The World's Greatest Sinner

One hears a lot about "independent cinema" these days, films made outside the mainstream studio system that reflect the individual voices of their creators. Film festivals are devoted entirely to "independent films", such as "The Sundance Film Festival". There is even an "Independent Film Channel" on cable television. Well, "The World's Greatest Sinner" really IS an "Independent Film". Timothy Carey wrote, produced, directed and starred in "The World's Greatest Sinner". Filmed on location with whatever actors and equipment he could get, int took three years to complete because he had no budget and made the movie whenever time permitted between professional acting jobs. In fact, the story of the making of "The World's Greatest Sinner" would make a pretty compelling subject for a movie in itself, much as was done some years ago to "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

This movie is about unrestrained ego. The main character is an insurance salesman who wants to become something more. By turns he transforms himself into a rock & roll star, an evangelist and a presidential candidate. During that process his ego enlarges exponentially until it becomes clear that his ultimate goal is nothing less than to become God. Oh, and as if all that were not bizarre enough, the sound track was written and performed by Frank Zappa, early in his career, years before he became famous as the leader of "The Mothers of Invention".

Nobody is ever going to say that this movie has the best production values. Apart from everything else, the three-year production time inevitably created some continuity issues. Nevertheless, this is a film that has something to say which no other would dare to say, and says it emphatically. Furthermore, despite the fact that matters frequently go over-the-top, the story is frighteningly plausible and believable. Yes, one cannot escape the conviction that the events depicted really could happen.

Although "The World's Greatest Sinner" is never going to be everyone's cup of tea, or indeed was ever intended to be, it definitely deserves a place on the list of movies everyone should see at least once before they die.

So much has been written about The World's Greatest Sinner that it is hard to separate it from its own mythical standing.

Timothy Carey portrays Clarence Hilliard, an insurance salesman who abruptly quits his job in a spectacular fashion. Sitting at home, contemplating his life, he wanders the town and comes across a Mexican rock and roll band. Intrigued by the spectacle and its effect on the gathered audience, he begins formulating his future. With help from his gardener, he puts on a fake goatee and carries a guitar with him as he stands on street corners, preaching his message of "every man is his own god" and soon finds himself with an ever-growing audience eager to hear more. He changes his name to "GOD" and begins his ascent into the world of politics.

TWGS was made at a time when independent films made without the financing of a studio simply didn't exist. There were no kickstarter campaigns, film schools, underground distribution networks, etc. The film pre-dated the exploitation boom of the mid to late sixties and existed in a universe where so-called underground films were still called "art" films and screened alongside nudie pictures and European imports. Carey wrote the screenplay in 1956 and spent the next 5 years gathering funds and shooting haphazardly whenever he could afford to. Many of the people involved with the movie never received payment for their involvement (most notably a then-unknown Frank Zappa, who wrote and performed the title song and score, and later badmouthed the film on The Steve Allen show in 1963, calling it "the world's worst movie.") Tim Carey originally wanted another director along the lines of John Cassavetes or Stanley Kubrick to direct the movie, but realizing that he could not afford to hire anyone, took to directing it himself. He also cut and edited the movie and handled all of the post-production work. He was never satisfied with the movie and continued editing it up until his death in 1994.

Carey never found a proper distributor for the movie and it was only screened a handful of times in 1963. A later cut of the film is the one that most people have seen, having floated around as a bootleg on VHS and later shown on TMC in 2008. This version had a color title sequence and the hand-colored ending sequence that Carey felt was integral to the film. His son, Romeo Carey owns the rights to the film and has stated that he will one day release the original director cut of the movie, but it still remains unviewed since its original screening.

Critics panned the movie unanimously, which is probably what made it impossible to find a distributor. It was called "vile", "anarchic", anti-religious, amateurish and just plain "stupid." John Cassavetes loved the movie however, calling it one of his favorites.

Nowadays, many agree with Cassavetes, who stated that the movie was just too ahead of its time to be understood by audiences of the early 60's. He may have been right, but as Romeo Carey pointed out, the movie was not ahead of its time, it was in fact a time capsule that captured a unique look at an America that was stuck between the rise of Elvis and the birth of Beatlemania. The country was getting over the Korean War and had yet to experience the polarization of Vietnam. Beatniks were about to become hippies and the "I Like Ike" republican era was giving way to Kennedy's comparatively liberal generation. If anything, TWGS is a documentary of an America in flux.

