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Have you seen Flaming Creatures (1963)?

Yes

Haven’t even heard of this movie

Voting ended onNov 11, 2025

#polls #movies #flaming creatures #Flaming Creatures 1963 #Flaming Creatures movie #60s movies #jack smith #francis francine #sheila bick #joel markman #mario montez #arnold rockwood #have you seen this movie poll

FLAMING CREATURES (1963) dir. Jack Smith This experimental piece begins humorously enough with several people, mostly of indeterminate gender, vamping it up in front of the camera and participating in a mock advertisement for an indelible, heart-shaped brand of lipstick. However, things take a dark, nightmarish turn. (link in title)

#flaming creatures #flaming creatures 1963 #lgbt cinema #queer cinema #us cinema #lgbt #usa #jack smith #mario montez #Francis Francine #Sheila Bick #Joel Markman #1963 #1960s #60s #60s cinema #1960s cinema #north american cinema #english

René Rivera (Mario Montez) (deceased)

Gender: Male (she/her in drag)

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 20 July 1935

RIP: 26 September 2013

Ethnicity: Puerto Rican

Occupation: Drag artist, actor

#René Rivera #Rene Rivera #Mario Montez #lgbt #lgbt history #male #gay #1935 #rip #historical #puerto rican #hispanic #poc #actor #drag artist

Born 90 years ago today: pioneering drag superstar of underground queer cinema Mario Montez (20 July 1935 – 26 September 2013). As Artforum summarized in their online obituary, “Mario Montez, who was born as René Rivera in Puerto Rico and renamed himself while a teenager in homage to actress Maria Montez … (was) most widely known as one of Andy Warhol’s superstars - from 1964 to 1966 he appeared in thirteen of the artist’s films - Montez was an icon of the 1950s and ’60s underground scene in New York. His career began when he met Jack Smith, who cast him in Flaming Creatures (1963); he then appeared in several films by the artist, including Normal Love (1963–65). In 1977 he vanished from the public eye, moving to Orlando, Florida and working clerical jobs for the next three-plus decades. He resurfaced in 2006, taking part in a documentary about Jack Smith. In 2010, Montez was honoured by Columbia University’s Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Race as one of the “most gifted performers of the underground period."" I revere the campy, vivacious and sweet-natured Montez as the original trailblazing gender non-conforming superstar of underground film, the precursor for Warhol’s later more famous trio Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn (unlike them, Montez never got name-checked in a Lou Reed song). I love Montez’s performances in Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures (1963), Warhol’s Chelsea Girls (1966) and especially the lesser known Ari and Mario (1966), also filmed at the bohemian Chelsea Hotel in which Montez – bewigged and chiffon-gowned – babysits Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico’s boisterous young son Ari. It’s hilarious, sweet and may just be my all-time favourite Warhol film. As Montez’s NY Times obit concluded, "What Mario teaches is that you can build a creative life on a nothing budget from what inspires you ...You can build a persona from what the larger culture has discarded, misrepresented or ignored.” Pictured: Mario Montez Backstage at the Palm Casino Revue by Peter Hujar, 1974.