Bedhead (short film)

Infobox Film
name = Bedhead


caption =
director = Robert Rodriguez
producer =
writer = Bryant Delafosse
David Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
narrator = Rebecca Rodriguez
starring = Rebecca Rodriguez
David Rodriguez
Maricarmen Rodriguez
Elizabeth Rodriguez
music = Todd Fast
Robert Rodriguez
cinematography = Robert Rodriguez
editing = Robert Rodriguez
distributor = Columbia TriStar
released = flagicon|United States 1991
runtime = 8 min.
country = US
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:241928
imdb_id = 0165634

"Bedhead" is a 1991 short family-comedy-fantasy film directed and co-written by Robert Rodriguez.

Made while he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Rodriguez shot the film with his brothers and sisters as actors and with his family and friends as crew. The short film was then entered into several competitive film festivals, where it won cash prizes, money that Rodriguez then used to produce his first feature film, "El Mariachi".cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Bedhead (1991) | publisher = Brian's Robert Rodriguez Page (Geocities) | date = | url = http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Makeup/4303/bedhead.html/index.html | accessdate = 2007-08-16]

"Bedhead" is included as a bonus feature on home-video versions of "El Maricahi" and the "Mexico Trilogy".

Plot

Rebecca, a young girl, is always picked on by her older brother, David, who "has the worst case of bedhead you've ever seen".

David is a generally unruly sort. At breakfast, he eats a cockroach and makes a big mess with his cereal. After breakfast, Rebecca goes to play with one of her dolls and discovers it has been defaced by David.

Enraged, she attacks David, but then falls and hits her head. When she comes to, she discovers that she has telekinetic powers. At first she thinks of how her newfound powers could benefit humankind (including making herself the first Mexican-American female president of the United States). But she first decides that she will take revenge on her brother and tame his bedhead.

Overwhelmed by her powers, but still unable to smooth David's unruly hair, she drags the boy behind her bicycle, and in the process hits her head again. She wakes up in a hospital and decides that she will never abuse her powers again, but as far as David knows, she will continue to be a threat.

Production

"Bedhead" was a student film project by Rodriguez while he was at the University of Texas at Austin. He served as director, cameraman and editor, and co-wrote the story with his brother, David, and a friend, Bryant Delafosse. Rodriguez also created an animated title sequence.

His brothers and sisters starred in the film, with younger sister Rebecca and brother David as the lead actors. Youngest sister Maricarmen Rodriguez portrayed Rebecca's fashion-obsessed little sister, "Fashion Monster", while Elizabeth Rodriguez played a nurse in the hospital.

Family and friends served as crew, with co-writer Delafosse and David Rodriguez credited as dolly grip, the camera dolly in the case of this film being a wheelchair.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Bedhead (1991) | publisher = Internet Movie Database | date = | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165634/ | accessdate = 2007-08-16]

The film was shot on black and white 16 mm film. It was then transferred to 3/4" videotape. Because he did not have the equipment to shoot sync sound the only dialogue is the voiceover narration, because it does not have to be synched to anyone's lip movements.

Release and reception

Festivals and awards

The short film was entered into several film festivals, where it won cash prizes in competitions. Rodriguez then used that money to partially fund "El Mariachi", his first feature film.

Reviews

"Bedhead" has been included as a bonus feature on both the VHS tape and the DVD releases of "El Mariachi" as well as the entire "Mexico Trilogy" (including "Desperado" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"), and has therefore attracted a wider audience than most short films usually receive.

On the Internet Movie Database, its rating 6.7/10.

Jason Adams, in his review of the "Mexico Trilogy" DVD box set, called "Bedhead" "a creative little flick."cite web | last = Adams | first = Jason | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Review of Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy | publisher = Joblo.com | date = | url = http://www.joblo.com/reviews.php?mode=joblo_dvds&id=1037/ | accessdate = 2007-08-16]

References

External links

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