Deathstyles
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Using images of individuals caught in the artificial, apathetic harshness of modern city life, director Richard Myers explores the fear of death and obsession with sex. Away from the fractious city streets where questions of racism and sexism have no answers, Myers envisions a bucolic setting from the turn-of-the-century past where people are in tune with their natural surroundings. As a sedate funeral occurs, a blonde man watches the period scene while also being one of the people in it. Gazing into a pond, the people see visions of air, fire and ice. The present resumes with gridlock on a highway and a hearse bearing a transparent casket holding the blonde man as voices discuss the continuing mistreatment of blacks throughout the world. Radio and television reports on the nuclear arms race and dangers of radiation are heard as television talk shows discuss sexual organs and body waste. On a college campus, clusters of soldiers advance with their rifles partially raised. An advertisement for a "bible" on sexual intercourse is followed by images of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Trying to see beyond the shallowness of popular culture, the blonde man attempts to record the bustling of city life as it occurs around him. Despite attempts by some people to create meaningful art, the synthetic blandness of city life dulls the public sensibility. Throughout images of urban congestion and confusion, accidents and current events, the hearse with the glass casket bearing the blonde man proceeds, driving through city streets and past country landscapes. People and cars continue to fill the highway while voices in the news discuss the Vietnam War and student protests. The blonde man sees his own face all over the city on large movie screens that depict him going into cardiac arrest, while around him car accidents occur and in outer space a satellite circles the planet. A group of people in costume and makeup surround the blonde man and appear to tie him with multiple ropes. As the blonde man breaks free, he is stabbed in the back and taken away by car to a hospital. There, technicians hook him up to several machines but despite various invasive procedures, he dies.
Director
Richard Myers
Cast
Robert Ohlrich
Jake Leed
Mary Leed
Pat Myers
Pat Foley
Len Lepola
Barbara Popp
Jack Fuchs
Melvin Farris
Phoebe Leed
Mel Someroski
Karla Manger
Tom Gatz
Jim Vaughn
"bill And Ruby"
"akbar"
Chris Butler
"cyrus"
Steve Carson
Betty Schmidt
Lisa Young
Kerry Blech
Nancy Brown
Monica Whelan
Linda Descenna
John Langraf
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although the opening credits indicate that Richard Myers copyrighted the film in 1971, the film is not included in the Copyright Catalog. The following written appreciation appears in the opening credits: "Special Thanks To: Kerry Blech, Greg Hoey, Steve Marks And to all the Kent State students who worked as 'extras.'" A statement in the closing credits states that "Richard Myers received a production grant from the American Film Institute. The film maker retained complete control over the design and the content of the film." Myers taught at Kent State University and filmed the events of May 4, 1970 on the Kent, OH campus. On that date, the Ohio National Guard, responding to student protests against the Vietnam War and a military presence on campus, fired on a crowd, resulting in the deaths of four students and wounding of nine others.
Portions of Myers' footage of the event appear in Deathstyles and also appeared in his 1970 documentary Confrontation at Kent State. In addition to the Kent State footage, Myers, who made his feature film debut with Deathstyles, incorporated the Abraham Zapruder footage of the November 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. Snippets of pop tunes and classical music are heard throughout Deathstyles and most of the dialogue is from radio and television news broadcasts, interviews and talk shows.
Miscellaneous Notes
Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (AFI Critics' Choice) March 9-27, 1977.
16mm
