Greaser’s Palace

The tagline of the 1972 absurdist movie says “He’s got the boogie on his fingers & the hubba-hubba in his soul!”. Greaser’s Place is at best a B-Grade movie and is intentionally written and directed in way to keep viewer thinking about the head and tale of the plot. It is rumored that Robert Downey Sr. went knee deep into cocaine addiction after doing the movie.  Critics regard Greaser’s Palace as a satire on the Western Society and its established figures.

There are three parallel themes intertwined to deliver the message. The first theme is of a Christ like figure. He rules over the town by hook or crook. The character obviously is parody of Christ. He uses a donkey to travel, another pointer and the biggest pointer is the name of the character Jessy. Even Jessy performs miracles and gives life to a dead soul and obviously, how can a Jesus figure die peacefully? Jessy dies a tragic death.

Then is the story of a woman without any name to her. Someone has murdered his husband and in the attack her son has got killed also. An obvious reference to the thriller movies. As she is shot and is constantly wounded, she is being observed by a man in the distance. But the figure does not help the woman.

Downey Sr. has made it sure to make fun of the materialism. There is a character named Seaweedhead Greaser. As a matter of fact the movie is named after the salon which Greaser operates named “Greaser’s Palace”

Greaser’s Palace ends without any conclusion.