''Cocaine Cowboys'' is a 1979 American

crime drama film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...

directed by

Ulli Lommel Ulli Lommel (21 December 1944 – 2 December 2017) was a German Film actor, actor and Film director, director, noted for his many collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his association with the New German Cinema movement. Lommel spent ...

and written by Lommel, Spencer Compton, Tom Sullivan and

Victor Bockris Victor Bockris (born 1949) is an English-born, U.S.-based author, primarily of biographies of artists, writers, and musicians. He has written about Lou Reed (and The Velvet Underground), Andy Warhol, Keith Richards, William S. Burroughs, Terr ...

. It stars

Jack Palance Walter Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk, , ''Volodymyr Ivanovych Palahniuk''; February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American screen and stage actor, known to film audiences for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominat ...

, Sullivan, and

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 ...

Cocaine Cowboys (1979)
.

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

. Accessed 7 February 2018. who made a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

. It was actor

Tzi Ma Tzi Ma (;) is a Hong Kong-American actor. He has appeared in television shows including '' The Man in the High Castle'' and '' 24'', and films including ''Dante's Peak'', ''Rush Hour'', ''Rush Hour 3'', '' Arrival'', '' The Farewell'', ''Tiger ...

's film debut.

Plot summary

''Cocaine Cowboys'' is about

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

dealing members of a rock band who get into trouble with the

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply to ...

.Cocaine Cowboys (1979)
.

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

. Accessed 7 February 2018. Andy Warhol appeared as himself interviewing

Reception

The film was given a very negative review at the time of its release by Tom Buckley in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

.'' Buckley wrote that apart from a good performance by

, the other actors were "obvious amateurs", the story "flimsy", the dialogue poor and despite previous acting and directing successes

's direction was "rudimentary". When mentioned in a ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

'' news article in 2007 the film was referred to as a "clunker". Filmmakers

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

and

Roger Avary Roger Roberts Avary (born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his work with Quentin Tarantino on the script for ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994), for which they won Best Original Screenpla ...

both praised the film on the first episode of The Video Archives Podcast.

Film set

Andy Warhol and Ulli Lommel on set of Cocaine Cowboys

''Cocaine Cowboys'' was filmed in 1978 at Warhol's estate Eothen in Montauk, a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

East Hampton, New York East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

.Anthony Haden-Guest,
Inside Jue Lan, The Hamptons’ Hot New Art Hangout
.

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

, 28 May 2016. Accessed 7 February 2018.

Selected cast

*Tom Sullivan *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cocaine Cowboys 1979 films 1979 crime drama films Films set in New York (state) Films shot in New York (state) American crime drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films Films directed by Ulli Lommel English-language crime drama films