Town Bloody Hall (1979) Criterion 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC AAC-SARTRE

On April 30, 1971, a standing-room-only crowd of New York’s intellectual elite packed the city’s Town Hall theater to see Norman Mailer—fresh from the controversy over his essay “The Prisoner of Sex” and the backlash it received from leaders of the women’s movement—tangle with a panel of four prominent female thinkers and activists: Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, and Diana Trilling. Part intellectual death match, part three-ring circus, the proceedings were captured with crackling, fly-on-the-wall immediacy by the documentary great D. A. Pennebaker and a small crew, with Chris Hegedus later condensing the three-and-a-half-hour affair into this briskly entertaining snapshot of a singular cultural moment. Heady, heated, and hilarious, Town Bloody Hall is a dazzling display of feminist firepower courtesy of some of the most influential figures of the era, with Mailer plainly relishing his role as the pugnacious rabble-rouser and literary lion at the center of it all.

Extras

• Audio commentary by Germaine Greer and editor-director Chris Hegedus - An entertaining, thoughtful, and irreverent commentary recorded in 2004. Greer shares her memories of the event with Hegedus trying to coax further opinions and reflections out of her. They lose steam in the last 20-30 minutes, with some sizable silent gaps, but overall this is a welcome and worthwhile listen.

• Interview with Chris Hegedus - A new Criterion interview, in which Hegedus discusses her journey to becoming a documentary filmmaker and then talks about the editing process of the film. She also talks about its unfortunate lasting relevance, since the political world of today is still shockingly close to that of 1971.

• National Arts Club Reunion - Footage from a 2004 screening of the film. Jacqueline Ceballos, D.A. Pennebaker, and Chris Hegedus offer some introductory comments, then Ceballos, Germaine Greer, and Jill Johnston discuss the film afterwards. Considering her early exit from the 1971 panel, Johnston is unsurprisingly ambivalent about her connection to the film and its sporadic re-surfacing in her life.

• Interview with Germaine Greer - From 2001. She offers her memories of the night and her impressions of Norman Mailer.

• Interview with Norman Mailer - From 2001. Mailer talks about his first efforts as a film director, with D.A. Pennebaker as facilitator and collaborator. He discusses the role he thought he was playing in Town Bloody Hall at the end of the clip.

• Norman Mailer on The Dick Cavett Show - The complete December 15, 1971, episode with guests Norman Mailer, author Gore Vidal, and New Yorker columnist Janet Flanner. Mailer comes on halfway through the program as the third guest, to promote The Prisoner of Sex. He and Vidal start off contentious over the book, and Mailer gradually turns all the others (including Cavett and the studio audience) into opponents.