The best William S. Burroughs’s movies

William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs

05/02/1914- 02/08/1997
Today we present the best William S. Burroughs’s movies. If you are a great movie fan, you will surely know most of them, but we hope to discover a movie that you have not yet seen … and that you love! Let’s go there with the best William S. Burroughs’s movies.
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Drugstore Cowboy

Drugstore Cowboy
7.3/10
  • Genre: CrimeDrama
  • Release: 20/10/1989
  • Character: Tom the Priest
Portland, Oregon, 1971. Bob Hughes is the charismatic leader of a peculiar quartet, formed by his wife, Dianne, and another couple, Rick and Nadine, who skillfully steal from drugstores and hospital medicine cabinets in order to appease their insatiable need for drugs. But neither fun nor luck last forever.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
4.3/10
Sissy Hankshaw is born with enormous thumbs that help her hitchhiking through the US from a young age. She becomes a model in advertising and her NY agent 'the Countess' sends her to his ranch in CA to shoot a commercial, set against the background of mating whooping cranes. There, she befriends Bonanza Jellybean, one of the cowgirls at the beauty- ranch.

Twister

Twister
5.2/10
  • Genre: ComedyDrama
  • Release: 01/06/1989
  • Character: Man in Barn
An oddball family on a Kansas farm are trapped in their farmhouse by an impending storm. The patriarch of the clan is a retired soda pop tycoon. He is currently dating a children's TV evangelist. Also living at the farm is his layabout daughter and her precocious 8 year old daughter, his would-be artist son, the son's fiancée, and the black maid. Also thrown into the mix is the daughter's ex-husband, a ne-er-do-well who is seeking to get back in his ex-wife's good graces.

Bloodhounds of Broadway

Bloodhounds of Broadway
5.3/10
This musical is based on four short stories by Damon Runyon. In one tale, gambler Feet Samuels sells his body to science just as he realizes that Hortense loves him and that he would rather live than die. In another story, Harriet's parrot is killed, and she has problems dealing with her loss. Then, there is a gambler, "Right", who has bloodhounds on his trail when he becomes a murder suspect. Finally, "The Brain" is bleeding profusely, and his friends search for a way to save his life through a blood transfusion.

Heavy Petting

Heavy Petting
6.1/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 01/01/1989
  • Character: Himself
HEAVY PETTING is a hilarious and salacious exploration of the sexual mores of the 50's as seen through the eyes of a generation that lived through the Sexual Revolution. Creative baby boomers-- including musician David Byrne, performance artist Spalding Gray, comedian Sandra Bernhard, radical activist Abbie Hoffman, and poet Allen Ginsberg-- candidly recall their sexual coming-f-age tales in intimate interviews. Joyously campy and refreshingly carefree, HEAVY PETTING blends humorous, unbelievable footage of unhelpful sex-ed films with classic snippets of THE WILD ONE and Elvis' hip gyrations, not to mention Bernhard talking about playing "doctor", always observant Ginsberg on a disastrous encounter with a girl, and Byrne on the childhood myths of masturbation. Eternal mysteries such as the female orgasm, the universal appeal of Marilyn Monroe, and the rituals of high school are laid bare by this lovable group of characters.

Uncle Howard

Uncle Howard
7/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 10/03/2017
  • Character: Self
When Howard Brookner lost his life to AIDS in 1989, the 35-year-old director had completed two feature documentaries and was in post-production on his narrative debut, Bloodhounds of Broadway. Twenty-five years later, his nephew, Aaron, sets out on a quest to find the lost negative of Burroughs: The Movie, his uncle's critically-acclaimed portrait of legendary author William S. Burroughs. When Aaron uncovers Howard's extensive archive in Burroughs’ bunker, it not only revives the film for a new generation, but also opens a vibrant window on New York City’s creative culture from the 1970s and ‘80s, and inspires a wide-ranging exploration of his beloved uncle's legacy.

Wanderlust

Wanderlust
6.7/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 12/07/2006
  • Character: Tom the Priest
A look at the mystique of road movies, combining interviews, film clips, music, photography, literature and a narrative storyline featuring Paul Rudd and Tom McCarthy.

Burroughs: The Movie

Burroughs: The Movie
7/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 10/02/1984
  • Character: Self
An exploration of Burroughs’ life story, as told by Burroughs himself along with many of his contemporaries, including Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Francis Bacon, Herbert Huncke, Patti Smith, Terry Southern, and William Burroughs Jr.

Decoder

Decoder
6.4/10
F.M. discovers that different sonic frequencies induce different patterns of behaviour in listeners, first in his own studio but later in the local "H-Burger" restaurant where the passive muzak appears to be wiping people's emotions.

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
7.1/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 05/11/2010
  • Character: Self
A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night.

Glitterbug

Glitterbug
6.5/10
A collage of Derek Jarman's super 8 footage spanning over 20 years.

Chappaqua

Chappaqua
6.3/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 30/08/1966
  • Character: Opium Jones
Semi-autobiographical story of Conrad Rooks, who travels to France to undergo a drug-withdrawal cure. Flashbacks to the beginings of psychedelia in San Fran. Though initially confusing, as Rooks blends drug-illusion with reality, and cuts color with black-and-white and monochrome tinted shots, "Chappaqua" is conventionally constructed with a beginning, middle, and end.

The Book of Life

The Book of Life
6.5/10
  • Genre: ComedyFantasy
  • Release: 22/08/1998
  • Character: Preacher on Radio (voice)
The end of the millenium has taken on a certain significance in modern day prophecies. What happens if Jesus Christ has second thoughts about the Apocalypse? It is December 31, 1999 and New Year's Eve takes on new meaning when the Devil, Jesus Christ, and Christ's assistant Magdelina discuss and debate the end of the world, the opening of the seven seals, and the essence of being human.

Häxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages

Häxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages
A 1968 collaboration between jazz musician Daniel Humair and beat author William S. Burroughs that recuts and reinterprets the 1922 silent film "Haxan" with a Burroughs' dark and wryly comic tone. Essentially the first "remix" film.

Don't Blink: Robert Frank

Don't Blink: Robert Frank
6.8/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 13/04/2017
  • Character: Self (archive footage)
The life and work of Robert Frank—as a photographer and a filmmaker—are so intertwined that they're one in the same, and the vast amount of territory he's covered, from The Americans in 1958 up to the present, is intimately registered in his now-formidable body of artistic gestures. From the early '90s on, Frank has been making his films and videos with the brilliant editor Laura Israel, who has helped him to keep things homemade and preserve the illuminating spark of first contact between camera and people/places. Don't Blink is Israel's like-minded portrait of her friend and collaborator, a lively rummage sale of images and sounds and recollected passages and unfathomable losses and friendships that leaves us a fast and fleeting imprint of the life of the Swiss-born man who reinvented himself the American way, and is still standing on ground of his own making at the age of 90.

Gang of Souls: A Generation of Beat Poets

Gang of Souls: A Generation of Beat Poets
7.5/10
  • Release: 01/01/1989
  • Character: Himself
Maria Beatty's documentary exploring the insights and influences of the American Beat Poets. The film conveys their consciousness and sensibility through interviews with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Diane Di Prima, among others. Also weaves in additional commentary from contemporary musicians, poets and writers such as Marianne Faithfull, Richard Hell, Lydia Lunch and Henry Rollins. Also expands upon how the poets reached new levels of creativity and inspired social change.

Poem Posters

Poem Posters
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 19/05/1967
  • Character: Himself
... with real-life portraits of Jayne Mansfield, Frak O'Hara, Ruth Ford, Ned Rorem, Virgil Thomson, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Rudy Gernreich, Jonas Mekas and others.

Naked Making Lunch

Naked Making Lunch
7.1/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 29/12/1992
  • Character: Himself
A 1992 documentary about the making of Naked Lunch.

Poetry in Motion

Poetry in Motion
7/10
More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Several also comment. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These poets are energetic performers, and their poems are meant to be heard. These poets are the children of Walt Whitman and of Charles Olson, incantatory and oratorical, radical, sometimes incorporating contemporary political imagery. Black Mountain poets, the Beats, minimalists like John Cage, the wordless Four Horsemen, Tom Waits, and others capture aspects of poets as troubadours. Written by

It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen

It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen
6.5/10
  • Character: Mafioso
An ironic New York City thriller involving a mafioso and a restless, witty lawyer.

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