Quick Billy

Quick Billy

16mm, color and b/w, sound, 56 min
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 ...
Rental format: 16mm

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

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    On Sundays
    Documentary
    Experimental

    On Sundays
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 26 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    The Gymnasts
    Narrative

    The Gymnasts
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 8 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Body
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    Mr. Hayashi
    Documentary

    Mr. Hayashi
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 3 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Have You Thought of Talking to the Director
    Experimental

    Have You Thought of Talking to the Director
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 15 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Films About Film
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    A Hurrah For Soldiers
    Narrative

    A Hurrah For Soldiers
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 4 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    To Parsifal
    Experimental

    To Parsifal
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, sound, 16 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • History
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    Mass For The Dakota Sioux
    Experimental

    Mass For The Dakota Sioux
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 20.5 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Spiritual / Mystical
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    Quixote
    Experimental

    Quixote
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color and b/w, sound, 45 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • History
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    Yellow Horse
    Experimental

    Yellow Horse
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, sound, 8 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    All My Life
    Documentary

    All My Life
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, sound, 3 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, DVD NTSC
    • Environment / Nature
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    Tung
    Experimental

    Tung
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, silent, 6 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Biography / Autobiography
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Still Life
    Experimental

    Still Life
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, sound, 3 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Spiritual / Mystical
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    Show Leader
    Experimental

    Show Leader
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 1 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Castro Street
    Documentary

    Castro Street
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color and b/w, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    Valentin De Las Sierras
    Experimental

    Valentin De Las Sierras
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Environment / Nature
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    Six Rolls; 14/41/43/36/47/52: Quick Billy
    Experimental

    Six Rolls; 14/41/43/36/47/52: Quick Billy
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, color, silent, 16 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Literarature / Theater
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    Roslyn Romance (Is It Really True): Intro 1 & 2
    Experimental

    Roslyn Romance (Is It Really True): Intro 1 & 2
    Bruce Baillie

    16mm, black and white, sound, 17 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Dr. Bish Remedies #1
    Experimental

    Dr. Bish Remedies #1
    Bruce Baillie

    VHS, color, sound, 55 min
    Rental format: VHS NTSC
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    Commute
    Experimental

    Commute
    Bruce Baillie

    VHS, color, sound, 57 min
    Rental format: VHS NTSC
    • Comedy
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    P-38 Pilot
    Experimental

    P-38 Pilot
    Bruce Baillie

    color, sound, 14 min
    Rental format: VHS NTSC
    • Music
    • Biography / Autobiography
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    Bruce Baillie Vol. IV

    Bruce Baillie Vol. IV
    Bruce Baillie

    color, sound, 2 min
    Rental format: DVD NTSC