Directed by: Julien Nitzburg
1993
Running Time: 29:00
Color
Imagine Elvis in Sid Vicious’s body with a little Frank Sinatra thrown in and you have Hasil Adkins, the originator of psychobilly and star of this deranged, shot-on-video documentary. Chronicling 56-year-old Hasil’s boozing, womanizing and law-breaking, audiences are treated to some surreal jaw-dropping antics and raucous, homegrown rock ’n” roll. Viewers will delight in the various ancedotes of paranoia as related by cronies, acquaintances and authorities.
Reviews
“A demented documentary about the ‘Father of Psychobilly.’ In 1956 when America was giving birth to Rock ‘n’ Roll, one man was already trying to kill it... The Breakdown: Hillbilly hollerin’, barrroom brawlin’, car-stompin’, organ smashing, wig wearin’, “shakin’ it”, commodity hot dogs, one-man band, the Hunch.” – Popcorn
“The granddaddy of all crazed rockers...’The Wild World of Hasil Adkins’ fits in perfectly with the downwardly mobile slant most of us white-trash seekers are looking for these days.” - Pleasant Gehman, Tinsel Toons, Newsreels
Screenings & Festivals
West Virginia International Film Festival
