Rip Torn vs. Norman Mailer - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

mixedmedia · 02-18-2011, 04:56 AM

I didn't actually find this, it was shared with me last night.
But it is so bizarre and hilarious.
You just have to watch...

YouTube - Rip Torn vs Norman Mailer - the infamous "Maidstone" brawl - UNCUT!

here's the description from the youtube page:

Quote:

This is the final scene from Norman Mailer's MAIDSTONE, in which he played the part of a famous movie director running for President of the United States, who is supposed to be assassinated in the finale.

Mailer concluded principal photography without resolving the final scene, and Rip Torn (playing his brother-in-law and assassin) allegedly decided to take it upon himself to "improvise" an attack by hitting Mailer on the head with a small hammer, drawing blood. Mailer retaliated by tackling and then nearly chewing Torn's ear off as they grappled viciously, and it rapidly escalated into an unhinged on-camera brawl as Mailer's horrified kids screamed in terror.

This is the completely uncut sequence. I have to wonder how "unplanned" it was, as the camera is obviously following Rip closely in the moments before the attack, and if principal photography had finished the day before, why was the camera crew still hanging around filming Rip and the Mailer family? Its more like Mailer knew Rip would pull something for the camera, but didnt know what, and overreacted because he wasnt expecting him to use a real hammer and actually start hitting him with it.

Mailer's verbal reaction is oddly artificial (although the ear chewing is very real and painful to watch) and his wife seems to be lurking just off camera, and then she suddenly starts screaming like a banshee, which is what sets the kids off. Rip seems to be truly apologetic and convincing in the moments after the fight, but Mailer is barely audible and withdrawn and struggling to improvise lame insults to throw back at Torn, who starts becoming irritated at the end by Mailer's weak and phony outrage. It's rather ironic considering his fame as a great writer that he cant come up with snappier dialogue, or deliver it convincingly.

Whatever the circumstances of the event, it's a truly strange and classic sequence indeed, and Rip's demented final facial expressions are unforgettable. I think that when Mailer says "you might as well turn that tape off, because he's a very dull talker, and he never stops as long as anything is running", Rip's hilarious "ooo, OOOO!!" stare and point response was probably his way of saying that Mailer was being hypocritical.

Charlatan · 02-18-2011, 05:47 PM

I wish he'd done something like this with Will Smith in Men in Black... *that* would have been cool.

mixedmedia · 02-18-2011, 05:49 PM

yes, it would have

Baraka_Guru · 02-18-2011, 06:06 PM

That's some crazy shit right there.

02-18-2011, 05:47 PM	#2 (permalink)
Charlatan Getting it. Super Moderator Location: Lion City	I wish he'd done something like this with Will Smith in Men in Black... that would have been cool. __________________ "My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars." - Old Man Luedecke

02-18-2011, 05:49 PM	#3 (permalink)
mixedmedia has all her shots. Location: Florida	yes, it would have __________________ Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

02-18-2011, 06:06 PM	#4 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	That's some crazy shit right there. __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot