Mondo Hollywood
Mondo Hollywood
| 30 June 1967 (USA)
Mondo Hollywood Trailers

Long considered a cult classic, "Mondo Hollywood" captures the underside of Hollywood by documenting a moment in time (1965-67), when an inquisitive trust in the unknown was paramount, hope for the future was tangible and life was worth living on the fringe. An interior monologue narrative approach is used throughout the film, where each principal person shown not only decided on what they wanted to be filmed doing, but also narrated their own scenes. The film opens with Gypsy Boots (the original hippie vegan - desert hopping blender salesman), and stripper Jennie Lee, working out 'Watusi-style' beneath the 'Hollywood' sign -- leading into the 'sustainable community' insight of Lewis Beach Marvin III, the S&H Green Stamp heir, who lived in a $10 a month garage while owning a mountain retreat in Malibu.

Reviews
Teddie Blake

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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Married Baby

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

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Bob

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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Cassandra

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

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arfdawg-1

The Plot. Long considered a cult classic, "Mondo Hollywood" captures the underside of Hollywood by documenting a moment in time (1965- 67), when an inquisitive trust in the unknown was paramount, hope for the future was tangible and life was worth living on the fringe. An interior monologue narrative approach is used throughout the film, where each principal person shown not only decided on what they wanted to be filmed doing, but also narrated their own scenes. The film opens with Gypsy Boots (the original hippie vegan - desert hopping blender salesman), and stripper Jennie Lee, working out 'Watusi-style' beneath the 'Hollywood' sign -- leading into the 'sustainable community' insight of Lewis Beach Marvin III, the S&H Green Stamp heir, who lived in a $10 a month garage while owning a mountain retreat in Malibu.This movie is horrible.Filled with phony nobodies to fill time.I had really good hope for this movie, but boy is it horrible.There is not one interesting frame. The people are boring beyond belief and the stories are idiotic. Don't waste your time

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fuggedaboudit

I'd heard some interesting things about this movie and considered buying it for a very inflated price. Luckily I tried YouTube and found the entire movie uncut. Maybe it's the difference in the way the world is today and all the things I've experienced but this movie was kind of boring. The awful soundtrack doesn't help either.There's lots of scenes of women gyrating in bikinis and some topless modeling.I found the little girl modeling the topless bathing suit uncomfortable to watch. That whole scene with the little girls modeling bathing suits had a very pedophile feel to it.I did find what Vito Paulekas said about the drug companies being the real pushers to be very true especially today where every other commercial is for some new drug. It was also interesting seeing Jay Sebring (Manson Family victim) at work in his hair salon. I have no idea where Bobby Beausoliel (Manson Family member) appeared, but his name is in the credits so it's possible I was just dozing for a few seconds and missed him.It's worth a viewing if you're interested but do it online for free

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tavm

Just watched this rare documentary of Tinseltown during the late '60s on fancast.com. With scenes of surfing, political meetings, premieres, and other events common to Hollywood, this film seems to have it all for anyone interested in what it was like there during a time of turbulence. We also go to Universal Studios where Alfred Hitchcock is filming Torn Curtain with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, go to a luncheon where retired cowboy musical star Gene Autry talks about the Watts riots while Carol Cole-an honoree of some kind who's the late Nat King Cole's daughter and therefore also future star Natalie's sister-listens on. There's also a musician named Bobby Jameson who performs a protest song in front of a rich, middle-aged audience that seems to not really listen to him as they're ignorant of the scathing lyrics. I could mention others but there's so many things going on that this review would just be too confusing to many of you reading this. So I'll just say that Mondo Hollywood was a fascinating time capsule to this writer who was born during this era.

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onephunbum3

I had a chance to meet the director of this documentary when I went to see the movie on screen. Robert Carl Cohen presented himself as a Social Scientist that studies the demographic inter-relationships of cultures and how they co-exist with one another. Mondo Hollywood was his first analyzing of a culture in the brink of exploding with new eccentric and openness that was the sixties. This film is a study of what Hollywood was in the 60s and how each actual persona represented the culture that was booming in that era. It's nothing like I have ever seen, so low key yet thrown in your face with eccentricities. Each persona was so beautiful in their own way but that was their reality when you can watch and merely just be baffled by the way they live in a day by day life. Extremely recommended to those that have an inkling and fascination with the era of the psycho delicatessen of the 60s and those moved by pure truthful film making! And merely those in awe of the mystical Hollywood...

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