The Nude Restaurant, also billed as Nude Restaurant, is a 1967 feature-length underground film directed by Andy Warhol, and starring Viva, Louis Waldon, Taylor Mead, Billy Name, Allen Midgette, and Rolando Peña. Different versions of the film exist, with one being an all-male, all-nude cast, and the other with all actors in G-strings. It was filmed in one day at the Mad Hatter Restaurant in Manhattan in October 1967.[1][2]

The Nude Restaurant
Directed byAndy Warhol
Produced byAndy Warhol
StarringViva
Louis Waldon
Billy Name
Taylor Mead
Joe Campbell
Allen Midgette
Rolando Peña
Electrah
Rod LaRod
Ingrid Superstar
Julian Burroughs
Production
company
Andy Warhol Films
Distributed byThe Factory
Film-makers' Cooperative
Release date
  • 13 November 1967 (1967-11-13) (NYC)
Running time
95 minutes
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot synopsis

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At The Mad Hatter, a New York City restaurant located on the corner of Bleecker Street and Seventh Avenue South and owned by brothers Rob Pinon and Ron Pinon, the patrons are men, nude but for a G-string, waited on by one woman, also clad in a G-string (Viva) and waiters (Midgette and Peña). Some of the "nude" patrons leave the establishment, their places taken by new customers, also nearly in the buff.

There are numerous in-camera jump cuts (known as 'strobe cuts') and the camera weaves around a bit. The waiter and waitress move from table to table, talking to the customers. Taylor Mead sits smirking at the fountain, where eventually he partakes in a long conversation with Viva about her Catholic childhood. Mead also feigns interest in discussing the Vietnam War with an AWOL soldier (Julian Burroughs).

Viva, the waitress if not the actual person, seemingly is obsessed with the subject of lascivious priests. There is more strobe cutting, and at one point, Viva turns to the camera and asks that it be turned off. The camera is turned off, and after an interlude, is turned back on again, after which Viva continues with her monologue.

See also

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References

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