Arizona Byways

Arizona Byways

2001 · 23 min · ★ 9.0

A cactus-strewn desert becomes the backdrop for this series of filmic stopovers. Great natural beauty clashes with manufactured outdoorsmanship, as a tired body and sluggish mind seek the oblivion of hotel hospitality in an arid region of artistic aspirations. The viewer is introduced to a world of prickly plants and satin-skinned succubi who prowl the alleys of western decay to staple their fig leaflets on the vertical shafts that poke unsheathed at the virgin skies of southern Arizona. The sheaths are administered, and the population prepares for cinematic coupling in a city park earmarked for culture. Enter the masculine caves that spilled forth their glittering guts onto a surface world as desperate for gems as it was for water. Witness this natural spectacle all packaged and delivered in the form of a vacation video, and marvel at the mavens of movie-making as they bombard the public with a cacophony of celluloid under the moonlit, desert sky.

Directed by George Kuchar

Your Rating

Cast

George Kuchar Self
Rebecca Barten Self

More from George KucharSee all →

The Creeping Crimson

The Creeping Crimson · 1987

The Creeping Crimson

MovieDocumentary

A short film by George Kuchar.

Gastronomic Getaway

Gastronomic Getaway · 1991

Gastronomic Getaway

Writes Kuchar, "The magnificent Mono Lake becomes the centerpiece for this car trip through Yosemite National Park and the splendors of roadside pastry. Majestic mineral deposits rise from the salt laden waters as the bloated and bulimic revel in nature's nutrients."

Symphony for a Sinner

Symphony for a Sinner · 1978

Symphony for a Sinner

MovieComedyDrama

Symphony for a Sinner (1979) was a long, lavishly photographed color film generally considered the magnum opus of the class productions.

Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore

Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore · 1998

Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore

MovieComedyDrama

A high schooler from suburbia gets in touch with her sexuality while working at a dingy movie theater in the city.

Screamplay

Screamplay · 1984

MovieComedyCrime

A talented writer, Edgar Allen, arrives in Hollywood with big dreams but is quickly pulled into a world of madness and depravity. A detective investigating a series of murders discovers that they are similar to the murders that occur in the new script by Edgar. Who will survive and what parts will be left for them?

Sparkle's Tavern

Sparkle's Tavern · 1985

Sparkle's Tavern

MovieFantasyComedy

Siblings hide their ownership of a bordello from their mother. When she is visited by a man who shares the joys of sexual enlightenment with her, her entire world is turned upside down.

Taboo: The Single and the LP

Taboo: The Single and the LP · 1980

Taboo: The Single and the LP

MovieDocumentaryDrama

"Abner L. Fuqua clears his throat and I get mad and stand close to trains or cut my eyebrow off. Dorothy is Abner's wife. Abner can slap hard, like blue magic." - graffiti

Every Dog Has Its Day

Every Dog Has Its Day · 1998

Every Dog Has Its Day

MovieComedyDrama

After getting fired from his teaching job and dumped by his girlfriend, Jack, a painter, embarks on a soul searching road trip with his dog, Scout. However, bad weather and bumps in the road quickly cause more problems than he can handle. An impulsive decision to take from a bag full of unknown pills leads him on a drug-fueled journey with no destination in sight, and he soon finds himself making both friends and foes along the way.

The Secret of Wendel Samson

The Secret of Wendel Samson · 1966

The Secret of Wendel Samson

MovieDramaFantasy

A young man's struggle with his sexuality overtakes his life, driving him deep into his subconscious where guilt and fears of physicality chase him still further. Cornered by an intangible terror, he realises he must either break out or break down.

Bongwater

Bongwater · 1998

MovieComedyRomance

David is an artist and a pothead. He's fallen in love with the beautiful and sexy Serena, and things are going simply splendidly until poor David's house burns down. Serena doesn't need the bad vibes, so she splits the scene and runs off to New York with rocker and junkie Tommy. Lonely David finally turns to the sweet, sweet comfort of marijuana and his strange menagerie of friends to forget about his lost home and love

Hold Me While I'm Naked

Hold Me While I'm Naked · 1966

Hold Me While I'm Naked

MovieComedyDrama

Presented as loosely autobiographical, Hold Me While I’m Naked centres on the tribulations of an independent filmmaker, frustrated at every turn as he tries to make a film that pretends to artistic merit.

Ascension of the Demonoids

Ascension of the Demonoids · 1985

Ascension of the Demonoids

MovieScience FictionHorror

George Kuchar received his only funding grant for this film ($20,000 from the NEA), and so, freed from the usual financial restraints, he was determined to have a good time and make a “spectacle” with “tons of color” and dazzling superimpositions. A big, colorful tapestry about rumors that are in all of the previous UFO movies. A loose story line that weaves in and out of the UFO phenomenon.

Wieners and Buns Musical

Wieners and Buns Musical · 1972

Wieners and Buns Musical

MovieComedyMusic

A musical about an unhappy couple and the man that stands between them. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.

Nudes: A Sketchbook

Nudes: A Sketchbook · 1974

Nudes: A Sketchbook

"Curt McDowell's NUDES (A Sketchbook) is a paean to the filmmaker's closest friends: a series of portraits (beginning with one of George Kuchar) based on stylized, often graphically sexual interpretations of his or her personality. The portraits also, at times, represent Curt's own sexual interests as he projects them onto the lives of others. My favorites are 'Barbara', a Pre-Raphaelite vision of woman and 'Ainslie', a musical spoof on glamour. The filmmaker's point of view ranges from compulsively erotic to light-hearted and self-debunking. A broad reading of the term 'romantic' would probably best describe the spectrum of extreme, even outrageous, possibilities which Curt embraces in this sketchbook/film." - Karen Cooper, Film Forum

Maggots and Men

Maggots and Men · 2009

Maggots and Men

A utopian re-visioning of the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921, featuring film history's first cast of over 100 transgender actors, paints a portrait of formerly pro-Soviet sailors at the Kronstadt naval garrison who rebelled against the perceived failures of the new Bolshevik state.

Cinemaville

Cinemaville · 2007

George Kuchar takes his Japanese student on a trip to Los Angeles and meets with his entertainment industry friends including Buck Henry, Christopher Coppola, and Jeffrey Schwarz.

More Like This

Couldn't load this row right now.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter