The Charles E. Cullen Story (2005)

Directed by Janet Lubas

Starring Charles E. Cullen and friends

Not Rated (For adults)

3.5 Stars (out of 4)

This film along with the rest of Cullen's work is available in the Cullen Studios Amazon store. You can find movie trailers, clips from his show, songs and tons of other info at the Cullen Studios official site.

I'm going to make a comparison here that may shock some people. Charles E. Cullen is like Leonardo Da Vinci. Cullen might not be on the cutting edge of scientific invention, but like Da Vinci he has managed to channel his mind into many different areas. This guy has released multiple full-length music albums, many feature-length films, and has been making TV shows for more seasons than M.A.S.H. He's also written a book and been a newspaper columnist. It's not covered in the film, but he's been painting for a while and doing numerous other art projects. Even if I mention his love of raising chickens, it all still seems pretty normal when written out. He sounds like your basic eccentric local artisan. You have to actually see the man in action to understand what makes his material so memorable.

Mr. Stitches, one of Cullen's puppets, has his own feature film.

There's a great deal of time spent on the films of Cullen. He's been making short films since childhood so he was pretty natural behind a camera. I wouldn't dare try to describe the contents of these films other than to say they're bizarre. Director Janet Lubas finds some interesting people to reflect on the work. Besides the actors and friends of Charles, she digs up a local film professor and some other classically educated individuals to serve as talking heads. I think that alone demonstrates the diversity of Cullen's audience. There are those who get it and those who simply don't, regardless of social class. Wisely, most of the interviews are voiced over clips from the films, which is really where the entertainment value lies. There was one interview that I did truly enjoy. Lubas asks the film professor if there's a moral message to Cullen's films. After a lengthy bout of hysterical laughing, he responds "I guess I would have to say....I hope not".

I had a nightmare that started this way.

Another segment of the film focuses on Cullen's TV show. If you played a drinking game where a shot was taken every time there was a puppet, chicken, or beer on the screen, you'd be dead in one episode. So what's the show about? There's no easy answer. Some days it's just some dudes sitting around drinking beer and bullshitting. Other times you might find Charles tap dancing or prancing around in a dress. There are plenty of puppet sketches. Everybody who watches the show has their favorite puppets. Nearly everyone loves the talking mushrooms who laugh maniacally every time they lose their train of thought, which is very often. Oh, and he makes many of these puppets himself, so you can add puppeteering to the list of pastimes for this redneck Renaissance man.

Charles loves chickens. It often seems he's raising them as children rather than livestock. During transitions in his TV show there is plenty of stock chicken footage that his fans seem to enjoy. There are other animals on the show too. In one memorable scene he re-inserts a frog's intestines and stitches it up after he clipped it with a weed eater. He also captures a hawk that killed one of his chickens. He holds the hawk up to the camera and scolds it, but then he starts petting it gently and talking about relocation. If I captured a hawk I'd probably piss myself the second it made a noise or threatening maneuver. Charles' reaction to the hawk's squawking was to scratch its belly. When he finds a black snake crawling through his home he doesn't harm it. Instead, his instant reaction is to grab the camera and catch the critter for a TV segment. Again, I'd likely piss in my trousers.

Beer and a mic? Time to entertain.

The finale of the film tells the story of Cullen's musical endeavors. His interest in playing music started late in life, but not so late that he couldn't produce many original albums. To me, his music is a parody of Americana. The subjects of his songs range from poultry diseases to homosexual roller-skating monkeys. He's not the most skilled guitarist, but his music is fueled by a unique sense of humor and channeled by a talented group of musicians that surround him. His lead guitarist reminisces about their first big live performance. Charles had told everyone to maintain sobriety leading up to the concert so they reluctantly abstained from drinking. When it came time to play they were all sober, except Charles who showed up already mildly intoxicated and added to that buzz by drinking on stage.

I was impressed with the craftsmanship of this film. It's essentially a student documentary that got a DVD release. I normally wouldn't expect much from such a film, but there are a lot of people who are captivated with the weird world of Charles E. Cullen and I have a feeling that they were a tremendous help in the production of this project. Janet Lubas has more inside access to the world of her subject than most documentary filmmakers could ever imagine. Even Charles' mother sits down for an interview, which I found to be both entertaining and warm. You might expect her to be a bit eccentric given the way her son turned out. She's actually very normal and I can only hope to be so sharp when I reach her age. I also find it great that she's so supportive of her son's work despite how befuddling (and occasionally disgusting) she might find it.

I have a lot of online friends who write about movies and occasionally peruse this site. If they're anything like me they get frustrated with the monotony of mainstream films from time to time. This is the cure for that frustration. The stream that Charles E. Cullen swims in isn't even a tributary. It's as far from the mainstream as possible and probably filled with beer. Does this DVD have the power to change your life? Can it make you a better person? Will it open your eyes to a magical world filled with laughter and chickens? The answer is yes.