Pink Narcissus

"A unique experience in visual fantasy!"

1971 1h 5m EN

😐

6.3

MID

🍅

64%

FRESH

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 65🍅64%Rotten Tomatoes★6.6IMDB · 1,724

FantasyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An outrageous erotic poem focusing on the daydreams of a beautiful boy prostitute who, from the seclusion of his ultra-kitsch apartment, conceives a series of interlinked narcissistic fantasies populated by matadors, dancing boys, slaves, and leather-clad bikers.

“A unique experience in visual fantasy!”

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Cast

Bobby Kendall
Pan
Don Brooks
Angel / Times Square Hustler / Hippie
Charles Ludlam
Salesman / Bar owner / Blind man / Pizza maker / Hindu dancer (uncredited)
Arthur Williams
John
Don Kvares
Drag Queen
Eddie Barton
Larry Rey
Priest
Harvey Yerkes

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Bidgood
Writers: James Bidgood
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 65-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

55 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Bidgood, shot by James Bidgood. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Martin Jay Sadoff shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Bobby Kendall and Don Brooks and Charles Ludlam carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A unique experience in visual fantasy!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Bidgood directs. James Bidgood behind the camera. Martin Jay Sadoff cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 65-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
355 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by James Bidgood, shot by James Bidgood. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Martin Jay Sadoff shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Bobby Kendall and Don Brooks and Charles Ludlam carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A unique experience in visual fantasy!".
9IMDB entry: tt0067580 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 65 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 18 themes, including "dreams", "harem", "male prostitution", "prostitution".

The technical file

Cinematography: James Bidgood
Editing: Martin Jay Sadoff
Runtime: 65 min · 1h 5m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $27,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Pink Narcissus (1971)
Rotten Tomatoes: 64% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 1,724 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Also by

James Bidgood

Good Hot Stuff
1975 · ★ 9.5

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-02-05
★ 7/10
Whilst Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is a superb score for this, I can't help but wonder what he'd have thought if he were to have seen how it was used in this end product! Essentially it's a series of increasingly wet dreams from the young "Pan" (Bobby Kendall). Handsome, lithe and totally self-confident, this young man uses the next hour to live out some of his fairly graphically depicted sexual fantasies with toreadors, lads in leather, cottaging, slaves - indeed just about every fetish that he could wish for. It's riddled with symbolism, too. From the embryonic chrysalis at the start through to the denouement that rather concludes the life-cycle in a fitting fashion. Nature features extensively. Flora, fauna, rain, sunshine and the flickering wings of a butterfly help convey the young man on his journey (around what is clearly just one single apartment) and maintain a flowing momentum that is erotically charged, but surprisingly - not as overtly as I was expecting. I suppose the censors still had an hand in what was allowed and what wasn't even in 1971! I couldn't quite decide whether this is a production that needs or doesn't need restoration. The vibrancy of the colours and imagery all too often bleeds and loses focus. At times that works seductively, but I found that mostly it rather detracts from the focus and makes the film quite difficult to watch and the images to distinguish. I've never seen something like this in English language cinema before and it does raise a few questions for you to ponder about the fleetingness of life as we watch things of beauty and danger overlap, evolve and...

Production companies