
Quick Billy
Stills
About
A Horse Opera in four reels, conceived for viewing with a single projector, allowing the natural pauses between reels. The experience of transformation between life and death, death and birth, or rebirth in four reels.
The'rolls' took the form of a correspondence, or THEATRE, between their author and Stan Brakhage, in the winter of 1968-69. They're kind of magic cousins of the film. A personal record of the author's psychic journey and physical recovery during a period of his life which might be described essentially as one of transformation...'the dark wood encountered in the middle of life's journey' (Dante)... As poetic cinema, its significance to the world is perhaps in its narration of a singular phenomenon of our time, implicitly revealing those ancient 'rules' of transit evolved over the centuries; e. g., the BARDO THODOL (The Tibetan Book of the Dead), as well as Dante Alighieri's own discoveries in the time of the Fourteenth Century Europe, etc. The BARDO THODOL, from which Parts I-III are adopted structurally, admonishes (the deceased)...'a time of uncertainty, undertaking nothing – fear not the terrifying forms of your own psyche...' Mankind deceased encountering a spectacular stream of images it once viewed as Reality. The film concludes with Part IV, a western one-reeler, which dramatically summarizes the material of Parts I, II, and III, in abstract form. All the film and tape was recorded in Fort Bragg, California, next to the Pacific Ocean. A final subtitle reads 'ever westward eternal rider.' Is it the image of Sisyphus or of Buddha? A beautifully incoherent work of art! A journey towards unity with this recent American film, both macroscopic and universal in its view. – Hans Helmut Rudele, Filmdichter und Luftpiloten, DIE ZEITUNG, Hamburg, Dec. 12. 1970.
Films
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Other films by this artist in our catalogue
- Read MoreDocumentaryExperimental
On Sundays
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 26 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreNarrative
The Gymnasts
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 8 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreDocumentary
Mr. Hayashi
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 3 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Have You Thought of Talking to the Director
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 15 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreNarrative
A Hurrah For Soldiers
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 4 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
To Parsifal
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, sound, 16 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Mass For The Dakota Sioux
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 20.5 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Quixote
Bruce Baillie16mm, color and b/w, sound, 45 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Yellow Horse
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, sound, 8 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreDocumentary
All My Life
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, sound, 3 minRental formats: 16mm, DVD NTSC - Read MoreExperimental
Tung
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, silent, 6 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Still Life
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, sound, 3 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Show Leader
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 1 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreDocumentary
Castro Street
Bruce Baillie16mm, color and b/w, sound, 10 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Valentin De Las Sierras
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, sound, 10 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Six Rolls; 14/41/43/36/47/52: Quick Billy
Bruce Baillie16mm, color, silent, 16 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Roslyn Romance (Is It Really True): Intro 1 & 2
Bruce Baillie16mm, black and white, sound, 17 minRental format: 16mm - Read MoreExperimental
Dr. Bish Remedies #1
Bruce BaillieVHS, color, sound, 55 minRental format: VHS NTSC - Read MoreExperimental
Commute
Bruce BaillieVHS, color, sound, 57 minRental format: VHS NTSC - Read MoreExperimental
P-38 Pilot
Bruce Bailliecolor, sound, 14 minRental format: VHS NTSC - Read More
Bruce Baillie Vol. IV
Bruce Bailliecolor, sound, 2 minRental format: DVD NTSC