Oddball Films presents The Stupor Bowl: Potheads and Pigskins, a night of 16mm marijuana scare films and bizarro vintage football ephemera just in time to get weird with super bowl weekend. This program of gridiron and ganja includes Afterschool Specials, antique Mi©key Mouse cartoons, wacky newsreels, soundies, and (of course) good old-fashioned anti-pot scare films with appearances by Woody Allen, Scott Baio, Jonathan Winters and more. Shock-meister Sid Davis (who would have turned 100 this year) brings us young Tom's descent from good kid to "weedhead" in the hilarious educational short Keep Off the Grass (1970). Mi©key Mouse and his rag tag team square off against the formidable Alley Cats in the early Di$ney cartoon Mi©key's Football Manglers (1932). Scott Baio goes from square nerd to raging pothead, until he nearly kills his own brother in the ABC Afterschool Special Stoned (1980). Woody Allen and the Hot Dog bunch try to determine just exactly How Do They Make Footballs? (1970). Pre-teens and teens talk about their chronic pot-smoking in the NBC Special Treat Reading, Writing, and Reefer (1978). See what football was like 120 years ago in the Universal Newsreel Football Forty Years Ago (1936). Plus, an excerpt from The Ballad of Mary Jane (1970), the sporty soundie Always on the Bench (1940s), the melodramatic trailer for Marihuana: Assassin of Youth (1936), double-projected marijuana footage and football follies, a Halftime Spectacular featuring Isaac Hayes performing the theme song from Shaft with dozens of groovy dancers, the hilarious documentary The Pigs vs The Freaks (1973) for the early birds and even more surprises!
Keep Off The Grass (Color, 1970)
Tom's mother discovers a marijuana joint in his room. When his parents confront him, Tom denies being a "dope fiend." He goes down to where the local "weedheads" hang out (a hilarious headshop), is mugged by a desperate band of marijuana addicts, and finally realizes how right his parents were: "keep off the grass!" From the master of the educational scare film, Sid Davis.
Mi©key's Football Manglers-AKA Touchdown Mi©key (B+W, 1932)
Mi©key Mouse and his rag tag team The Manglers take the field against the enormous Alley Cats. Things look bad for the manglers, and the fat cats certainly aren't playing fair. Can Mi©key's motley crew use their wits to win the game? It's Mi©key Mouse, what do you think?
ABC Afterschool Special starring that lovable rascal Scott Baio. Baio plays Jack, a shy teen with a book of jokes and no friends to use them on. That is until he is lured into stonersville by a skateboard-riding dope dealer. The munchies, jokes and problems at school ensue, climaxing with the near death of his older brother when the stoned Baio clobbers him with a boat paddle. Strangers with Candy fans will delight in a nearly identical scene of an outdoor rap session with a hip teacher.
Always on the Bench (B+W, 1940s)
A sporty soundie featuring musical football players that sing in between punts and tackles. Soundies were the original music video, dating from 1940-1947 and were distributed on 16mm film to be played in a "Panoram" film jukeboxes in night clubs and amusement centers.
How Do They Make Footballs? (Color, 1970)
The Hot Dog gang of Woody Allen, Jo Anne Worley and Jonathan Winters are back to extoll ridiculous information and misinformation in this mini-educational show on manufacturing. Head to the factory and see how those pigskins are stitched up and shipped out.
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Football Forty Years Ago (B+W, 1936)
See how football has changed in the last 120 years in this Universal newsreel from 80 years ago! Football player and Hall of Famer coach, Glenn "Pop" Warner describes and demonstrates football of the previous century by dressing football players in old uniforms, helmets and padding, and having them show how different types of plays were done with an old-fashioned football.
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For the Early Birds:
The Pigs vs. The Freaks (Color, 1973)
After several violent clashes between the police and the long-hairs of East Lansing Michigan, one hippy had the novel idea to challenge the police to a friendly football game. 16,000 people showed and The Freaks won, two years in a row. This film documents the third annual game. Will the pigs finally be able to triumph over their long-haired opponents, or will the hippies take the title for a third time? Directed by Jack Epps Jr and Jeffrey Jackson.
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Oddball films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.