Dynamite Chicken (1971) – Nostalgia Central

Director Ernie Pintoff had previously directed shorts, TV commercials, and specials before putting together this collection of skits, parodies, musical performances, and film clips related to the American peace movement of the late Sixties and early Seventies.

The 70-minute “electronic magazine of American pop culture” features interviews, stand-up comedy routines, countercultural sketches, documentary segments, and agitprop related to the peace movement, all in a stream-of-consciousness, free-form format.

Represented are views from blacks and whites and homosexuals and iconoclasts, and hard hats and morons and funnymen and women who want freedom and men who want women.

Pintoff originally designed the film for college audiences, but when the response there was considerable, it was released commercially.

The original segments featuring Richard Pryor, Paul Krassner, the comedy group Ace Trucking Company, and other figures were shot in 1969 and were mostly improvised.

Archival footage of other major celebrities of the day and repurposed film trailers are peppered throughout.

Richard Pryor
Ace Trucking Company
Ron Carey
Marshall Efron
Lisa Ryan
Paul Krassner
Peter Max
Jay Garner
Al Goldstein
Jim Buckley
Lannes Kenfield
Sylvia Topp
Eliza Nimmo
Sha-Na-Na
Joan Baez

Director
Ernie Pintoff

Video