Eating Raoul [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Paul Bartel

Overview

Eating Raoul was celebrated at the time of its release as the perfect marriage between mainstream moviemaking and the so-called "underground" cinema. Cult-film icons Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel (both of whom directed) play a married couple who decide to cash in on the sexual perversions of others. Posing as a hooker, Woronov lures the "johns" in and indulges their every kinky whim, whereupon Bartel kills the unwary client, steals the valuables, and sells the corpse for dog food. Though they see nothing wrong in what they're doing, they react in prudish disgust at the sexual preferences of their victims. Eventually, Raoul (Robert Beltran), the fellow who transports the corpses to the dog food concern, proves expendable--and extremely edible. Eating Raoul features a high-powered comic supporting cast, among them Buck Henry, Ed Begley Jr., Richard Paul, Hamilton Camp, and Edie McClurg.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/11/2012
UPC:	0715515098519
Original Release:	1982
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion
Language:	English
Time:	1:23:00
Sales rank:	11,291

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Paul Bartel	Paul Bland
Mary Woronov	Mary Bland
Robert Beltran	Raoul Mendoza
Susan Saiger	Doris the Dominatrix / Nurse Sally Cummings
Buck Henry	Mr. Leech
Richard Paul	Mr. Kray
Ed Begley Jr.	Hippy
Dan Barrows	Bobbie R.
Dick Blackburn	James
Ralph Brannen	Paco
Hamilton Camp	Mr. Peck
John Paragon	Sex-Shop Salesman
Edie McClurg	Susan
Allan Rich	Nazi
Mark Woods	Hold-up Man
Don Steele	Howard Swine - Swingers Party Host
Billy Curtis	Little Person
Darcy Pulliam	Nurse Sheila
Anna Mathias	Ms. Adams - Bank Secretary
Arlene Harris	Swinger
Garry Goodrow	Drunk Swinger
John Shearin	Mr. Baker - the Horny Patient
Darcy Pullian	Nurse Sheila
Rick Waln	Doris' Admirer
Robert Barron	Butler at Swingers Party
Myron Meisel	Actor
Carol Bahoric	Actor
TBA	Actor

Technical Credits

Anne Kimmel

Producer

Editorial Reviews

Paul Bartel's black comedy about a middle-class couple who want to open a restaurant has become a cult classic. Bartel and Mary Woronov play a staid couple who formulate a plan to murder and rob "swingers" to finance their dream of opening a gourmet restaurant. Bartel, who dealt in black comedy long before it became fashionable, has created an oddly affectionate satire of this Moral Majority couple, whose righteousness is concealed behind anonymous polyester surfaces, and are literally dubbed the Blands. Although they believe that the "swingers," i.e. anyone single who is having sex, deserve to die for their terrible transgressions, they're so humane toward their victims that they evoke especially unctuous undertakers. Mary Woronov, a fixture of Warhol's Factory in the '60s, and someone whose mien always suggested the unspeakable, is a witty choice as the homicidal wife, and Bartel adopts the role of tract-house suburbanite with eerie aplomb.