User reviews

Oak Cliff Film Festival 2016 Greetings again from the darkness. Not many true life rags-to-riches stories combine snake oil, goat testicles, Wolfman Jack, early radio advancements, celebrities, a campaign for Governor and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Director Penny Lane (Our Nixon, 2013) provides some real nuggets in her telling of the life and career of Dr John Romulus Brinkley. Her inventive approach is unique both narratively and visually … and even a bit sneaky.

If Brinkley is an unknown figure to you, it might be surprising to know that he built an empire and became famous and multi-millionaire during one of the harshest depression eras in American history (the 1920's and 30's). Brinkley had the cajones to transform little Milford Kansas from a sleepy town of 300 to a bustling city of 5000. So what drove this growth? Brinkley built his fortune by implanting goat testicles into men for the purpose of curing impotence … a procedure he claimed to have performed more than 10,000 times.

Based on the authorized biography "The Life of a Man" by Clement Wood, director Lane's film allows us to get to know and feel comfortable with Brinkley. We begin to appreciate and admire his entrepreneurial efforts and success, and even side with him against his challengers. The final act reminds us why we are/should be skeptical beings and that our viewpoint affects our beliefs.

Where we might normally cry "bollocks", the blending of news clips, home movies, photographs and hand-drawn animation have us fully on board. It would be difficult to argue against the label of genius when describing Brinkley, though the specific category is up for debate. Recognizing the power of the young radio industry, Brinkley started KFKB, when U.S. radio was still early in development. He used radio to market his goat procedure, and is even credited with introducing country & western music, and the first sex talk show (a predecessor to Dr Ruth) to the air waves.

JAMA editor Morris Fishbein was a long time nemesis to Brinkley. Fishbein's years-long crusade was fought to label Brinkley as a "quack", a charlatan and a fraud. Brinkley was forced to re-group after a losing campaign for Governor and some challenges to his radio station. He ended up in Del Rio, Texas with his beautiful house, a new hospital, and powerful one million watt radio station (XERA) becoming his family jewels. The station was located on the Mexico side of the border to avoid U.S. regulation and he was now able to broadcast not just across the U.S., but to numerous countries.

Brinkley's particular genius might better translate to modern times. We need look no further than the current Presidential candidates, and the success of religious televangelists and Reality TV icons. These are the folks that tell us what to read, what to believe and how to act … and they each have their followers and believers.

Brinkley lost the Libel suit he brought against Fishbein, and his empire crumbled quickly. He was dead 3 years later. Milford Kansas no longer exists and goats have a newfound success (requiring significantly less sacrifice) as viral videos on social media. When XERA became XERF, Wolfman Jack worked there as a DJ becoming the radio voice for a new wave of music called rock and roll. The film names names (celebrities of the era) and reminds us that what's claimed is not always true and accurate. Mostly, however, the film is a fascinating character study and history lesson, and as a movie to watch … it's a ball.

There's a lot of information being delivered from what seems like wild angles. Some text is a bit fast. The animation styles shift, which is a little distracting. There are interview clips and one is with author Pope Brock, who wrote a book about Brinkley called 'Charlatan'; it's infinitely more satisfying, and offers the information with more wit and narrative flow.

As the movie illustrates aspects and eras of Brinkley's life, things are just glossed-over or taken for granted without any proper build-up or proper explanation. The book adds so much more context genuine humor, while the movie instead went a little more wacky about it even when the subject itself is wacky enough.

There's so many more interesting and jaw-dropping details the movie doesn't bother to introduce. Too many to remember, but enough details about the sheer audacity of Brinkley will haunt your thoughts long after reading 'Charlatan.'

Amazing story. This documentary is well researched. But my god, that animation is so damn frustrating. The shifting lines all the time are just too much. If you know that the documentary is 90% filled with animation. It just gets to much after a while. Nearly gave me an epileptic seizure. Shame.

If I told you that the father of modern direct marketing was not from Madison Avenue but a quack doctor in Kansas who "implanted" goat testicles in patients to restore virility, you would not believe me. If you see "Nuts!", a movie about this doctor, you're not going to believe it's a true story. The movie has a light tone and considerable animation including frequent images of goats enjoying "goaty" things. The story of Dr. JR Brinkley is too wild and unlikely to be true but, rest assured, it is. "Nuts!" chronicles the rise of a patent medicine quack into the United States' best-paid doctor who invented nationwide-mass marketing in the process of building his fortune by promising hope and change before it became a political slogan. Penny Lane, the filmmaker, has crafted one very entertaining film about JR Brinkley's story from archival film, preserved documents, and new animations.

We saw this film through the San Jose Camera Cinema Club.

Brinkley is a piece of human waste and what this documentary makes us realize is that even human waste can be creative in its deception and villainy towards the public.

Real good doc and I love the animated style and voice overs.