Scorpio Rising is a 1963 American experimental short film shot, edited, co-written and directed by Kenneth Anger, and starring Bruce Byron as Scorpio. Loosely structured around a prominent soundtrack of 1960s pop music, it follows a group of bikers preparing for a night out.

Anger shot most of the film in New York City over the course of three months. His unique style makes extensive use of colorful non-diegetic lighting. Central themes include the occult, biker subculture, homosexuality, Christianity and Nazism. Scorpio Rising also explores the worship of rebel icons of the era, such as James Dean and Marlon Brando (referred to by Anger as Byron's "heroes", likely a direct reference to the trope of the Byronic hero).

The film premiered on October 29, 1963, at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City. It became the subject of protests and a lawsuit by the American Nazi Party, an obscenity prosecution overturned by the California Supreme Court, and a copyright lawsuit by the Lutheran Church. Scorpio Rising received praise from film critics and was credited with igniting leather gear and motorcycles as a fad in New York.

The film is recognized as a predecessor to the development of the modern music video and has influenced directors such as Martin Scorsese, John Waters, and Nicolas Winding Refn. In 2022, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Scorpio Rising is structured in four parts. In "Boys & Bolts" men work on their motorcycles. They dress themselves in leather and pose. "Image Maker" introduces the biker Scorpio. He gets ready to go out, and the film begins intercutting images of Jesus. "Walpurgis Party" shows a biker Sabbath. Their behavior escalates as they moon each other, simulate sodomy, and strip one man's clothes off and cover his genitals in mustard. In the final part "Rebel Rouser", Scorpio holds a destructive ceremony, intercut with images of Jesus, Adolf Hitler, and Nazi iconography. A biker crashes, with the final shot showing the words "Blessed Blessed Oblivion" tattooed on his arm.

Production

Casting

thumb|left|Bruce Byron as Scorpio

After living in Europe for several years, Anger returned to the United States, staying in Brooklyn, New York with Marie Menken and Willard Maas. He encountered a group of bikers who met at Coney Island every weekend. He got to know them by photographing their bikes.

Anger's first choice for the lead actor was Jim Powers; however, Powers died in a car crash. Anger was in Times Square when he first met Richard MacAulay, who went by the name Bruce Byron as an homage to James Byron Dean. Byron also used his astrological sign Scorpio as a nickname, which became the name of the main character. He carried around an amulet with a scorpion for good luck. Byron was an ex-Marine. Byron's home was decorated with picture of his idols, James Dean and Marlon Brando. By chance, Brando's appearance in The Wild One was broadcast while they were filming, so Anger shot it off of the television. "His favorite reading material was the comics", and Anger used images from Li'l Abner. Anger shot Byron snorting methamphetamine. Anger's design makes extensive use of non-diegetic lighting, rendering his subjects in non-natural hues for artistic effect.

In Los Angeles, Anger met a model from Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild. He filmed the man in a leather jacket. "This image is a conscious homage to the physique pictorial art of my friend Bob Mizer that had a physique magazine called Physique Pictorial...sort of like, deliberate, self-conscious posing." Biographer Bill Landis suggests that Anger more likely purchased the film in a camera store.

In contrast to many of his other films which use dissolves to create a dreamlike mood, Anger relies exclusively on direct cuts in Scorpio Rising.

Anger described his discovery of Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" as "magick". He had music selected for rest of "Boys & Bolts" but needed a song for the scenes where the bikers dress themselves. He turned on the radio and "exercised his will", and "Blue Velvet" was playing. Anger decided to pay for the rights to the songs so that he could submit Scorpio Rising to film festivals. The clearance cost him $8,000, amounting to roughly half of the film's budget.

Music

Scorpio Rising is considered by some to be the first drama film to feature a rock and roll soundtrack. Anger's use of music was inspired by the experience of seeing people at Coney Island playing music out of their radios.

  1. Ricky Nelson – "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)"
  2. Little Peggy March – "Wind-Up Doll"
  3. The Angels – "My Boyfriend's Back"
  4. Bobby Vinton – "Blue Velvet"
  5. Elvis Presley – "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
  6. Ray Charles – "Hit the Road Jack"
  7. Martha and the Vandellas – "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave"
  8. The Crystals – "He's a Rebel"
  9. Claudine Clark – "Party Lights"
  10. Kris Jensen – "Torture"
  11. Gene McDaniels – "Point of No Return"
  12. Little Peggy March – "I Will Follow Him"
  13. The Surfaris – "Wipe Out"

Release

thumb|left|Poster promoting a [[double feature|double-billed screening of Scorpio Rising with Chafed Elbows by Robert Downey Sr., 1966]]

The film premiered on October 29, 1963, at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City. It was screened at the in 1963 and the International West German Short Film Festival in 1964.

When Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village switched from being a repertory cinema to a first-run theater, its first program was a double bill of Scorpio Rising and The Brig by Jonas Mekas. It continually drew large crowds, with lines around the block. Byron showed up regularly on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and greeted attendees. Within the rising underground film scene, Scorpio Rising became the most widely distributed movie. Its popularity was credited with igniting leather gear and motorcycles as a fad in New York. The police were ultimately called to the site and arrested the theater manager for public obscenity and canceled the film's run. This happened March 7, 1964 at the Cinema Theater.

Michael Getz was arrested and charged for screening the film. Prosecutor Warren Wolfe argued that Scorpio Risings homosexual content was a "depiction of certain degenerate activity", and therefore obscene. He asserted that, for a few frames in the part scene, a man's penis was visible. The judge ruled that the film was obscene, and Getz was convicted.

The case was appealed to the California Supreme Court, where the case was settled in Getz's favor. This happened on December 19, 1964. It cost the Cinema Theater $7,000 to defend itself in court. Anger explained in an interview: