A Poem Is a Naked Person

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Les Blank directs. Les Blank behind the camera. Les Blank cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 152 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 3Directed by Les Blank, shot by Les Blank. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Les Blank shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Leon Russell and George Jones and Willie Nelson carry the top of the cast.
• 6IMDB entry: tt0424359 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 7Only 9 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Les Blank

Editing

Les Blank

Runtime

96 min · 1h 36m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$96,774

Original language

EN

IMDB

A Poem Is a Naked Person (1974) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

88% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

76/100

IMDB rating

7.1/10 · 562 votes

MPAA

Not Rated

Also by

Les Blank

• 
  Živeli! Medicine for the Heart

  1987 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball

  1988 · ★ 9.5
• 
  Innocents Abroad

  1991 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Mr. Charlie, Your Rollin’ Mill Is Burnin’ Down

  1969 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins

  1968 · ★ 7.9
• 
  I Went to the Dance

  1989 · ★ 7.7

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  A Poem Is A Naked Person (Les Blank, 1974) - Janus Films Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Production companies

Who made it

• LE

  Les Blank Films

• SK

  Skyhill Films

Key crew

• SoundWally Heider
• Additional PhotographyJoan Churchill
• Additional PhotographyDan Dominy
• Additional PhotographyBaird Bryant
• Additional PhotographyJim Sellman
• SoundJohn Lemay
• Assistant CameraMaureen Gosling
• SoundHoward Chesley
• Executive ProducerHarrod Blank
• EditorLes Blank
• ProducerDenny Cordell
• ProducerLeon Russell

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• music documentary

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1974-05-09· San Francisco, California

Also known as

International titles

• A Poem Is a Naked PersonUS
• Leon Russell: A Poem Is a Naked PersonUS
• 诗歌是裸体的人CN