WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.459 Welcome to today's deep dive. We are we're so 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:05.580 glad you're joining us today because we are looking 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:07.799 at something truly extraordinary. We really are. 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:10.439 The journey this specific piece of media takes 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:13.660 is it's unlike almost anything else in cinematic 00:00:13.660 --> 00:00:15.820 history. Right. We're exploring a comprehensive 00:00:15.820 --> 00:00:19.219 Wikipedia article detailing the history of a 00:00:19.219 --> 00:00:22.500 1966 independent film. It's called Manos, the 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:25.260 Hands of Fate. Yes, the legendary Manos. And 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:28.440 our mission today is to uncover how an objectively 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:31.699 terrible film managed to fall into complete obscurity, 00:00:31.699 --> 00:00:34.359 only to be resurrected decades later as this 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:37.759 massive cult classic. It really challenges a 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:39.979 lot of our basic assumptions about how art survives 00:00:39.979 --> 00:00:42.259 over time. It does. And I want to say right up 00:00:42.259 --> 00:00:44.549 front to you, the listener. If you've ever felt 00:00:44.549 --> 00:00:46.869 imposter syndrome or if you've ever worried that 00:00:46.869 --> 00:00:48.549 your creative projects just aren't good enough 00:00:48.549 --> 00:00:50.689 to share with the world, this deep dive is going 00:00:50.689 --> 00:00:53.149 to completely change your perspective on ambition, 00:00:54.059 --> 00:00:56.740 failure, and the bizarre life cycle of art. Oh, 00:00:56.780 --> 00:00:59.240 absolutely. Okay, let's unpack this. To understand 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:01.100 how this all happens, we need to go back to El 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:04.980 Paso, Texas in the year 1966. Right. So to understand 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:07.099 Manos, the hands of fate, you really have to 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:09.200 understand the man who willed it into existence. 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:12.780 His name was Harold P. Warren. And he wasn't 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:15.879 a filmmaker. Right. No, not at all. He was an 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:18.459 insurance and fertilizer salesman from El Paso. 00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:21.310 But he was active in the local theater scene 00:01:21.310 --> 00:01:24.010 and had actually managed to land a walk -on role 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:26.790 for the television series Route 66. Which is 00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:29.969 where he meets Sterling Siliphant. Exactly. Sterling 00:01:29.969 --> 00:01:32.349 Siliphant was a professional screenwriter for 00:01:32.349 --> 00:01:34.930 the show. So Warren is just chatting with Siliphant 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:38.030 at a local coffee shop. And he boldly claims 00:01:38.030 --> 00:01:40.290 that making a horror movie isn't actually that 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:43.049 hard. The confidence is astounding. I know. He 00:01:43.049 --> 00:01:45.290 literally bets Siliphant that he could make an 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:48.870 entire feature film completely on his own. And 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:51.370 he doesn't even go home to mull it over. He grabs 00:01:51.370 --> 00:01:53.510 a napkin right there in the coffee shop and starts 00:01:53.510 --> 00:01:56.299 writing the initial script outline. What's fascinating 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:59.219 here is the sheer audacity of that moment. That's 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:01.659 what anchors this entire story. You have a fertilizer 00:02:01.659 --> 00:02:04.439 salesman with zero filmmaking background deciding 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:07.700 on a total whim to produce, direct, write, and 00:02:07.700 --> 00:02:10.500 star in a feature film. And the titles he was 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:12.460 workshopping. Oh, the working titles perfectly 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:16.219 capture that raw, amateurish ambition. He was 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:18.819 calling it things like The Lodge of Sins and 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:21.360 Fingers of Fate during this early phase. Fingers 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.120 of Fate. Wow. Right. Well, Warren somehow manages 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.219 to gather a budget of $19 ,000 for this, which, 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:32.639 adjusting for inflation, that's about $189 ,000 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.879 today. It's a substantial amount of cash for 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:38.879 an individual to raise. It is, but it is absolutely 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.759 insufficient to fund a feature film. Not even 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.759 close to enough. So to pull off the production, 00:02:43.939 --> 00:02:46.900 he hires actors from a local theater and a modeling 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.599 agency. And instead of paying them actual wages, 00:02:49.939 --> 00:02:55.319 he promises the cast and crew, Offering a profit 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:57.439 share in lieu of a salary is a classic independent 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:00.240 film maneuver. But the catch is that it relies 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.699 entirely on the film eventually making a profit. 