# Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1991)

### reviewed by
Brian L. Johnson

                                     SUPERSTAR
                           A film review by Ken Johnson
                            Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson

90 min., not rated, Documentary, 1990 Director: Chuck Workman Cast: Andy Warhol, Dennis Hopper, Sylvia Miles, Fran Lebowitz, Ultra Violet, Viva

This is a documentary about one of the most interesting and brilliant people in entertainment history, Andy Warhol, who lived from 1928 to 1987. He became famous after painting some Campbell's soup cans. He continued painting as well as branching out into movie-making. Some of his movies were bizarre, like a six-hour underground film about a person sleeping and ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN. Some were sexually oriented in nature, like ANDY WARHOL'S DRACULA. Some were black in nature, like ANDY WARHOL'S BAD. But most of all they were Andy.

I tend not to care for documentaries too much. I have seen several, like CHUCK BERRY--HAIL! HAIL! ROCK 'N' ROLL, THE COMPLEAT BEATLES, and THE MAKING OF A LEGEND: GONE WITH THE WIND, that I have just found slow and boring. When watching a documentary I like to be entertained as I am learning about the person/group. The best actual documentary that I have seen is MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE (my actual favorite is "Weird Al" Yankovic's spoof of documentaries called THE COMPLEAT AL). SUPERSTAR I found to be an enjoyable documentary to watch. It wasn't too long and it didn't bore me. To the best of my knowledge, SUPERSTAR is not on video cassette [actually it is; I just saw it in my videostore yesterday, under "Andy Warhol, Superstar" -Moderator], but is still running in the small arty type theaters. I don't recommend SUPERSTAR for a general audience, but for people who are interested in Andy Warhol. If you are not interested in Andy Warhol, this film will probably be incredibly boring for you. On a scale of zero to five, I give SUPERSTAR a three. SUPERSTAR is unrated but contains explicit language, brief female nudity, and brief male nudity.

This film had a lot of ways of hiding what it was telling you so that you didn't realize that you were gaining knowledge. The part that I felt was the best done was the beginning with the television screens. It was visually pleasing, yet insightful into Andy Warhol. I also liked how, towards the center of the film, clips from many of Warhol's films were included. I feel that it is interesting that most of the people who are interviewed in the film are now dead. I also find it interesting that Andy Warhol was shot by one of his former actresses and sad that he died, not of the gunshot wound, but of the care he received in the hospital. I really don't have too much more to say, other than I enjoyed the film, and I will try to hunt out some of Andy's old work to see.

    Ken J.
    blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu

    .

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