Roar (1981)
Cast: Tippi Hedren, Noel Marshall, Melanie Griffith
Director: Noel Marshall
Country: USA
Genre: Adventure | Thriller
Editor’s Note: Roar is currently out in limited theatrical release.
“It’s just like life: you get the funny with the tragic,” Noel Marshall says in one of the Roar’s dozens of unintentionally hilarious lines. One can’t help but wonder how aware of the irony of that statement he was. Roar is a movie whose very existence is predicated on a dark comedic tragedy, the zaniest Hollywood story that puts all other “making of” stories to shame. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe just how bat- shit insane a movie like Roar is. You can describe the movie endlessly, but it’s impossible to spoil the movie because it’s one of those special movies that needs to be experienced to be believed.
Roar is a movie whose very existence is predicated on a dark comedic tragedy, the zaniest Hollywood story that puts all other “making of” stories to shame.
In 1970, producer Noel Marshall used his Exorcist profits to create the most expensive, twisted and disastrous home movie ever made. Marshall, his wife Tippi Hedren, stepdaughter Melanie Griffith and his sons Jerry and John lived with 150 untrained animals (lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, cougars, jaguars and one deragned elephant). Intending to make a movie that emphasized the importance of wildlife conservation, Marshall and his family would spend the next 11 years making a movie that accomplished anything and everything but. What we are instead shown are lion attacks, maulings, scalpings, real blood from real injuries, broken legs and so much more. As the movie’s opening crawl tell us, no less than 70 members of the cast and crew were harmed. Nothing in the history of cinema has been so simultaneously terrifying and hilarious. The fact that the animals are really cute only adds another level of insanity to this unceasingly deranged film.
The fact that the animals are really cute only adds another level of insanity to this unceasingly deranged film.
More often than not it can be frustrating when a movie leaves you with more questions than answers, but in the case of Roar it only heightens the experience. I would love to know what an average day on set looked like. Sure, there was a script, but how much of it actually was successfully shot? Why did everyone stay so committed to a film that produced so many injuries? Was any of the humor intended? And what’s the story with that elephant?
Watching the film with a packed out crowed at the South Lamar Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, I was struck by how everyone in the film was responding to different things. Yes, the animals attacking humans always got big laughs, but there were so many moments where one person would be shrieking in terror while another bounced in his seat unable to contain his laughter. I’ve often argued that no two people can watch the same movie and have an identical experience. Roar makes that argument better than any movie I’ve ever seen.
Critically speaking, it’s impossible to write about a film like Roar. By all logical and maybe even ethical reasoning, there is no legitimate reason why this movie should exist, but the fact that it does makes it required viewing for anyone with eyes. Is it a great movie? Probably not. Is it a bad movie? Compared to what? If you’re going into Roar looking for a deep artistic experience, look elsewhere. Here is something that transcends the traditional moviegoing experience, recalling to mind films like Hearts of Darkness by examining (albeit unintentionally) why we make movies in the first place.
Is it a great movie? Probably not. Is it a bad movie? Compared to what? If you’re going into Roar looking for a deep artistic experience, look elsewhere. Here is something that transcends the traditional moviegoing experience, recalling to mind films like Hearts of Darkness by examining (albeit unintentionally) why we make movies in the first place.
