Not Coming to a Theater Near You
There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin’ things, lacy things, things with curly hair.
There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin’ things, lacy things, things with curly hair.
If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? has been unfairly dismissed as a curiosity; a piece of “so bad its good” cinema and therefore unworthy of serious attention. I’d argue the opposite. Footmen is one of the more effective pieces of early seventies low budget cinema and “exploitation” in the purest sense of the word.
Estus Pirkle, a Mississippian Baptist preacher, is the star, writer, and inspiration behind Footmen. The title comes from Jeremiah 12:5 and is the central metaphor of the Pirkle sermon that the film illustrates. He warns that American Christians are set upon by various “footmen” attempting to lead them astray: television, alcohol and drugs, dancing, and false doctrines. Pirkle points out these footmen only to lay the groundwork for the main crux of his message – – the coming “horses” of Communism. A Communist takeover of the United States will happen within two years if America does not have a Christian revival, states Pirkle, and he provides “documented evidence” of the types of atrocities the Russians plan on committing once they arrive.
Pirkle’s “documented evidence” consists of gory tableaus of violence against Christians; some based in fact, others pure hyperbole. Bodies young and old are shown stacked in the streets as hammer and sickle emblazoned Communists ride on horseback surveying their work. Rather than leaving any of these images up for interpretation, Pirkle diligently narrates each scene to ensure the audience gets the maximum impact of his warning. It all works surprisingly well. The film was made to be shown in conservative Southern Baptist churches where the audience would already be predisposed to such a graphically violent message and to believe in the threat of international Communism. Footmen is, quite literally, preaching to the choir.
Footmen is a modernized version of the type of precautionary horrors Dwain Esper made famous. Imagine Reefer Madness crossed with The Last House On The Left and you’ll get a good idea of what the film accomplishes. Of particular note are the scenes of violence against children. A young boy has his eardrums pierced with bamboo for hearing a sermon and another is decapitated for refusing to deny Christ, both with unnervingly well-conceived special effects. One can only imagine the type of reaction these images would have gotten from the Sunday night crowd at a church in Alabama or Georgia. They were calculated shocks of course, but in an inversion of the typical exploitation model, ones designed to embolden the viewer rather than repulse.
The story behind the film is almost as interesting as Footmen itself. Western and sexploitation director Ron Ormond became a born-again Christian after surviving a plane crash and partnered with Pirkle on this and one other illustrated sermon. Ormond had mastered the exploitation style and utilized every trick in the book on Footmen, making it at times feel as sleazy as his The Girl From Tobacco Row. You could write the film off as mere religious propaganda but keep in mind that is exactly what it was intended to be. It’s the finest example of Christian exploitation (Christploitation?) and also unfortunately one of the only. Compare with the diluted messages of modern Christian cinema like Fireproof and Facing the Giants, and you’ll likely wish Ormond and Pirkle were still around to give us their take on the 21st Century.
by David Carter | Source: DVD
01 Oct 2008 10:52 PM | Comments (2)
This sounds kind of amazing. Is it commercially available?
I’m fairly certain it’s in the public domain now. You can purchase DVD copies via some online sites, but I’d recommended watching it on GoogleVideo. It can be seen in its entirety on there.
Evan
2 October 2008
7:22 AM