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:04.620 Which you usually need a good movie for. Right. 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:07.240 It generally requires a cohesive story that audiences 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:09.520 actually want to watch. And the narrative of 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:12.000 Manos defies conventional logic at almost every 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.780 turn. Defies logic is putting it mildly. Let's 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:19.360 talk about this plot because it is wild. It follows 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:22.259 a family on vacation near El Paso. There's the 00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:25.300 father, Michael, the mother, Margaret, their 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:27.520 little seven -year -old daughter, Debbie, and 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:29.740 their dog, Peppy. The classic nuclear family 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:32.479 setup. Exactly. They are driving through the 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:34.639 Texas desert looking for a place called the Valley 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.539 Lodge. They get lost. They have a brief encounter 00:03:37.539 --> 00:03:39.960 with the deputy over broken taillight. And they 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:42.219 eventually end up at this weird house in the 00:03:42.219 --> 00:03:44.840 middle of nowhere. Which brings us to the introduction 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:49.620 of Torgo. Forgo. Yes. He is this bizarre satyr 00:03:49.620 --> 00:03:52.580 -like caretaker who famously greets the family 00:03:52.580 --> 00:03:54.460 by saying, I take care of the place while the 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:57.120 master is away. It's such an iconic, weird line. 00:03:57.259 --> 00:04:00.180 So the family asks for directions and Torgo just 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:02.219 refuses. is to give them. But Michael insists 00:04:02.219 --> 00:04:04.159 they stay the night anyway because his car won't 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:06.300 start. And he completely ignores the objections 00:04:06.300 --> 00:04:09.639 of both his wife and the very reluctant caretaker. 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:11.900 Once they're inside, the narrative beats become 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:14.699 completely baffling. They find a painting of 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:17.300 this master alongside a dog with glowing eyes. 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:21.379 Margaret gets spooked by a howl outside. So the 00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:24.300 family dog, Peppy, runs out into the dark. And 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:26.180 this is where it gets really strange. Michael 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:28.779 goes out to look for the dog, finds Peppy lying 00:04:28.779 --> 00:04:31.449 dead on the ground. casually buries him in the 00:04:31.449 --> 00:04:34.230 desert and just goes back inside he just buries 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:36.829 the family dog and moves on it creates a very 00:04:36.829 --> 00:04:39.629 jarring viewing experience and while that is 00:04:39.629 --> 00:04:42.850 happening outside torgo makes advances on margaret 00:04:42.850 --> 00:04:45.209 inside right he tells her he wants to keep her 00:04:45.209 --> 00:04:47.589 which is openly defying the master's desires 00:04:47.589 --> 00:04:50.730 but then he convinces her not to tell michael 00:04:50.730 --> 00:04:53.149 by promising to protect her the madness only 00:04:53.149 --> 00:04:56.250 escalates from there the little girl debbie wanders 00:04:56.250 --> 00:04:58.269 off and eventually comes back holding a large 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:01.370 dog on a leash and it's the exact same dog from 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:04.209 the eerie painting they saw earlier so the parents 00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:06.730 follow her to see where she found this dog and 00:05:06.730 --> 00:05:09.269 they discover the master and he is wearing this 00:05:09.269 --> 00:05:12.100 robe with two giant red hands on it the hands 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:14.519 of fate if you will exactly and he's sleeping 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:17.040 around a blazing fire surrounded by his multiple 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:19.379 wives who are all just dressed in nightgowns 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:22.000 the master wakes up and immediately declares 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.699 that michael must be sacrificed to a pagan deity 00:05:24.699 --> 00:05:28.110 named manos and he announces that