Presented by Oscarbate
Followed by a Q&A with critic/author Caden Mark Gardner
New Restoration
Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers is no ordinary ‘fish out of water’ story. Holly Woodlawn plays Eve, who gets off the bus from New York City with ambition but finds herself in an urban fantasy where cursing nuns drive taxis and Chelsea Hotel bellboys wear gas masks. Robert J. Kaplan’s musical comedy is full of Old Hollywood callouts with characters having the names of Margo Channing, Eve Harrington, and Blanche DuBlois while running stylistically close to the underground cinema of Robert Downey Sr. and William Klein with musical numbers that are a mix of Broadway kitsch and Sesame Street. Woodlawn as the central lead is unsurprisingly charismatic, carrying the film in its musical numbers and even donning male drag. Fellow Warhol Superstar Tally Brown is also unforgettably ferocious in a supporting role. The film is a cult classic in the mold of Tom Schiller’s Nothing Lasts Forever (1984) and Timothy Carey’s The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962) as a feverishly live-action fairytale. Once feared to be a ‘lost film’, Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers has never been as ripe for rediscovery than now.