change a vote or an election? Obviously not. And if a protest song could stop anything, well, we've already had Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, and the wars got fought anyway. Obviously, The Song isn't going to do it. I think movies can be somewhat influential. I think when we highlight the stupid, where we used to kind of highlight the more valorous, higher road maybe in the fifties . . . Well, America has changed.
You know Zappa said that we value the mediocre and we fear the excellent. An example: King Crimson draws this many people, but some silly pop rock band with all the silly get-ups, they sell 3 million records. There's no platinum John Coltrane records, and if you're going tell me that Britney Spears is better than john Coltrane, we'll debate; you'll lose. One of them lives in a small place in New Jersey, and the other one owns New Jersey. Who's better?
So I think America has gotten increasingly mediocre with the breakdown, and everything from public school education to a media that seems up for grabs to . . . Well, in the last four years with our president, our legislation is for sale. I think with all of that comes mediocrity. Or you know the fat guy is funny now for being fat, and the gastrointestinal distress jokes are funny. I've never thought that stuff's funny. Vulgarity and bathroom humor don't move me. It repels me. When they get into the bathroom jokes, I'm like I really got to go. It does not rock me at all.
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| Henry Rollins Photo by Henry Diltz |
BJ: You're very political. You were just in Baghdad. Is your IFC show going to reflect your political viewpoints?
HR: Oh, yeah.
BJ: Will you also acknowledge that so many films seem to have no political content?
HR: Well, there's a section in the show where I just get to mouth off, and I can take it back in to film. If you're a B.S. artist like I am, you can get anything to back up into anything else. I learned it from David Lee Roth interviews. You just do it.
And so luckily, when we shot a recent episode, I talked about the 40th anniversary edition of Dr. Strangelove which is one of those films you should watch all the time anyway just for your general health.
It's just so funny now, having been to Iraq, because people ask," What was Iraq like?" I said it's spring break meets Dr. Strangelove because it's a bunch of young people . . . I'm 43, so soldiers are like kids to me in a way. On paper, I could be their dad if the guy's 19. And the guys at the top, I met a lot of interesting people. But you meet a lot of people like 911/Saddam Hussein, it's like oh, man! They're giving you this whole speech: "Yup!! Yup! It's purity of essence, man. It was just crazy that that guy has this much control. Oh, baby. I'm not making it to 50, and it won't even be my fault. [Judell]
Copyright © Brandon Judell 2005
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