Sunday, November 10, 2013

It Don't pay to be an Honest Citizen on DVD



NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD
$25.00 plus $5.00 for shipping within the USA
contact: itdontpay@mindspring.com


It Don't Pay to be an Honest Citizen
A film by Jacob Burckhardt
 ©1984,   78 minutes,   16mm.,   color
A true story of crime and not punishment shot on location in Brooklyn.

     Late one night Warren (Reed Bye) Withdraws $30 from a cash machine. Two young hoodlums (Vincent D'Onofrio and Julia Hoban) follow him and mug him in the hallway of his building, taking the money and some irreplaceable film.
     The police respond surprisingly quickly, catching the robbers, minus the movie.  The next day someone threatens him.  Then someone else hints at a bribe.  The DA's office calls. An old girlfriend comes to visit but is frightened away by his criminal entanglement.  He gets "advice" from some guys in a local bar (Bill Rice), a lawyer (Allen Ginsberg), even the cops. He meets the muggers themselves outside of criminal court, and encounters a raving bum (Rudy Burckhardt) inside an abandoned church. Finally he meets with a Mafia don (William Burroughs) in the back room of a luncheonette, who tells him he has to "take it on the chin…

VIEW TRAILER

"...strong performances and audience fun" The Christian Science Monitor
"...extremement cocasse..."  Cahiers du Cinema
"Funny Film Lacks Punch Line" Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Eine filmisches kleinod..." Berlinaletip

Berlin Film Festival Official Selection 1985

With  REED BYE, ALLEN GINSBERG, WILLIAM BURROUGHS, VINCENT D'ONOFRIO,   JULIA HOBAN, MARY TEPPER, JIM NEU, LUCIANO CORELLI, BILL RICE, JOHN NESCI,   SHELLEY KRAUT, YOSHIKO CHUMA, BOB HOLMAN, JACK COLLOM, GEORGE SCHNEEMAN, DAVID BRISBIN, GARY MARANO, ANDREW NASH, ROBERT SERRA
NOAH BAEN, GEOFF DAVIS, RACKSTRAW DOWNES, and RUDY BURCKHARDT
Production stills by ROBERT ALEXANDER   Music by HUGH LEVICK  Script by SHELLEY KRAUT  and  JACOB BURCKHARDT  Cover design by RONI BEN-NUN
Camera and editing by  JACOB BURCKHARDT

DVD Extras - two short films:
CONDEMNED (6 min., 1976, with Geoff Davis)
MARTENS BAR (5 min., 1976, with a sonnet read by Edwin Denby)