I was not surprised to learn that Arthur Lipsett, who created this film, later committed suicide. '21-87' reveals an extremely bleak and pessimistic view of humanity.
To say that Lipsett 'created' this film might be overstatement. It consists of a few soundbites dubbed onto scraps of documentary film footage, scavenged by Lipsett from uncredited sources. Lipsett was Canadian, but most or all of this footage was shot in New York City: I recognise many New York City locations, and (in two separate shots) men are holding New York City newspapers.
Although Lipsett did not shoot any of this footage, he should still take responsibility for his choices of what to include here. Except for a few brief clips of glamorous female circus performers, he seems to have gone out of his way to choose clips which make humanity seem coarse, dirty, effete, superficial. We see an unattractive woman chewing something. We see an overweight slovenly woman primping: indulging her vanity even though her looks are nothing to boast of. A heavy-set man takes his cigar out of his mouth long enough to spit, then shoves his stogie back into his gob. A racetrack railbird has a prominent facial mole. We see a row of pier glasses in a funfair arcade, their warped surfaces distorting the reflexions of the crowd, making them resemble hunchbacked dwarfs. A few young attractive people of both sexes manage to make themselves look ridiculous, frugging wildly at a discotheque.
We briefly see a 'diving horse' at a pier: one of those weird novelty acts that were popular in Atlantic City (New Jersey) in the 1940s. A rider goads his horse up a steep incline to a high platform above water; the platform suddenly collapses, forcing the horse to do a high dive. Lipsett's stock footage of this bizarre performance prominently includes a United States flag, so that his Canadian audience can assure themselves that this particular insanity takes place south of their border.
We also see a fashion show, with anorexic models on a catwalk, flaunting fur coats which Lipsett apparently wants us to interpret as symbolising greed or animal cruelty or something unpleasant. The models are young females but they all wear grotesque maquillage, making them seem more like drag queens. Speaking of drag queens: the film also includes a brief shot of a couple who resemble the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
The film's irrelevant title comes from a remark made in passing on the soundtrack: the audio has no relationship to the images. Allegedly, '21-87' inspired George Lucas to create 'THX 1138'. Apart from both films having numeric titles and being made on micro-budgets, I see almost no similarity. From what I've seen of Lipsett's work, he wasn't remotely as talented as Lucas.
When I finished watching '21-87', my brain wanted to wash its hands. Ick! My rating: zero points for this movie.
