Star Spangled to Death

1956-60/2003-04, 440 min, b&w and color, sound, DVD

"Almost 50 years in the making — filming began in 1956 — Ken Jacobs's 440-minute avant-garde epic was named the best film of 2004 by J. Hoberman of The Village Voice. A history of 20th-century politics and culture communicated through a crazy quilt of found film, including a dancelike performance by Jack Smith (Flaming Creatures) as The Spirit Not of Life but of Living and sustained rants by the downtown character Jerry Sims as Suffering, it's the ultimate underground movie, subversive and frequently hilarious." —The New York Times

Digital Video Editor: Nisi Jacobs. DVD Authoring: Michael Fossenkemper. "I Didn't Raise my Boy to be a Soldier" arranged and sung by Ian Whitcomb. Scene of Jack waking in Nofutureland to discover the appearance of a paper flower filmed by Bob Fleischner. "La Cucaracha" performed on the organ by Anne Leaf.