Maidstone
Cast & Crew
Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Rip Torn
Beverly Bentley
Joy Bang
Jean Campbell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On Long Island, New York, sometime in the near future, egocentric art film director and presidential candidate Norman T. Kingsley is shooting his latest avant-garde picture while also organizing his presidential campaign. His movie, a spoof of Spanish director Luis Buñuel's 1967 film Belle de Jour , features Kingsley as the madame of a male brothel and Kingsley's half-brother, Raoul Rey O'Houlihan, as the leader of the Cash Box, a group of male prostitutes who service women customers. Because all of the leading political figures have been assassinated, Kingsley fears for his life, even though he is surrounded by members of PAX, an acronym for the Prevention of Assassination Experiments, a group organized to protect candidates but may, in fact, include potential assassins. In the course of his production, Kingsley is visited by various political delegations, profiled by news organizations and is the subject of an assassination attempt that may or may not be the work of his brother.
Director
Norman Mailer
Cast
Norman Mailer
Rip Torn
Beverly Bentley
Joy Bang
Jean Campbell
Buzz Farber
Leo Garen
Robert Gardiner
Luba Harrington
Ultra Violet
Lee Cook
Paul Austin
Ann Barry
Eddie Bonetti
Steve Borton
Bob Byrne
Paul Carrol
Lang Clay
Harold Conrad
Billy Copley
Terry Crawford
John Demenil
Tony Duke
Tim Hickey
Ron Hobbs
Kahlil
Evelyn Larson
Robert Lucid
Mara Lynn
Diane Mackenzie
John Maloon
John Manazanet
Michael Mcclure
Carolyn Mccullough
David Mcmullin
Penny Milford
Mitsou
Glenna Moore
Lenny Morris
Adeline Naiman
Ula Ness
Alfonso Ossorio
Noel E. Parmentel Jr.
Maggie Peach
Alice Raintree
Jack Richardson
Joe Roddy
Lee Roscoe
Bianca Rosoff
Peter Rosoff
Barney Rosset
Shari Rothe
Cliff Sager
Lucy Saroyan
Brenda Smiley
Lane Smith
Sally Sorrell
Carol Stevens
Greer St. John
Danae Torn
José Torres
Jan Pieter Welt
Bud Wirtschafter
Harris Yulin
Crew
Paul Austin
Nell Cox
Jim Desmond
Buzz Farber
Leo Garen
Isaac Hayes
Lana Jokel
Richard Leacock
Robert Leacock
Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Carolyn Mccullough
Wes Montgomery
D. A. Pennebaker
Nick Proferes
Diane Rochlin
Sheldon Rochlin
Nina Shulman
Carol Stevens
Kate Taylor
Rip Torn
Jan Pieter Welt
Jan Pieter Welt
Mark Woodcock
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The title of the film was taken from the East Hampton neighborhood of Maidstone. According to a July 1968 New York Times article, the picture was filmed in the following East Hampton, NY locations: the summer house of Grove Press editor Barney Rosset, a mansion owned by artist Alfonso Ossorio, the David Brockman estate and at the estate of Robert David Lion Gardiner on Gardiner's Island. According to the July 1968 New York Times article, there were five film crews, one of which was led by Rip Torn. The cast consisted of over 100 of director-writer Norman Mailer's friends and acquaintances, including several of Mailer's ex-wives, playwrights Jack Richardson and Michael McClure, former light-heavyweight boxing champion José Torres and Torn, the only prominent professional actor in the cast.
Mailer, a noted novelist, nonfiction writer, essayist and screenwriter, conceived the film as a multilevel improvisation, which, according to Mailer as quoted in an Esquire article, would be about "beauty, intrigue, and the subtle nature of reality...how difficult it is to know what reality is until you take it through its paces." In the Variety review, Mailer was quoted as stating that because reality cannot be captured by a definite storyline, he would allow his actors to improvise on the original premise of the film.
After filming was completed, Mailer spent two years editing down the 45 hours of footage to 110 minutes. According to the Variety review, the completed film was broken down into fourteen chapter headings in which documentary footage of making the movie was intercut with the film itself. One of the most controversial sequences in the film was a scene in which Torn, whose role is "Raoul Rey O'Houlihan," the jealous half-brother of Mailer's character, "Norman T. Kingsley," smashed Mailer over the head with a small hammer in front of Mailer's wife and children. In retaliation, Mailer bit open Torn's ear. The nature between fiction and reality is blurred because Torn claimed he was actually assaulting the character of Kingsley, in an attempt to validate the film. A transcription of the screenplay was later published in paperback by Signet. Mailer did not direct another film until 1987.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States August 30, 1970
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1971
Shown at Venice Film Festival August 30, 1970.
Film took 5 days to shoot in 1970.
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1971
Released in United States August 30, 1970 (Shown at Venice Film Festival August 30, 1970.)
