No More Excuses
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Robert Downey
Robert Downey
Alan Abel
Lawrence Wolf
Prentice Wilhite
Linda Diesem
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Having received a superficial wound in the left buttock, Pvt. Stewart Thompson, a Confederate soldier, lies low until the battle passes him by and then flees to modern-day New York. He is immediately served a bad hamburger, which he dumps in the nearest mailbox. Meanwhile, Alan Abel of S.I.N.A. (Society for Indecency to Naked Animals) is campaigning to have animals clothed. Simultaneously, in cinema vérité interviews, some of the habitués of Manhattan's East Side singles bars reveal the crudity and singlemindedness of their attitude toward the mating game. A slightly-built, mustachioed rapist forces his way into the apartment of a heavyset woman. Intermittently, there are returns to the past as Charles Guiteau attempts to assassinate President Garfield. After three failures (he is too nervous; the day is too hot; a bird defecates on his head), his fourth attempt succeeds when he catches the President taking a shortcut through the ladies room at the Washington, D. C., railroad station. Private Thompson next picks up a prostitute near Riverside Church and pays for her services with his rifle. Later, he visits Yankee Stadium in his Confederate garb but is thrown out as a lunatic. Fed up with contemporary civilization, he returns to his war and is killed. The rapist, having conquered his prey, lolls in bed with her, while at the foot of the bed an American Broadcasting Company newsman questions them about their views on the war in Vietnam. When the rapist (who proves to be a priest) leaves to chase another victim, the newsman (who proves to be a chimpanzee) happily takes his place with the woman while strains of the "Hallelujah Chorus" ring forth.
Director
Robert Downey
Cast
Robert Downey
Alan Abel
Lawrence Wolf
Prentice Wilhite
Linda Diesem
Amy Eccles
Don Calfa
Paula Morris
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The Civil War segments are excerpts from Robert Downey's ca1963 short, Balls Bluff. The soundtrack includes music from Goldfinger and A Man and a Woman.
