From cheapie westerns, burlesque horror films and sexploitation extravaganzas to gore-filled Gospel films, B-movie Bible stories and church sermons from Hell, one Nashville family really did it all… Forensic biographer Jimmy McDonough, author of definitive works on Al Green, Neil Young, Tammy Wynette, Andy Milligan and Russ Meyer, brings his epic Ormonds biography The Exotic Ones: That Fabulous Film-Making Family from Music City, USA to the Belcourt Theatre, featuring an in-depth discussion with Tim Ormond – plus a wild Ormond sinners-and-saints double feature, during which you’ll go to the strip club AND to church. This is certain to be an absolutely unforgettable evening celebrating Nashville’s first family of film – the Ormonds!
The evening kicks off with an Ormond-inspired preshow performance from New York chanteuse Tammy Faye Starlite, whose performances have been acclaimed by the New York Times, Spin and the New Yorker. This will be followed by Jimmy McDonough doing a bit of sideshow ballyhoo that will reveal his 36-year obsession with all things Ormond. He’ll then bring out Tim Ormond himself – the only surviving member of the clan and a prolific presence in the Nashville filmmaking community – to introduce our screening of brand-new restorations of both THE EXOTIC ONES (aka THE MONSTER AND THE STRIPPER) and the rarely-seen Tim Ormond-directed opus IT’S ABOUT THE SECOND COMING. After the films wrap up, we’ll have an extended Q&A session with both Tim and Jimmy, who will also have books available for sale (and signing!). This truly one-of-a-kind “Only at the Belcourt” event is not to be missed, so join us as we salute some hometown heroes and their wildly entertaining brand of exploitation.
Restorations courtesy of filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn and by NWR
About the book:
June. Ron. Tim. Together they were the Ormond Organization, a Nashville mother-father-son trio who cranked out a wild bunch of movies, from Lash LaRue westerns to the stripper-gore-musical outrage THE EXOTIC ONES, then finally… Baptist extravaganzas. The Ormonds plunged into every area of showbiz, from vaudeville to drive-in movies to Christian filmmaking. They did it all on a shoestring – by themselves, with no studio to back them.
THE EXOTIC ONES (aka THE MONSTER AND THE STRIPPER)
Dir. Ron Ormond | Music City, USA | 1968 | 89 min. | NR | DCP
More stripper than monster, this slice of pure ‘60s exploitation was shot at none other than Trafco, a production facility owned by the Methodist Church. Ron Ormond cast his wife June among a cast of burlesque dancers as well as neighbor/rockabilly legend Sleepy LaBeef as the loin-clothed monster-turned-burlesque-attraction who, in a memorable scene, beats a man to death with his own bloody, dismembered limb. Is it a musical? A horror movie? A comedy? All of the above! Also present for the proceedings is Tim Ormond as the imaginatively named Timmy! He serenades the monster with a song, shown uncut for the first time since it played in theaters!
“...The GONE WITH THE WIND of caveman-rampage stripper movies, and without question the raunchiest item ever shot (on the down-low) at the Methodist church’s Nashville production facility.” ––Jim Ridley, Nashville Scene
IT’S ABOUT THE SECOND COMING
Dir. Tim Ormond | USA | 1982 | 57 min. | NR | DCP
Dedicated to the memory of his late father, Tim Ormond carried on the family business of telling Bible stories while honoring their exploitation filmmaking roots with this stunningly staged tale of a young man who avoids church despite the encroaching threat of the end of the world. In typical Ormond fashion, the film is peppered with enough apocalyptic visions, scenes of torture and destruction, and hellish horrors to sate even the pickiest genre fan’s WTF-lust. This rare film has not been seen outside of its brief run in churches 40 years ago, and this is its Nashville premiere!
Read Jim Ridley and David D. Duncan’s 1996 epic account of the Ormonds’ career!