Current IMDB.com User Comments for Andy Warhol’s “Empire” (1964)
Posted by Mark Allen on 26 Jan 2007 | Tagged as: Film Reviews
SUBJECT: Is there any nudity in this?
– by teh_mode, (Sat Nov 4 2006 05:11:07)
Thinking about taking the kids to see it. Looks pretty good.
SUBJECT: Re: Is there any nudity in this?
– by FireMarshallStev (Tue Nov 28 2006 16:35:35)
There’s some buttsecks.
SUBJECT: Re: Is there any nudity in this?
– by dy5187 (Sat Dec 2 2006 09:36:01)
Actually, there’s a bunch of topless girls, some graphic NYC violence, drug use, incest, necrophilia, bestiality, and underage drinking.
SUBJECT: Re: Is there any nudity in this?
– by Jim_Lo (Fri Dec 29 2006 23:17:52)
Lots of gratuitous nudity plus more! Things got pretty interesting when the 500 foot-tall woman saw this phallic-shaped building and thought to herself, “Hmmmmmmm, I wonder . . . .” That’s all I’m gonna say.
SUBJECT: Re: Is there any nudity in this?/The Sequel
– by Jim_Lo (Sun Dec 31 2006 18:55:48)
There was a sequel in the works but Warhol died before he had a chance to prop up his camera in place. It was to be about how the Chrysler Building almost defeated the Empire State Building for bragging rights for being the tallest skyscraper in NYC and how Empire claimed the title in the end. Warhol was planning on calling this titillating sequel “Empire Strikes Back”.
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SUBJECT: Why did the Empire State Building quit acting?
– by teh_mode (Sat Nov 4 2006 05:00:16)
It was a towering performance in Empire, so why did it quit?
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SUBJECT: 1 minute version
– by Cador (Fri Oct 27 2006 00:26:34)
Someone posted a 1 minute clip of ’empire’ here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amSvw22-48E
Think of it as a moment in time… someone actually went through the trouble of filming the Empire State Building for 5 hours and then proceeded to force everybody else to watch it for 8. Did Andy actually ever watch ‘Empire’ in its entirety?
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SUBJECT: What’s the meaning of this movie anyway?
– by exilesorrow (Sat May 13 2006 03:59:45)
I don’t really get it. . .
SUBJECT: Re: What’s the meaning of this movie anyway?
– by iridescent-jesus (Wed Jun 14 2006 18:52:11)
Of course you don’t get it, darling. Andy Warhol is not something to get. He is something to experience.
SUBJECT: Re: What’s the meaning of this movie anyway?
– by zakie-holdren (Tue Jul 4 2006 11:31:49)
Yeah, man. That its the EXPERIENCE of watching a skyscraper for eight hours. I made an experience like that once. I made a video of the corner of a TV playing reruns of What’s Happening for 5 hours. Of course, I left the camera on by accident for 5 hours, but that doesn’t mean I have a shot of getting my film in the National Film Registry.
SUBJECT: Re: What’s the meaning of this movie anyway?
– by Andrew_F_Williams (Sat Jul 29 2006 20:36:10)
It’s so people can sketch the Empire State Building without having to pause the movie. Duh!
SUBJECT: Re: What’s the meaning of this movie anyway?
– by nathanielknemis (Tue Sep 12 2006 23:59:26)
it’s andy warhol’s joke on the world. he filmed something for way too long, then convinced everyone it was a masterpiece, and quietly snickered as the pretentious starving-artists-types discussed his “film” at full length, speaking of existentialism in the 20th century while drinking merlot and crying at the beauty this single shot of the empire state building helped them “experience.” So yeah. the meaning of this movie is to be misinterpreted, misunderstood, and above all, overanalyzed by overly anal rich kids.
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SUBJECT: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by dman412 (Thu Jul 14 2005 02:37:11)
I know its not meant to be watched all the way throught (or maybe it is?), but has anyone watched this film in its entirity?
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by grifdrm5 (Fri Jul 15 2005 17:33:40)
Has anyone sat in a park and watched the Empire States Building for eight hours straight? I’m sure someone has seen this film in it’s entirity (and I bet the artist laughed at them – “jokes on you fkrs!”). I wonder if Warhol was by the camera for eight hours. I’ve sat on a beach for close to that, but I had beer and people to watch. I don’t think I’d be interested.
