Trippin’ a Kid Gets a Ride on a Harley Davidson.
This was probably my first student film ever, shot on 8mm film. It stars Allen Mellen, my eccentric, still-hippy uncle that, until recently, lived in my Grandma Mellen’s basement. The “kid” is Willie Holdman, a fantastic landscape photogrpher from UT, where we filmed this. Google Willie, you will be impressed. There is a strange homoerotic quality to this film that almost got me in trouble at BYU. Though I am entirely straight, I’m sure the Phallic symbol that appears early in the film in the form of a tower of some sort, may argue against me. Uncle Allen was such a weird guy. Haven’t seen him in years. Was going through alcoholic rehab after Grandma died. I felt like I was throwing him a bone, trying to get him out of his life’s stupor. Seems very arrogant and presumptuous of me now. I do remember riding on his ’48 or so Harley when I was a very young kid (8?), and the embarrassment I felt which gradually gave way to not really giving a damn what onlookers thought. Allen taught me a lot that day about self-conciousness as I rode on the back of his Harley.
Video Rating: 4 / 5