Pull My Daisy

Those who know Frank's stark, dispassionate pictures of blank-faced Americans will be surprised by the zany humour of this film. A group of Frank's friends (Ginsberg and painter Larry Rivers) loon about in a New York loft improvising round a scene from a Kerouac play about the Beat Generation. Straight society is represented by the bishop, his disapproving mother and prim sister, who are entertained with drinking, cussing, poetry and jazz. Kerouac provides an insane voice-over commentary which distances the audience by emphasising the artificiality and self-parody of the play-acting. The uneasy mix of informality and posturing makes the film a forerunner of Warhol's 'home movies'.