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by fairesoncinema (Thu Aug 11 2005 11:34:31)
Ignore this User | Report Abuse
I live in Montreal and in 1994 for its first time in 2 decades, the Festival of New Cinema was rescheduled from October to June. Anyway, Chamberland, the Festival’s director, decided to screen Warhol’s EMPIRE across St-Laurent Blvd. (Montreal’s Main Street) during a hot June night, from 9:30 P.M. to around 4 or 5 A.M. At that time, I was living with that girl who was fond of out of norm experiments – like watching this 7-8 hour-long movie, sitting on her couch we brought on the sidewalk (it wasn’t our idea of comfort, lying on the pavement for several hours). We actually stayed the whole night, watching the thing projected on a white wall across the street while cars and people passed underneath, eating, talking, drinking, smoking, reading the early newspaper delivery. Since there was really, REALLY no plot at all, and no dialogues nor sound of some sort coming from the screen, we wouldn’t miss a thing if we were going for a piss or talking a few minutes to a friend passing by. It was indeed a fun experience, probably enhanced by the fact it was projected outside and on the street. I remember reading that Warhol used most of his silent movies to project them on the Velvet Underground while performing on various Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia artshows, so I don’t think these films (SLEEP, COUCH, EAT, etc…) were destined to be watched alone, in a dark screening room. If people want to do it – and probably many have already done it -, it’s they’re thing. If they want to share it here – or elsewhere – hey, why not? But as for me, I wouldn’t say that screening night of EMPIRE would have been so special if it wasn’t for its context. -Jean
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by varkatope (Sat Aug 20 2005 12:33:02)
That outdoor projection sounds great, especially if you had someone there to talk to while it was going on. Lying on lawn chairs on the roof maybe, talking to a friend, Empire playing on the street below, sounds memorable. I saw it playing at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, but they only had a short bit of it, like 90 minutes, not the whole thing. I probably wouldn’t want to go to a museum and watch one thing all day anyway. Maybe outdoors with nothing else to do, but not during the day wasting precious museum time! That’s it I guess, bye.
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by Lari-Fari (Sun Feb 5 2006 17:48:54)
Wow, that’s exactly my idea of a romantic evening! And I mean it!!
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by varkatope (Mon Apr 24 2006 18:47:40)
Me too, I can feel it all as I think about it, it’d be really nice! I’ll tell you what, find somewhere that’s playing Empire, take your date to a “suprise movie” and if they like it as much as you, they’re a keeper! Say, wanna go to a movie?
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by sweetstuff858 (Wed May 31 2006 20:56:21)
thats perfect! haha. i also know Jum Morrison watched this movie in its entirety.
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by bigdave3025 (Sun Jul 9 2006 19:20:46)
this is just one of those awful avant garde movies that you see thinking it is something else, and end up having to watch cos the only other dude in the cinema wants to be there, and if you leave he’ll think you are some kind of a plebian and a philistine.
SUBJECT: Re: Has anyone ever sat through the entire thing?
– by breaking_thewaves (Sat Jul 15 2006 19:43:26)
I watched it for a few minutes. I think it would be cool to just have it on, like in the background or something. But I don’t think I could watch it for eight hours.
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SUBJECT: I want this DVD (or vides)!!!!!
– by DeNiro_Pacino (Mon Mar 29 2004 09:22:12)
I work in a video store and this would be perfect to play on the tvs while people are looking around. WHERE CAN I FIND THIS? HELP!
SUBJECT: Re: I want this DVD (or vides)!!!!!
– by SuperSonicX (Fri May 27 2005 13:57:11)
A one hour version of the film is available in Region 2. I’d like to get the full film on DVD as well.
SUBJECT: Re: I want this DVD (or vides)!!!!!
– by elchamber88 (Sat Jun 3 2006 03:38:19)
Can someone just put a webcam on the building. I know a website that has NYC webcam and it’s great that it’s in stream.
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SUBJECT: THIS MOVIE IS BRILLIANT
– by mkbrln (Sat Oct 11 2003 14:38:15)
Just kidding, Warhol was an ass.
SUBJECT: Re: THIS MOVIE IS BRILLIANT
– by miz41 (Sun Jan 4 2004 19:35:53)
ROFL
SUBJECT: Re: THIS MOVIE IS BRILLIANT
– by exilesorrow (Sat May 13 2006 03:56:15)
LMAO
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SUBJECT: This user comment for this film seems sarcastic, right?