margaret and 00:05:28.110 --> 00:05:30.689 little debbie will become his new wives which 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:33.149 sparks an argument among the current wives they 00:05:33.149 --> 00:05:35.110 start fighting over whether a seven -year -old 00:05:35.110 --> 00:05:38.050 should be a wife or a sacrifice which then devolves 00:05:38.050 --> 00:05:40.470 into a giant cat fight where all these women 00:05:40.470 --> 00:05:42.250 in nightgowns are just tumbling around in the 00:05:42.250 --> 00:05:44.870 dirt it's absurd and the resolution to all of 00:05:44.870 --> 00:05:47.750 this is incredibly bleak the master breaks up 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:49.990 the fight decides he's going to sacrifice torgo 00:05:49.990 --> 00:05:54.290 instead severs and burns torgo's left hand and 00:05:54.290 --> 00:05:56.769 torgo runs off into the darkness with a flaming 00:05:56.769 --> 00:06:00.170 stump Meanwhile, the family makes this failed 00:06:00.170 --> 00:06:02.250 attempt to escape into the desert. They have 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:04.329 to return to the house, and Michael tries to 00:06:04.329 --> 00:06:06.769 shoot the master, but the bullets have zero effect. 00:06:07.110 --> 00:06:08.870 And then the movie just ends with a sudden time 00:06:08.870 --> 00:06:11.529 jump. Right. Two new women arrive at the house 00:06:11.529 --> 00:06:13.810 looking for shelter. They're greeted by Michael, 00:06:13.889 --> 00:06:17.670 who is now fully entranced. And he repeats Torgo's 00:06:17.670 --> 00:06:19.610 exact line about taking care of the place while 00:06:19.610 --> 00:06:21.709 the master is away. And we see that Margaret 00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:23.629 and little Debbie have officially become the 00:06:23.629 --> 00:06:26.149 master's new wives. The critic Dan Neal from 00:06:26.149 --> 00:06:28.370 the Los Angeles Times wrote a really fascinating 00:06:28.370 --> 00:06:31.769 analysis of why the film feels this way. He noted 00:06:31.769 --> 00:06:35.170 the film's strange intimacy. Intimacy is an interesting 00:06:35.170 --> 00:06:38.410 word for it. It is, but it makes sense. Because 00:06:38.410 --> 00:06:41.310 Harold Warren brooked absolutely no collaboration 00:06:41.310 --> 00:06:44.170 throughout the entire process, Neal says the 00:06:44.170 --> 00:06:47.189 movie serves as a pure slice of his cinematically 00:06:47.189 --> 00:06:49.790 transfigured subconscious. That does make a lot 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:51.649 of sense. When you don't have a co -writer or 00:06:51.649 --> 00:06:54.329 an editor to... push back on your ideas, whatever 00:06:54.329 --> 00:06:56.329 pops into your head just ends up on the screen. 00:06:56.509 --> 00:06:59.250 Precisely. You are essentially watching a man's 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:03.310 unfiltered, unedited dream state. Every bizarre 00:07:03.310 --> 00:07:05.949 narrative choice, from that casual dog burial 00:07:05.949 --> 00:07:08.050 to the lingering focus on the wives fighting 00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:10.750 in the dirt, it's all there simply because Warren 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:13.149 thought it should be, without any external filter 00:07:13.149 --> 00:07:15.370 to say, hey, maybe this doesn't work. But the 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:17.389 story behind the camera is somehow even more 00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:19.790 chaotic than the subconscious dreamscape happening 00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:22.230 on screen. Oh, absolutely. Here's where it gets 00:07:22.230 --> 00:07:24.389 really interesting. Let's look at the technical 00:07:24.389 --> 00:07:26.949 limitations they were dealing with. Warren rented 00:07:26.949 --> 00:07:30.470 a 16mm Bell & Howell camera. A hand -wound camera. 00:07:30.870 --> 00:07:33.509 Yes, hand -wound, meaning it could only shoot 00:07:33.509 --> 00:07:36.110 a maximum of 32 seconds of footage at a time. 00:07:36.209 --> 00:07:38.930 32 seconds is an astonishingly short window for 00:07:38.930 --> 00:07:41.689 filmmaking. How do you even shoot a basic conversation 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:44.670 or establish a scene with a hard limit of half 00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:47.439 a minute per take? You really can't. Think about 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:50.439 trying to write a complex, emotional novel. But 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:52.259 you're only allowed to do it by sending text 00:07:52.259 --> 00:07:54.779 messages to your publisher. That's a great analogy. 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:57.040 That's essentially what Warren was doing. He 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.980 was creating massive, unresolvable editing problems 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.459 before he even stepped foot in the editing room. