''Blow Job'' is a 1964 American

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

directed by

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he apparently receives

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

from an unseen partner. While shot at 24

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...

, Warhol specified that it should be projected at 16 frames per second, slowing it down by a third. Despite the salacious title, the film shows only the expression on the young man's face; the implied sexual act itself is not seen. Whether it is a male or a female performing the act is not stated, and the viewer must assume that fellatio is occurring. The salaciousness has also been speculated to be entirely in the title with no fellatio actually being performed.

Making

The identity of the person performing the act is disputed. Poet

Willard Maas Willard Maas (June 24, 1906 – January 2, 1971) was an American experimental filmmaker and poet. Personal life and career Maas was born in Lindsay, California and graduated from State Teachers College at San Jose. He came to New York in the 193 ...

has been identified as the person performing the act, but Warhol states in his book '' Popism: The Warhol Sixties'' (1980) that five different boys performed the fellatio. In this book, Warhol writes that he originally asked Charles Rydell, the boyfriend of filmmaker

Jerome Hill James Jerome Hill II (March 2, 1905 – November 21, 1972) was an American filmmaker and artist known for his award-winning documentary and experimental films, one of which won him an Academy Award. Career Hill was the child of railroad executiv ...

, to star in the film, promising that there would be "five beautiful boys" to perform the act. However, when Warhol set up the film shoot at

The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's art studio in Manhattan, New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famous for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities, and ...

on a Sunday, Rydell failed to show up. Warhol phoned Rydell at Hill's suite at the

Algonquin Hotel The Algonquin Hotel (officially The Algonquin Hotel Times Square, Autograph Collection) is a hotel at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 181-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwi ...

and asked where Rydell was. Rydell replied that he thought Warhol was kidding, and had no intention of appearing in such a film. When he declined, Andy used "a good-looking kid that happened to be hanging around the Factory that day", who was later identified as Bookwalter. By that time, the five boys had departed, but Warhol's notoriously poor memory kept the five boys in place for the version given in the much later book ''POPism''.

Commentary

According to

Peter Gidal Peter Gidal (born 1946) is a British avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist. Biography Gidal was born in 1946, growing up in Mount Vernon, New York and Switzerland. He studied theater, psychology, and literature at Brandeis University from 1964 to ...

, the film distances the viewer from the experience it purportedly depicts, "Sometimes the young actor looks bored, sometimes as if he is thinking, sometimes as if he is aware of the camera, sometimes as if he is not."

Douglas Crimp John Douglas Crimp (August 19, 1944 July 5, 2019) was an American art historian, critic, curator, and AIDS activist. He was known for his scholarly contributions to the fields of postmodern theories and art, institutional critique, dance, film, ...

states that after a few minutes, "it becomes clear that we will see nothing more than the repetition, with slight variations, of what we've already seen". This frees the mind to look in a different way. Likewise, the sexual act has the effect of distracting the actor from the presence of the camera, creating a unique kind of unself-consciousness. The film becomes "a lesson in how to produce a really beautiful portrait without saying 'cheese'!" Critic Roy Grundmann argues that "''Blow Job''‘s self-reflexive devices create a new kind of spectatorial address that dislodges audiences from their contemplative positions in a number of ways. ''Blow Job''‘s reflexivity makes spectators intensely aware that seeing a film makes projecting onto and investing into an image a part of oneself which is also a socialized acculturated act". Grundmann further claims that "viewers oscillate between an awareness of their contingency on larger scheme and the promise of ocularcentric mastery of the image".Roy Grundmann, ''Andy Warhol's Blow Job'', Temple University Press, 2003, p.19

Sequel

In 1966, Warhol filmed a sequel, '' Eating Too Fast'' (originally titled ''Blow Job #2'') which runs 67 minutes with sound. It features art critic and writer Gregory Battcock as the recipient.

References

External links

*
WarholStars.org website: ''Blow Job'' page

Making

Commentary

Sequel

See also

References

External links

Further reading