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Cockettes, The
Strand Releasing

Cockettes, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 77 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
10.0 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

This documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the legendary San Francisco theatrical troupe, a group of flamboyant hippies who decked themselves in gender-bending drag and tons of glitter.


GENRE(S): Documentary  
DIRECTED BY: Bill Weber
David Weissman
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 21, 2003 
Video: January 21, 2003 
Theatrical: June 28, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Film Threat Chris Gore
This is one of those rare docs that paints a grand picture of an era and makes the journey feel like a party.
Read Full Review
91
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The Cockettes weren't talented, exactly, yet the bedazzled flakiness of their passion takes you closer than just about any movie has to what was once really meant by the term ''free-spirited.''
Read Full Review
90
New Times (L.A.) David Ehrenstein
Brilliant new documentary.
90
Variety David Rooney
Joyously re-creates the brief but resplendent reign of the legendary freakadelic drag troupe.
Read Full Review
89
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Cue the footage of Cockettes in spangles and glitter, high-kicking and belting out show tunes at the top of their lungs. Damn, it looks grand.
Read Full Review
88
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
The Cockettes is a grand place to visit, even for those who wouldn't want to live there.
88
Chicago Tribune Loren King
It puts The Cockettes into social, political and popular cultural context and gives the documentary a moving resonance.
Read Full Review
83
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The film does leave you with the lingering regret that you missed a hell of a good party. It is, as the kids used to say, a trip.
80
LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
A fascinating, richly detailed documentary about the legendary queer collective based in San Francisco in the late '60s and early '70s.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Has the glorious, gaudy benefit of much stock footage of Those Days, featuring all manner of drag queen, bearded lady and lactating hippie.
Read Full Review
80
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
This comprehensive and charming film not only recalls those days exactly, it also manages the wonderful trick of taking us back there along with it.
Read Full Review
80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Looks like Weimar decadence and feels like down-home friendship.
80
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
An absorbing primer in one of the most fascinating chapters in American social history.
Read Full Review
80
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Revisits the San Francisco of the late 1960's and early 70's, a time and place so encrusted with legend and cliché that you might wonder if there is anything left to say. It turns out there is quite a lot -- which the filmmakers have brought triumphantly to life.
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
A sweet reminder of their lost and lively world.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle James Sullivan
A sweet-natured reconsideration of one of San Francisco's most vital, if least widely recognized, creative fountainheads.
Read Full Review
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
The Cockettes is a fascinating poke into the soul of the '60s and it moves past a simple chronology of a counterculture phenomenon to examine how this predecessor to glitter rock and camp movies, such as "The Rocky Horror Show," could ever have ascended to such heights.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The Cockettes epitomized a brief confluence of new possibilities, not so much in theater as in personal style, lending them a certain historical value that greatly exceeds their contribution to theater.
70
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This amazing footage alternates with interviews that include more than a dozen surviving members of the troupe, whose recollections are by turn funny, touching and mind-boggling. What a time!
Read Full Review
60
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Makes a terrific case for the group's historical importance, even though its performances seem more fun to discuss than watch.
Read Full Review
60
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Fond, funny documentary.
Read Full Review
38
New York Post Megan Lehmann
Indulgent, tedious documentary.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark H. gave it a 10:
Can we all just learn that glamour and talent of people on drugs is only glam to a point the dark reality is that so many of them are gone and that kind of energy and creative flow has changed to a new age of glamour and less madness!

Ricky G. gave it a 10:
One of the best documentaries since gimme shelter!

Discuss this movie in our forums

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