– by ciuca (Sun Apr 9 2006 16:59:16)
“A nonstop, nerve-racking thriller, 20 July 2004 –
Author: Titleist18 from Hopkinton, New Hampshire –
Empire has got to be considered one of the most suspenseful movies ever made. 485 minutes, with every one of them keeping you on the edge of your seat, seemingly impossible for an eight-hour movie to accomplish. The scene changes are so subtle and quick, they barely seem to happen, making you feel as if the story hasn’t changed, all setting up each individual shock. The acting is fantastic, each character so stoic and emotionless, as if they aren’t in the scenes in the first place. Warhol does a fantastic job at threading each scene together, to make it appear as if it is just one ongoing one. Absolutely ridiculous that the AFI refused to include it in its 100 thrills list. See it, and prepare to have your imagination and sense of reality warped.” -Robert
SUBJECT: Re: This user comment for this film seems sarcastic, right?
– by varkatope (Mon Apr 24 2006 19:00:28)
Well, sarcastic, no. Highly exaggerated, yes! I think the guy just took some basic truths about Empire and stretched them into an overblown Hollywood review for humor’s sake. Sounds like what you may find on the back of the box if it was ever released on video by a major film corporation, really trying to fluff it up.
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SUBJECT: Where can you get this from?
– by wutschwlllm (Wed Nov 2 2005 13:12:58)
Does anybody have an idea where I can possibly get this film from (either download or at a reasonable price). As far as I know it’s quite impossible.
SUBJECT: Re: Where can you get this from?
– by americandignity (Tue Dec 6 2005 18:12:39)
A ticket to New York City and a small investment in a rather comfy lawn chair would be estimable, you hunger artist.
SUBJECT: Re: Where can you get this from?
– by LevesVosSkinnyFists (Wed Mar 29 2006 09:40:00)
Simply stare at this picture for about eight hours:
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=89507
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SUBJECT: Re: Where can I see this movie?
– by lulsiano (Fri Feb 20 2004 21:34:58)
this is not a kinda movie that you go to see in the theatre or rent to watch at home with your family, or friends, this is more like a video instalation to put in a museum so as the film keeps passing, people pass, watch a little, think it’s interesting or not, then go , and that goes on. I don’t think nobody would ever see (or ever saw) this the entire 8 hours, including Andy. but that’s just my opinion.
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SUBJECT: Re: Where can I see this movie?
– by Bob_Harris (Fri Nov 18 2005 14:03:55)
Well, I guess he had to see it… my god, what’s the point of it???
SUBJECT: Re: the point could be…
– by Wesside_II (Sat Dec 10 2005 09:09:33)
1. in case King Kong showed up, even for just a frame
2. so that someone can post here saying “THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL” and “when will this movie be remade”
3. to see if anyone will watch the whole film, then make a film about them doing that called WATCH
4. “yeah i know”
5. “i want that one”
IMDb user comments can be a delight. My own favorite is the review of Pasolini’s SALÃ’ by a joeyc79, which I here reproduce in full:
“One of the greatest most inspirational films of all time, 18 November 2001
Author: joeyc79 from columbus, OHIO
SAlo is one of the most timeless works of art ever to grace the television screen. Pier Paolo Pasolini touches on all of the wonder and mystery of the former great fascist Italy. This film is a riveting tale of about 2 dozen or so teenagers having the times of their lives. Pasolini came under great fire for this film. He was considered a monster in some people’s eyes. I however think he was genius. This movie is debatably the most misconstrued film of all time. It had such very little to do with Fascist Italy. Salo was merely aiming at the beauty of youth and the uncertainties, which accompany the wild childhood. It is films like this, which make me wish I were 30 years younger again. The beauty and reckless of youth is perfectly depicted in this masterpiece. Basically Salo is about a couple dozen teenagers going to a quasi-resort “more like a paradise” and embarking on a spiritual journey through a land never before seen. They have been hand picked by an elite group of fascists during Nazi ruled Germany to live and play as the “gods” do. This movie has world-class special effects as well as an overpowering cast including the very well respected Italian actor Giorgio cataldi. I watched this movie for the ninth time yesterday with my wife and six year old daughter. It is a movie for all ages, which should go down in history as less of a monstrosity and more of an educational masterpiece.”
Joey is the author of only one other IMDb review. That one is of TRUCKS (1997).