Rip Torn vs Norman Mailer - the infamous "Maidstone" brawl - UNCUT!

This is the final scene from Norman Mailer's MAIDSTONE, in which he played the part of a famous movie director running for President of the United States, who is supposed to be assassinated in the finale.

Mailer concluded principal photography without resolving the final scene, and Rip Torn (playing his brother-in-law and assassin) allegedly decided to take it upon himself to "improvise" an attack by hitting Mailer on the head with a small hammer, drawing blood. Mailer retaliated by tackling and then nearly chewing Torn's ear off as they grappled viciously, and it rapidly escalated into an unhinged on-camera brawl as Mailer's horrified kids screamed in terror.

This is the completely uncut sequence. I have to wonder how "unplanned" it was, as the camera is obviously following Rip closely in the moments before the attack, and if principal photography had finished the day before, why was the camera crew still hanging around filming Rip and the Mailer family? Its more like Mailer knew Rip would pull something for the camera, but didnt know what, and overreacted because he wasnt expecting him to use a real hammer and actually start hitting him with it.

Mailer's verbal reaction is oddly artificial (although the ear chewing is very real and painful to watch) and his wife seems to be lurking just off camera, and then she suddenly starts screaming like a banshee, which is what sets the kids off. Rip seems to be truly apologetic and convincing in the moments after the fight, but Mailer is barely audible and withdrawn and struggling to improvise lame insults to throw back at Torn, who starts becoming irritated at the end by Mailer's weak and phony outrage. It's rather ironic considering his fame as a great writer that he cant come up with snappier dialogue, or deliver it convincingly.

Whatever the circumstances of the event, it's a truly strange and classic sequence indeed, and Rip's demented final facial expressions are unforgettable. I think that when Mailer says "you might as well turn that tape off, because he's a very dull talker, and he never stops as long as anything is running", Rip's hilarious "ooo, OOOO!!" stare and point response was probably his way of saying that Mailer was being hypocritical.

For more information on Mailer's ultrarare 60s trilogy of experimental films (Wild 90, Beyond the Law, Maidstone), check out the page on my site:

http://subcin.com/mailer.html

or contact me at: subcin@aol.com if you are seeking the films on DVD.

See more about this and other ultrarare films, including plenty of free screenplays and streaming videos, and a list of ultrarare films available on DVD recordings.

SUBTERRANEAN CINEMA
http://cinemavirtualis.com

THE SUBTERRANEAN COLLECTION
http://cinemavirtualis.com/subvid.html

• Category

  Entertainment

[Drblooter99]

One thing's for sure, the film ain't Citizen Kane! It's possibly the worst of a crop of self-indulgent "experimental" films which followed Easy Rider in the early 70s.

[cinemavirtualis]

- true, its a terrible film overall - the real masterpiece of Rip Torn is a film called "Coming Apart". Ive recently posted it to Daily Motion in its entirety, it has nudity and sexual situations so DM is the only online streamer who would allow it. I cant post a direct link here, but you can find it with a Google search, use the terms "coming apart rip torn", and then click the "video" tab, and it should show up in those listings. :)

[Drblooter99]

Thanks, I'll take a look some time.

Oddly, given that Coming Apart is Torn's "real masterpiece", I don't see it mentioned in his Wiki entry. As a cinephile, you might want to sort that out.

[cinemavirtualis]

- yeah Wikipedia is only as knowledgable as the people who submit the articles to it, and "Coming Apart" isnt known to most people, even many Rip fans. Thanks for the heads up, and I just corrected it. Interestingly, when I linked the title "Coming Apart" there, it automatically goes to the Wiki page of the director, Milton Moses Ginsberg, with more information about the film. Definitely check it out sometime! :)

[vper6960]

Can i ask why the cameraman is just standing their filming it? It's not like this is a nature documentary where we can stand around watching the brutality and say 'it's nature'.

[cinemavirtualis]

- yep, and another good question is why the cameraman was still hanging around taking home movies of Mailer and his family (and of Rip talking to another man, both of them still "in character") if the production had allegedly already "ended". I think Rip was supposed to do something, and Mailer was expecting it, but the hammer hit took him by surprise.

[NoGoodBoyo1000]

Too bad Rip didn't finish the job.

[BufordStone]

Supposedly Mailer decked Lane Smith at some point during filming and Smith accused him of throwing an n word punch.. Jose Torres heard this and broke Smith's jaw with a single punch. If Smith had pressed charges Torres would have lost his fighting license which was very serious back in those days. Smith declined to press cxharges.

[BIGPIMPINUPDANYC]

OFF HIS FUCKING HEAD.

[boroboy boro]

dennis hopper should have had rip torn killed many years ago..you can see hear that rip torn is drugged up to the eye balls .fucking coke head

[nogoodbastid]

i get what he was doing. he thought mailer would get it and improvise and act dead after the hammer blow instead of breaking character.

[BassHeadsProduction]

Oh god, oh man, oh god , oh man, oh god, oh man.. oh by the way.. he directed that movie too.

[MarquisChantdamour]

Its seems a ¨rape movie¨ with Torn as offender and Mailer as a victim. Awful, horrible...

[Darin K.]

Actually two things are for sure, Rip and Norman didn't spend a whole lot of time in the gym. The wife jumping in seems kind of late . . .

[druley09]

Why use waterboarding, you could just play this womans screeching 24/7... possibly one of the most annoying sounds I've ever heard XD

[ConstantineRobbins]

FAKE.