John Landis raised the money to make this movie from family and friends. He originally wanted to make an underground porn movie, but abandoned the idea when he found out he would have to work with members of the underworld.
Aside from being Landis' first project as a director, the film is also notable for being one of the first jobs for makeup artist Rick Baker.
This film eventually became a minor cult hit and helped pave the way for the careers of both John Landis and Rick Baker.
Shot in the summer of 1971, but not released until 1973, Schlock is the first credited film by John Landis, who also starred in the title role.
Jack H. Harris agreed to distribute the film if John Landis added 10 minutes to the running time. He put up 10.000 dollars and allowed footage from two of his earlier pictures, The Blob (1958) & Dinosaurus! (1960) to be used. Landis went out and shot the extra scenes in which Schlock visits a movie theater and destroyed a car in one day. Landis toyed with the idea of advertising the fact that Steve McQueen was in the film (thanks to footage from The Blob). Years later, McQueen called him out on it, saying Landis owed him money.
John Landis: [See You Next Wednesday] Four times the newsman plugs the "movie at 6 on 6", and each time the name of the film is "See You Next Wednesday", though it has different stars and a different description each time. It also appears on a poster in a theater lobby.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
