Underworld Cinema: The Life and Work of J.X. Williams

The Engine Theatre 1636 Wilcox
Sat. November 22 8:00

J. X. Williams was a legendary bottom-of-the-barrel director in the fifties and sixties, pushed even lower by his Commie leanings. On the skids, he drifted around the Continent making cheapo features and the occasional nudie reeler, like the infamous porn parody “The 400 Blow Jobs”. In the late fifties, he fell in with the Chicago mob, helming a number of shakedown films used to extort dough from debauched politicos and celebs.

Tonight, film curator and archivist Noel Lawrence will share a few of the surviving artifacts of Williams’s tawdry career. He also will be previewing excerpts from his forthcoming documentary, “J.X. Williams L.A.” which chronicles the misadventures of the mad auteur in Hollywood.

Part 1 8:00

Noel will give a brief history of The Archive and its Mission followed by these films:

Psych-Burn (3 mins.)
Satan Claus (3 mins.)
The Virgin Sacrifice (9 mins.)
The Showdown (8 mins.)

Part 2 9:00

Peep Show (46 mins.)

Part 3 10:00

J.X. Williams’ L.A. (work in progress)

Psych-Burn

1968 | 16mm | 3:00

 “’Psych-Burn’ was what musicians call a ‘contract-breaker’.   ABC had given us some coin to make a few short films for a TV Pilot.  “Love-In Tonite” was to be a  psychedelic rock variety show with live performances, skits, and whatnot to cash in on the emerging hippie demographic.  Even pre-Disney, the network was riddled with a bunch of out-of-touch, pencil-pushing buffoons, so I quickly realized the show would be a disaster.  Imagine if “Midnight Special” was produced by Aaron Spelling.   Then cast Charles Nelson Reilly as emcee.  That would have been a far more lively show than “Love-In Tonite”.   So I decided to deliver the suits a farewell kick-in-the-butt called ‘Psych-Burn’.  The best part was that they presented my film sight unseen at a board meeting about the new Fall Season.   I heard some heads rolled over that one.”

- J.X. Williams (from the forthcoming documentary “The Big Footnote”)

Satan Claus

1975 | 16mm | 3:00

"In the mid-Seventies, I was working as a projectionist for this crummy movie theatre in downtown LA. The owner owed me six weeks back wages and when I ask him for the money, the scumbag has the gall to inform me that I'm getting laid off Christmas week. If he'd known my reputation for mischief, he might have thought twice about it.

On my last day of work, I had to project a Christmas matinee for kids. Before the main feature, I added an unannounced opener to the program called "Satan Claus". I fled the theatre right after my film ended but I heard the owner had to refund the entire box office. Even then, several outraged parents filed a lawsuit against the theatre.

Merry Christmas, you cheap bastard!"

-- J.X. Williams (excerpted from Sonny Jones’ unpublished memoir “Through A Lens Darkly: Reflections of a ‘cine-spook’)

The Virgin Sacrifice

1969 | 16mm | 9:00 (excerpt)

“Before ‘Virgin’, I never put much stock in the idea of a ‘cursed’ production. Take a film

like ‘Incubus’. Just cause the director’s nephew died, the production company went belly up, and Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate attended the premiere....Those could all just be coincidences. Shit happens. But with ‘Virgin’, you could just smell the vapor of evil clouding the set. It didn’t help that our chief investor was a ranking member of the Church of Satan. In the end, we tallied three OD’s, a maimed-for-life set designer, bankruptcy, and a car bombing (sort of). Even the film itself disappeared. Not just the prints. The film lab burnt down and we lost the negative. All I’ve got left is the nine minute opening to the main feature and the sound-sync is fucked.”

- J.X. Williams (from the forthcoming documentary “The Big Footnote”).

The Showdown

1975 | 16mm | 9:00

Found footage proto-mashup in which Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and Steve McQueen’s Bullitt shoot it out to find out who is going to be the top cop of SF. NOT ON DVD

Peep Show

1965 | 16mm | 46:00

Chicago 1961: The Labor war between the Teamsters and the Seafarers is heating up and Union Cab Local #777 is caught in the frying pan...

A passenger enters a taxi. Pulls a gun on himself. A backseat suicide? No. He just wants to talk. Needs a confessor.

He's mobbed up. They've got a contract on him. Has one last story to tell.

Fasten your seat belts for a wild ride through the mean streets of Chicago, the fleshpots of Hollywood, and the secret corridors of Washington where the real decisions are made. Hold your breath, shut your eyes and get ready for the Peep Show! NOT ON DVD

- From a 1965 press kit for “Peep Show”, author unknown

J.X. Williams L.A.

Video (Work In Progress)

There are two main characters in this picture: J.X. Williams and the city of Los Angeles. However, if you subscribe to claim of many that J.X. Williams is Los Angeles, perhaps this picture is about one character

In mid-century L.A., no other figure came to define the ambition and the excesses of Hollywood more than J.X. Car bombs, police raids, exploitation films, and an escaped gorilla all played a role.

Accompanied by cultural critic and documentarian Chris Manz, Williams “expert” Noel Lawrence takes the viewer on a tour of Los Angeles and discusses the various places, people, and events that made up the colorful life of Mr. Williams.

Directed by Noel Lawrence and Chris Manz

Starring: Rodney Ascher, Hadrian Belove, Don Bolles, Paul Cullum, Dan Kapelovitz, Noel Lawrence, Chris Manz, Josh Olson