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:04.420 And they were constantly rushing to maximize 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:06.339 their shots before the camera rental deadline 00:08:06.339 --> 00:08:09.500 expired. Because of that immense pressure, the 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:12.259 onset problem solving turned into a master class 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:14.620 in production disasters. A perfect example of 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:17.689 that involves the cast. Warren had contracted 00:08:17.689 --> 00:08:20.529 a local modeling agency to provide actresses 00:08:20.529 --> 00:08:23.209 to play the master's wives. But early in the 00:08:23.209 --> 00:08:25.389 production, one of those young women, Joyce Muller, 00:08:25.529 --> 00:08:27.889 broke her foot. Now, in a normal production, 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:30.490 you would recast the role or rewrite the scene 00:08:30.490 --> 00:08:32.610 to accommodate the injury so she could sit down. 00:08:33.330 --> 00:08:36.870 Not Harold Warren. He rewrote the script to feature 00:08:36.870 --> 00:08:40.269 a completely disconnected teenage couple kissing 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:42.620 in the convertible on the side of the road. Just 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:44.580 completely separate from the story. They have 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:46.340 absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:49.019 movie. They are just placed in the film so he 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:51.759 could fulfill his contract with the actress while 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:55.059 allowing her to remain seated in a car. The compromises 00:08:55.059 --> 00:08:57.259 extended to the cinematography as well. Since 00:08:57.259 --> 00:08:59.399 the cast and crew all had day jobs, they were 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:01.679 forced to shoot night for night. Which means 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:03.720 they were filming out in the pitch black of the 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.480 Texas desert rather than shooting during the 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.820 day and applying camera filters to fake the darkness 00:09:08.820 --> 00:09:11.259 like a lot of films do. And when you turn on 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:14.080 massive, bright movie production lights in the 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.080 middle of the desert at night, it attracts huge 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:20.080 swarms of moths. Oh, man. They are completely 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:22.820 visible, swarming the camera in the final film. 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:25.799 They really are. And the lighting issues actively 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:27.820 ruin the narrative, too. There's a scene where 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:29.700 police officers are supposed to be searching 00:09:29.700 --> 00:09:32.000 the desert after hearing Michael fire his gun. 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:34.720 But the production lights... simply couldn't 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.340 reach far enough into the darkness to actually 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:39.779 illuminate a search. Right. So to get around 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:42.259 this, the actors playing the cops literally just 00:09:42.259 --> 00:09:44.860 stood in place, feigned looking around the immediate 00:09:44.860 --> 00:09:49.080 area and then left. The crew was well aware that 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:51.019 it was a disaster. They actually started mocking 00:09:51.019 --> 00:09:54.320 Harold Warren behind his back. They renamed the 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:57.620 film. Mangoes the cans of fruit. Mangoes the 00:09:57.620 --> 00:09:59.879 cans of fruit. That's brilliant. But the real 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:02.259 nightmare started in post -production. Yes, because 00:10:02.259 --> 00:10:04.899 the equipment they used did not allow for location 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:07.980 sync sound recording. There was no audio captured 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:11.700 on set at all. None. Every single footstep, every 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:14.200 rustling bush, and every single line of dialogue 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:17.519 had to be overdubbed later in the studio. And 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.440 Warren didn't even bring the whole cast back 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.879 to do this. The dubbing was done by just a handful 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:24.139 of people, including Warren, his wife Norma, 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:26.259 and maybe a few others. Which leads to one of 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:28.080 the most heartbreaking details of the entire 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.379 saga. At the premiere, seven -year -old Jackie 00:10:31.379 --> 00:10:34.360 Naiman, who played Debbie, broke down and wept 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:36.820 in the theater. She was devastated. Because when 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:40.080 she appeared on screen, a grown woman's dubbed 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:42.820 voice came out of her mouth. It's terrible. We 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:45.179 also have to mention the opening sequence. Warren 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:47.440 likely either forgot about the opening credits 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.820 or simply couldn't afford to shoot them. So to 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:51.799 fill the runtime, the movie just starts with 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:54.419 a staggering nine -minute sequence of the family 00:10:54.419 --> 00:10:56.820 driving around looking for their hotel. With 00:10:56.820 --> 00:11:00.139 minimal dialogue or plot progression, it is literally 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:03.039 just nine minutes of driving. If we connect this 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:04.919 to the bigger picture, though, before we move 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:07.240 on from the production itself, it is important 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:11.259 to pause and recognize a much darker, very real 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:13.720 human element to this story that we can't ignore. 