Mixed Blood (1985 film)
Mixed Blood is a 1985 black comedy film directed by Paul Morrissey and John Leguizamo's film debut.[1]
Mixed Blood | |
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Directed by | Paul Morrissey |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Stefan Zapasnik |
Edited by | Scott Vickrey |
Music by | Coati Mundi |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Cinevista |
Release date | 18 October 1985 (US) |
Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Plot
Rita La Punta (Marília Pêra) leads a gang of Brazilian juvenile delinquents in an attempt to seize control of New York's Lower East Side's illegal drug trade from a Puerto Rican gang.[2]
Principal cast
Actor | Role |
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Marília Pêra | Rita La Punta |
Richard Ulacia | Thiago |
Rodney Harvey | Jose |
Linda Kerridge | Carol |
Geraldine Smith | Toni |
Angel David | Juan |
Roberto Luis Santana | Assassin |
Critical reception
The film received generally positive reviews.[3]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote:
Paul Morrissey continues to be a cinema original and his ''Mixed Blood,'' a most unorthodox look at life in the drug trade on New York's Lower East Side, is successively comic, brutal, primitive and sophisticated—a comedy with the manners of a live-action cartoon for jaded adults.[1]
Morrisey's former collaborator Andy Warhol stated in The Andy Warhol Diaries:
Paul's movie Mixed Blood is playing midnights at the Waverly ... And I just loved the movie. It was everything he's done before, but it was photographed well and he seemed to know so much about the Lower East Side and the Alphabet—avenues A, B, C, and D—for someone who hadn't been in New York for so long.[4]
Sid Smith wrote for the Chicago Tribune:
Although still fairly crude, the movie has more style than Morrissey's earlier pictures, and the lovely salsa score provides a biting undertone and subtlety Morrissey once avoided. It's not a perfect picture, and sometimes it's a boring one, but ''Mixed Blood'' is a fairly successful neo-realist look at something most moviemakers wouldn't go near.[5]
References
- Canby, Vincent (18 October 1985). "SCREEN: TOUGH COMEDY". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
- McElhaney, Joe (3 January 1986). "Paul's Movie: Mixed Blood". desistfilm. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- Kehr, Dave (26 October 1985). "Mixed Blood". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
- Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). The Andy Warhol diaries. The Archive of Contemporary Music. New York, NY : Warner Books. p. 706. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2Entry date: Friday, January 3, 1986
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Smith, Sid (18 May 1986). "'BLOOD' IS IN CLASSIC MORRISSEY VEIN". Chicago Tribune.