Portrait of Jason

Shirley Clarke (director)
Jason Holliday, Carl Lee (subjects)

N.p. N.p., Circa 1967. Vintage reference photograph from the 1967 documentary, showing director Shirley Clarke.

From the archive of film historian and author Joel Finler.

The third feature to be directed by Clarke, following "The Connection" (1961) and "The Cool World" (1963). Ostensibly a straightforward interview of Jason Holliday, an African American gay hustler and aspiring cabaret performer, the film takes place throughout a single all-night session in Clarke's Hotel Chelsea penthouse apartment, with Holliday getting increasingly drunk, and Clarke and her partner Carl Lee asking increasingly hostile, provocative questions from behind the camera. The result is a vibrant, picaresque, occasionally tragic picture of one man's life—one which, in the words of The Village Voice's Melissa Anderson, "says more about race, class, and sexuality than just about any movie before or since."

Shot on location in New York.

8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus.

National Film Registry. Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art.


[Book #157976]