00:11:13.899 --> 00:11:16.500 Right. John Reynolds, the 25 -year -old actor 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:19.100 who played Torgo, committed suicide with a shotgun 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:23.039 on October 16th, 1966. That was just a month 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.759 before the film's premiere. Yes. It was his first 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.500 and only film appearance. And while it's easy 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:31.059 to analyze the absurdity of the production workarounds 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:34.450 and the tech his death serves as a sobering reminder 00:11:34.450 --> 00:11:37.429 that behind this amateurish piece of media, there 00:11:37.429 --> 00:11:39.809 were real people dealing with real struggles. 00:11:40.070 --> 00:11:43.269 Yeah, that is incredibly tragic. Just a month 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:47.009 after that, on November 15th, 1966, the film 00:11:47.009 --> 00:11:49.669 premiered at the Capri Theater in Warren's hometown 00:11:49.669 --> 00:11:52.490 of El Paso. And Warren went all out to make it 00:11:52.490 --> 00:11:54.850 feel like a major Hollywood event. He really 00:11:54.850 --> 00:11:57.570 did. He rented a massive searchlight to sweep 00:11:57.570 --> 00:12:00.330 the sky outside the theater. And he also wanted 00:12:00.330 --> 00:12:02.669 the cast to arrive in a limousine. But the logistics 00:12:02.669 --> 00:12:04.409 of the limousine really mirror the production 00:12:04.409 --> 00:12:07.330 itself. Perfectly. He only rented one single 00:12:07.330 --> 00:12:09.450 limousine. Just one. So the car would pull up 00:12:09.450 --> 00:12:12.210 to the theater, drop off one group of cast members 00:12:12.210 --> 00:12:15.429 on the red carpet, and then physically drive 00:12:15.429 --> 00:12:17.169 around the block to pick up the next group and 00:12:17.169 --> 00:12:20.169 drop them off. over and over again. It is the 00:12:20.169 --> 00:12:22.990 perfect metaphor for the entire endeavor. It 00:12:22.990 --> 00:12:25.250 was an illusion of grandeur propped up by incredibly 00:12:25.250 --> 00:12:28.070 flimsy logistics. I can't even imagine sitting 00:12:28.070 --> 00:12:29.950 in the car waiting for it to circle the block 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:32.590 again. Inside the screening, the reaction was 00:12:32.590 --> 00:12:34.409 about what you would expect. The actress playing 00:12:34.409 --> 00:12:36.929 Margaret, Diane Murray, reportedly laughed throughout 00:12:36.929 --> 00:12:39.529 the whole thing at how ridiculous it was. After 00:12:39.529 --> 00:12:42.289 the premiere, Warren himself actually admitted 00:12:42.289 --> 00:12:44.299 that it was the worst film ever made. He was 00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:46.720 completely aware of the quality, yet he still 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.580 felt a sense of accomplishment. He even suggested 00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:52.159 they might be able to re -dub the audio again 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.139 to turn it into a passable comedy. But ultimately, 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:57.299 he was proud of it because he won his coffee 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:00.039 shop bet with Sterling Sillifant. Right, he proved 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.179 he was physically capable of creating an entire 00:13:02.179 --> 00:13:04.419 feature film from scratch. But I imagine the 00:13:04.419 --> 00:13:06.820 cast and crew felt quite differently about the 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:10.350 outcome, especially regarding that promised Oh, 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:12.590 without a doubt. The film had a brief run at 00:13:12.590 --> 00:13:15.110 the Capri and showed at a few drive -ins in West 00:13:15.110 --> 00:13:18.190 Texas and Mexico. Official box office figures 00:13:18.190 --> 00:13:21.470 are completely unknown. The only actual payout 00:13:21.470 --> 00:13:24.149 that anyone received was a bicycle for little 00:13:24.149 --> 00:13:27.389 Jackie Naiman and 50 pounds of dog food for her 00:13:27.389 --> 00:13:30.110 family's dog. The dog that played Pepe. Yep. 00:13:30.129 --> 00:13:32.269 And after that brief theatrical run, the film 00:13:32.269 --> 00:13:34.889 vanished into total obscurity. It remained lost 00:13:34.889 --> 00:13:38.539 for over two decades. But then comes the television 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:40.980 broadcast that changed everything. The miracle. 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:44.820 A 16mm print of the film eventually ended up 00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:47.440 in the home video collecting market through public 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.379 domain suppliers. And one of those suppliers 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:53.639 sent a box of random obscure tapes to Comedy 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:57.559 Central. In 1992, Frank Conniff pulled Manos 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:00.120 out of that box. He later said the film had this 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.860 undeniable vibe and felt like it might be a crime 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:05.220 against humanity. When they brought it to Mystery 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:08.620 Science Theater 3000, the pacing was so non -existent 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:11.039 that the season crew struggled to even heckle 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.059 it. Right. During that nine -minute opening drive, 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.379 they resorted to just sarcastically repeating 00:14:15.379 --> 00:14:18.480 the title over and over. Manos, The Hands of 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.730 Fate. The film broke them. By the end of the 00:14:20.730 --> 00:14:22.870 broadcast, the robot characters actually broke 00:14:22.870 --> 00:14:25.769 down sobbing. The mad scientists who forced them 00:14:25.769 --> 00:14:27.929 to watch the movie actually apologized to the 00:14:27.929 --> 00:14:30.269 audience, admitting the film was abysmal beyond 00:14:30.269 --> 00:14:32.610 their limits for torture. Kevin Murphy, who voiced 00:14:32.610 --> 00:14:35.049 one of the robots, later stated that he genuinely 00:14:35.049 --> 00:14:37.750 hated the movie, saying it made his skin crawl. 00:14:38.250 --> 00:14:40.850 Yet that single television broadcast completely 00:14:40.850 --> 00:14:43.250 saved Manos the Hands of Feet from the ashes 00:14:43.250 --> 00:14:45.870 of history. It triggered a massive cultural phenomenon. 00:14:46.190 --> 00:14:49.600 Manos. developed this rabid cult following that 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.000 started creating their own art based on the film. 00:14:52.299 --> 00:14:54.720 Fans have adapted it into four different comedy 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:57.019 stage plays. Four of them. There's a rock opera. 00:14:57.389 --> 00:15:00.169 called Manos, Rock Opera of Fate. There's a puppet 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:02.610 musical called Manos, The Hands of Felt. Hands 00:15:02.610 --> 00:15:04.909 of Felt. I love that. Yeah. And The Reach goes 00:15:04.909 --> 00:15:07.350 far beyond niche theater, too. There are video 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:09.950 games based on it. The CBS television show Elementary 00:15:09.950 --> 00:15:13.929 even did an episode where a murderer uses Torgo's 00:15:13.929 --> 00:15:16.309 facial features to create a fake police sketch. 00:15:16.629 --> 00:15:19.009 It became a universally recognized shorthand 00:15:19.009 --> 00:15:21.769 for cinematic failure. Exactly. And that cult 00:15:21.769 --> 00:15:23.789 status eventually led to its physical salvation. 00:15:24.169 --> 00:15:26.870 In 2011, a Florida State Film School grad graduate 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:30.070 named Ben Solovey found the original 16 millimeter 00:15:30.070 --> 00:15:32.149 work print of the film in a collection of old 00:15:32.149 --> 00:15:34.769 films in California. A work print is essentially 00:15:34.769 --> 00:15:37.210 the rough draft of the film used by the editor 00:15:37.210 --> 00:15:39.889 during the cutting process, right? Yes. So finding 00:15:39.889 --> 00:15:42.269 it was a massive stroke of luck for preservationists. 00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:45.289 Solovey launched a Kickstarter campaign to preserve 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:48.070 and restore the work print for a high definition 00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:51.029 Blu -ray release. He asked for a modest amount 00:15:51.029 --> 00:15:54.169 of money, but the campaign exploded. He ended 00:15:54.169 --> 00:15:58.139 up raising $48 ,000. which was nearly five times 00:15:58.139 --> 00:16:00.659 his initial goal. And that restoration project 00:16:00.659 --> 00:16:03.980 brought a very bizarre legal limbo to the surface. 00:16:04.259 --> 00:16:07.500 In the United States, any work published before 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:11.279 March 1989 generally required a copyright notice 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:13.799 attached to it, or it would fall into the public 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:16.500 domain. And Harold Warren failed to include a 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:18.970 copyright notice on the film. Right, so Manos 00:16:18.970 --> 00:16:20.909 the Hands of Fate has essentially lived in the 00:16:20.909 --> 00:16:23.210 public domain this entire time. Anyone can use 00:16:23.210 --> 00:16:25.970 it. But when news of the high -definition restoration 00:16:25.970 --> 00:16:29.409 broke, Herod Warren's son, Joe Warren, started 00:16:29.409 --> 00:16:32.070 looking into the legal status. He discovered 00:16:32.070 --> 00:16:34.610 that the original script had actually been copyrighted 00:16:34.610 --> 00:16:36.750 and registered in the Library of Congress back 00:16:36.750 --> 00:16:39.049 in the day. Oh, interesting. He tried to argue 00:16:39.049 --> 00:16:41.289 that this script copyright should apply to the 00:16:41.289 --> 00:16:43.929 film itself to stop others from profiting off 00:16:43.929 --> 00:16:46.090 his father's work. Did that argument actually 00:16:46.090 --> 00:16:48.669 hold up? Well, he even obtained pending publication 00:16:48.669 --> 00:16:51.529 of a trademark on the phrase Manos, the hands 00:16:51.529 --> 00:16:54.549 of fate. But ultimately, the trademark filing 00:16:54.549 --> 00:16:57.570 was officially abandoned in December 2018 for 00:16:57.570 --> 00:17:00.429 failure to respond. So it's still public. There 00:17:00.429 --> 00:17:03.110 is no legal precedent for his specific copyright 00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:05.670 argument regarding the script versus the film. 00:17:05.769 --> 00:17:08.789 So the legal status remains incredibly murky. 00:17:08.809 --> 00:17:10.990 But practically speaking, it is still freely 00:17:10.990 --> 00:17:13.759 adapted by fans today. Speaking of adaptations, 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:16.400 the story came full circle in an incredible way. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.160 Jackie Naiman Jones, the woman who played little 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:21.019 seven -year -old Debbie in the original film, 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:24.039 successfully crowdfunded a comedic sequel. She 00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:26.420 managed to get her real father, Tom Naiman, to 00:17:26.420 --> 00:17:29.220 reprise his role as the master, and Diane Maury 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:31.480 returned to reprise her role as Margaret. They 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:34.380 shot it in 2016, and the sequel, called Manos 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:36.680 Returns, was released on Amazon Prime in 2020. 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:39.640 She took the childhood trauma of crying at her 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:42.400 own movie premiere and turned it into a creative 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:45.920 triumph 50 years later. It is a profound testament 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.579 to how art, once released into the wild, takes 00:17:48.579 --> 00:17:51.240 on a life entirely independent of its creator's 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:53.339 original intent. So what does this all mean? 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.119 We started with a fertilizer salesman making 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:58.839 a boast in a coffee shop. We navigated broken 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.740 feet, moth swarms. unsynced audio, and a premiere 00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:05.599 with a single circling limousine. And a very 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.279 well -fed dog. Exactly. And we ended up with 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.940 a public domain legends that spawned rock operas 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:14.640 and sequels half a century later. It proves that 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:17.240 perfection is not the only path to a lasting 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:21.079 legacy. Sometimes absolute unadulterated failure 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:24.359 can be just as immortal as a masterpiece. I'd 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:26.019 like to leave you with one final thought to mull 00:18:26.019 --> 00:18:28.859 over. Think about the profound irony of that 00:18:28.859 --> 00:18:31.640 missing copyright notice. Okay. If Harold Warren 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:33.819 had been a consummate professional, if he had 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:36.200 hired a lawyer and properly copyrighted his movie 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:38.680 in 1966, it would have been locked away. It would 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:41.019 have been legally untouchable. Mystery Science 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:43.420 Theater 3000 wouldn't have been able to afford 00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:46.180 the broadcast rights to mock it. Fans wouldn't 00:18:46.180 --> 00:18:48.099 have been able to legally adapt it into stage 00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:50.619 plays or puppet musicals without fearing a lawsuit. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:53.740 Manos, the Hands of Fate, only achieved total 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:57.039 cultural immortality because its creator legally 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:59.819 lost ownership of it the very moment he brought 00:18:59.819 --> 00:19:02.119 it into the world. It really makes you wonder, 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:05.440 does true cultural permanence require surrendering 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:08.160 control? That is a fascinating question. Thank 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:09.900 you so much for joining us on this deep... deep 00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:12.480 dive into the desert, the dark and the weirdly 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.400 wonderful world of Manos. We hope you keep creating 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:17.859 no matter what it looks like until next time. 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:18.660 Take care, everyone.