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Greaser's Palace

Play trailer Poster for Greaser's Palace Released Jul 31, 1972 1h 31m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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50% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 59% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Cult writer-director Robert Downey's surreal, scatological parable of the life of Christ takes place in a rundown Wild West town run by the perpetually angry and severely constipated Seaweedhead Greaser (Albert Henderson). When Seaweedhead accuses his son, Lamy (Michael Sullivan), of homosexuality and kills him, mysterious stranger Jessy (Allan Arbus) raises the son from the dead. Meanwhile, an unnamed woman (Elsie Downey) struggles to reach the town after her husband and son are murdered.
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Greaser's Palace

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Vincent Canby New York Times The film, I'm told, cost close to $1-million, and it looks it, which depresses me even more than its witlessness. Rated: 1/5 May 9, 2005 Full Review Nathan Rabin AV Club As a product of an unusually adventurous time in cinema history, Greaser's Palace has perverse appeal. As a comedy, it's virtually unwatchable. May 30, 2001 Full Review David Bax Battleship Pretension Robert Downey Sr. eventually reveals that he's made a comedic satire that's hilarious, ugly and beguiling. Nov 2, 2018 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews An embarrassment. Rated: C- May 19, 2010 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 22, 2005 Full Review Thomas Delapa Boulder Weekly Rated: 3/5 Sep 16, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (33) audience reviews
Mike W Without knowing I could tell early into the movie it was made in the early 70's purple haze period. I cannot recommend it unless you are of a curious mind. Quite a few of the individual scenes were awesome. The woman who was shot, her crawling up the sand dune was spell binding. There were many such cameo scenes. However the movie did not come together adequately for me. Most of the footage looks like it was shot in New Mexico. I recognized Camel Rock, and the topography was familiar. On second thought, give it a try. But it is rather weird. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/08/24 Full Review Jack B I grew up through the 70s with movies like Pink Flamingos and Rocky Horror. This is by far the most bizarre film I have ever watched. Like watching a train wreck, you don't want to look but can't help yourself. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/24 Full Review Audience Member I don't know how to explain it, or describe my thoughts on it. Yes it was horrible and nonsense and hard to watch and stupid, but was it brilliant? But also a little amusing. I think it was an allegory mockery of organized religion (namely Catholicism/Christianity)...maybe...or was it an allegory or parody of the life of Jesus? I'm not sure. It was a horrible piece of crap and very surreal and horribly acted, made, and shot. Maybe that was on purpose. Why was this movie made? What does it mean? We may never know. So bizarre it was entertaining. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member I was already struggling with this film in the first 15 minutes when hardly anything had been uttered other than some mumbling nonsense, and none of the scenes had any logic to them whatsoever. It is set in an Old West town led by a guy named Greaser who is dealing with constipation and a son he constantly has to murder. Then there is this B-story of a family crossing the prairies in a covered wagon that is shanghaied and the mother of the family is the only one left alive. Note that none of this has any connection or plot to it, it's just a bunch of random scenes. Then the moment came when suddenly a guy in a zoot suit fell from the sky with a parachute on his back right behind a wagon...that's when I realized I was watching the worst movie ever made. This guy, dressed like a 70s pimp, then starts to act like a Christ figure who wants to get a job singing and dancing in the town. Then there's a random scene of Greaser smoking a peace pipe with the most stereotypical native american you've ever seen. This is not the first or the last offensively racist character in the film. Then we jump back to the mother who somehow gets shot again, even though there appears to be no one around. She writhes in pain for a second and then keeps dragging herself along to who-knows-where. Next is a scene where pimp Jesus gets on stage after a girl named Cholera, and gets the audience to applaud by suddenly crying out that he has holes in his hands. "WAIT!" you say "Ben, you're just jumping around and none of this makes any sense." Well, then now you know what it's like to watch Greaser's Palace. It is incoherent, poorly shot, horribly acted. Add to that the fact that it's not funny, dramatic, interesting, or anything else that would make it worth watching. Greaser's Palace is like a disgracefully bad student film that the writer/director thought was brilliant, but would have earned him an F. I cannot waste any more time thinking about this sack of crap. I only watched to the end to see how bad it would get. Avoid this film as if it might infect you with the Black Plague, because there isn't one redeeming quality in the entire movie (not even when Herve Villechaize shows up for a minute.) Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Wow. This must have been really funny when all the college kids saw it back in the day (when they were high). Now, it's pretty much a strange relic of its era. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Cheesy El Topo ripoff with a dash of Godspell. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Greaser's Palace

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Movie Info

Synopsis Cult writer-director Robert Downey's surreal, scatological parable of the life of Christ takes place in a rundown Wild West town run by the perpetually angry and severely constipated Seaweedhead Greaser (Albert Henderson). When Seaweedhead accuses his son, Lamy (Michael Sullivan), of homosexuality and kills him, mysterious stranger Jessy (Allan Arbus) raises the son from the dead. Meanwhile, an unnamed woman (Elsie Downey) struggles to reach the town after her husband and son are murdered.
Director
Robert Downey Sr.
Producer
Cyma Rubin
Production Co
Greaser's Palace Ltd.
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 31, 1972, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
May 2, 2017
Runtime
1h 31m
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