Dynamite Chicken is a 1971 American comedy film. Described in its opening credits as "an electronic magazine of American pop culture", it presents a series of interviews, stand-up comedy, countercultural sketches, documentary segments, and agitprop relating to the peace movement, based around a stream-of-consciousness free-form format.
Inspired by his experience making the TV documentary This is Marshall McLuhan for NBC, director Ernest Pintoff envisioned Dynamite Chicken as a collage to capture the hot-button issues of the moment. "I became interested in McLuhan and his theories of bombarding the audience with images...it seems to me the best way to impart a maximum of information to people."
The original segments involving Richard Pryor, Paul Krassner, the comedy group Ace Trucking Company and other figures were shot in 1969 and mostly improvised. Archival footage of other major celebrities of the day and repurposed film trailers is peppered throughout. The total budget for the production was $225,000.
He would state, "There's no message in the film, except for my point of view when I was making it." In another interview, he explained the title by saying, "I overheard someone say, 'I make dynamite chicken.' I liked it. You know, a chicken seems so little and the other so explosive. It's a silly title that doesn't mean too much. The film doesn't mean too much either. I hope people will respond. I had fun making it."
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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