The Telephone Book (1971)
Director: Nelson Lyon
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Any humour in the original idea - an obscene phone-caller of such seductive skill that his victims long for aural molestation - is soon sabotaged by the director's blind intent on demonstrating that, although it may be a comedy, he sure knows how to make a film, and an arty one at that. The brief presence of three ex-Warhol personalities merely emphasises that, where the Warhol movies were funny and interesting (and boring) because the people in them were recognisable human beings, the characters teetering through this tired script are actors pretending to be kooky people. Having misunderstood the connection between sex and '60s avant-garde, Lyon - in a desperate bid to save a failed project - tarts things up at the end with a bit of explicit animation.Author: SM
Cast & crew
Director: Nelson Lyon
Producer: Merwin A Bloch
Cast: Sarah Kennedy, Norman Rose, James Harder, Jill Clayburgh, Ondine, Barry Morse, Ultra Violet, Roger C Carmel full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 88 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now