Critics of the time also scoffed at the notion that a rock and roll-styled punk would ever garner a religious following or ascend into the political machine with such ease. It wasn't long before people like Charles Manson and Jim Jones were recognized as the type of "rock star guru" that could influence, and even brainwash, their followers. The slogan "man is his own god" would become pervasive in a few short years, and groups like the Church of Satan and The Nation of Islam would loudly proclaim that same message. The irony was not lost on Carey himself, who insisted that the film was just as relevant in 1993 as it was in 1963.

For all of its faults, including poor editing, shoddy audio and subpar performances from some of the supporting cast, it still feels like a sort of autobiographical documentary- not quite out of step with A Hard Day's Night or D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back. And it goes without saying that Carey's performance in the title role is untouchable. Nobody but him could have pulled it off. It's like watching a train wreck slowly unfold; you're pretty sure how it's all going to end but you can't stop watching while it happens.

I'm not usually so pompous when describing movies, but TWGS is a movie that opened my eyes to something I can't quite put my finger on.

This film is famous among Frank Zappa fans for being his first published creative effort. Apparently he had no doubts about his talent even at the age of 22, as he began writing the score using 52 musicians. Frank himself later described the film as 'rancid'. The title song appeared under the name of Baby Ray and The Ferns.

"The World's Greatest Sinner" is a failure, but a glorious failure. Tim Carey had a huge idea. A fantastic idea. But working without a budget and outside the Hollywood mainstream doomed that idea and turned it into one of the most ambitious and frustrating B-movie projects I have ever seen.

The problems with this film are many. The editing and sound are horrendous from start to finish. Abrupt doesn't begin to cover most of the transitions. Unrelated shots pop up in the most unnerving places. The soundtrack is either loud to the point of distortion or so low and garbled as to be nearly unlistenable. Which, in most cases, should kill the movie before it starts. But in this particular case the problems almost work as high art, keeping the viewer in a state of confusion that mirrors the confusion of Clarence.

The acting is spotty. Tim Carey is totally over the top and melodramatic throughout, but oddly compelling. The supporting cast runs the gamut from horribly amateurish to passably good, and in two cases (the old woman follower and Clarence's "publicity man") very good.

The word that is most often used to describe this film is "surreal". And it's appropriate. The jump cuts, odd camera work and overall feel of the film make it a truly unique experience to watch. And the Frank Zappa soundtrack add mightily to the whole otherworldly tone of the film. The soundtrack was performed by The Pomona Valley Symphony Orchestra, who seem to be having quite the struggle to play Zappa's score. The score fits the film very well, overall. Shows that Zappa could have been a great film composer if his interest had lain in that direction.

I see similarities between "Sinner" and Elia Kazan's "A Face In The Crowd". One man's ascension to power while descending into a personal hell. While "Crowd" is, clearly, a massively better film, Carey's idea and vision for "Sinner" could have, with more talent, enough budget, and better character development made a film to equal Kazan's.

Ultimately "The World's Greatest Sinner" is certainly interesting, and well worth a watch but ultimately exists as a frustrating textbook example of the worst case scenario of indie films:A fantastic idea frustrated at every turn by the realities of filmmaking.

Regarded by some as a masterstroke of underground cinema, and for good reason...TWGS is a gritty and highly recalcitrant walk on the wild side, gently flouting just about every vested American institution of respectability and reverence...that may not sound like a such a big deal in present times(when even TV cartoons have an insolent streak), but the America of 1962 was a very different world.

Timothy Carey, a legendary and enigmatic Hollywood outsider, performs vibrantly in his nihilistic vanity project. He portrays a disenchanted American family man whose eccentric ideologies galvanize a small following, leading to his gradual ascention as a gold-digging lothario, frenetic rockabilly performer, and, lastly, dissentious political hegemon. The fall comes faster than the climb, however...delusional grandiosity takes hold, and he soon finds himself abandoned and detached in a sad ivory tower of deified ipseity.

It's a conceptually alluring exercise in ideographic rabble-rousing, without question...frustratingly, however, the overt bearings of an impossibly vagabond production peg this project as an edgy, inordinate, and admittedly very ambitious home movie. Accepted on these terms, it's a chimerical wonderwork, and some will find its dodgy appeal enhanced by the unvarnished minimalism of a breadline budget.

Mainstream viewers are unlikely to surrender gently to this earnestly hand-hammered anomaly, though it's certainly worthy of investigation(as is evident by its sizable legion of fans...a number of whom, I suspect, might not like the film quite as much as they like the *IDEA* of liking it).

5.5/10.