Watch I Shot Andy Warhol For Free

Too much of everything

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

If you shoot someone whom others consider "important" I suppose some filmmaker will want to make a movie about you. I can think of no other reason why anyone would want to make a film about Valerie Solanas (Lili Taylor), the spunky, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, self-centered, lesbian feminist who, in the summer of 1968, shot Andy Warhol (Jared Harris). Warhol was a New York City painter/artist ... or something ... and guru of all things avant-garde, who attracted the chic and the trendy to his New York City "Factory", the center of counterculture pop art.In the film Solanas, who harbors an enormous grudge against men, comes across initially as assertive and resourceful. She makes a living hustling the streets: "Pardon me sir, you got 15 cents? Pardon me sir ..." On the rooftop of a high-rise she types her S.C.U.M. "manifesto", outlining her complaints against the male species.But whereas Solanas is passionate about her cause, Warhol is a study in emotional detachment and indifference. He, and those in his orbit, sees Solanas more as a hanger-on. At one point, Solanas shows Warhol her typed manifesto. Warhol flips through it and responds in a deadpan manner: "Did you type this yourself? I'm so impressed. You should come type for us." Marvelous.The film's best element is the acting. Lili Taylor is terrific. She really gets into the Solanas persona. Jared Harris also gives a splendid performance. The film's tone teeters between seriousness and tongue-in-cheek humor. Costumes, prod design, music, and lighting are all credible.For modern day feminists, "I Shot Andy Warhol" probably is required viewing. For others, the film offers a cinematic study into the mindset of a quirky, sincere, but ultimately self-deceptive and delusional young woman who got her fifteen minutes of fame by carrying her political cause a little too far.

This is a great movie which took me to a lot of exotic destinations such as 1960ies New York, the Factory family and the emerging transgender scene. The movie also does an excellent job of portraying the fragmented life and difficult personality of Valerie Solanas convincingly.My only problem with this movie is this: you don't have to be Andy Warhol's biggest fan to think that the fact that Solanas tried to wipe out three people in cold blood (that she only wounded two wasn't for lack of trying) is an at best insufficient reason for turning the lime light on to her. Making a movie about the Factory scene from Valerie Solanas' perspective is like making a movie about the Beatles as seen through the eyes of Mark Chapman.

The movie without doubt was great, but why do they call Andy Warhol a genius, did he invent something or discover something outstanding? I ask this because in our society or the Art world, someone will take simple dog feces from the street, freshly 'produced' and create a design on canvas with it and this person will be labeled for life, a genius! This kind of thing makes me wonder, for I can see people use regular paint that is used on canvas paintings and paint their faces and body with it. How many will also take freshly produced dog feces and paint their faces and body with it?!As for the movie, I only have one question, how is it that this girl walks over to Andy Warhol, fires one shot misses or just wounds Andy, and the other two that were there just do nothing! I mean this is a girl they know, petite and according to the movie, she just stood rigid with the gun pointed to Andy. Then when she fires a shot closer to Andy and he falls, she slowly walks to him, points the gun to his chest and shoots. You think there was no time for two guys to rush her and pin her petite body down and wrestle the gun away? After all, Andy was revered as a genius? What other opinions are there on this? Or did the director of the movie take some liberties to show the frame of her mind when she shot Andy Warhol?

When I first found this film I wasn't sure whom it was about. I recognized the name from the title, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't all going to be about Andy Warhol. I was perplexed and ready for yet another adventure down the path of our nation's undiscovered history. When I first started watching this movie I knew nothing about Valerie Solanas. She is not in the history books labeled next to Andy Warhol, or is she one that oozes sympathy. Solanas is a trash talking, independent thinker that somehow found herself next to one of the most modern men of our century, Andy Warhol.Lili Taylor helms this unbridled beast Solanas like no actress I have seen before. I honestly felt as if Taylor had transformed herself into this brutal feminist. After the first ten minutes, I didn't even recognize Taylor because she had successfully transformed herself into this insane (?) character who carried this film on her shoulders. Taylor plays this woman who, for reasons unknown, constantly seeks Warhol's attention and approval. When Andy refuses to devote his entire attention to her, her mental stability begins to fail. In hopes to bring her back into the spotlight, and hopefully demonstrate to the world her manifesto, she does what the title of this film suggests. Sadly, this has the opposite effect and she is forced to live with the act that she committed instead of the words that she has written.Taylor was phenomenal in this role. She stole the scene from everyone and was never afraid to take Solanas to the next level. Thankfully, she has some help from some amazing back-up stars to only help boost her performance. Jared Harris is superb as Andy (one of the best reincarnations of him) and Stephen Dorff blazes onto the scene as Candy Darling. Oscars should have been handed out for their parts in this film, but unfortunately this was yet another film the Academy ignored.Outside of the acting, director Mary Harron does a fabulous job of setting the scene and building the image of this era. Warhol was a genius, and because of his fame and notoriety he somehow attracted some of the most interesting people in the world. This is one of those stories of a woman that wanted to attach herself to this great man, yet somehow couldn't. Harron directs these actors to show this with perfection. Her brash cinematography and direction seem to blend perfectly in this boiling pot of history. Her mix of documentary and biography genres works well in this film. She commands attention behind the camera, and her actors react with positive responses. This was a gritty story not for everyone's tastes. It was a very true story that is more than just Andy Warhol, but also develops themes of feminism and women's rights. Was Solanas crazy? I don't think so, I just think she was ahead of her time and not afraid to be herself.Grade: ***** out of *****