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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Pigskin Parade remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you're into the kind of musical comedy that doesn't care about logic, you’ll have a blast. If you need a movie that stays on track for more than ten minutes, avoid this like the plague.
It's basically a fever dream from 1936. You've got hillbillies, Yale snobs, and enough football puns to make you dizzy. 🏈
I found myself asking that a lot. She’s barely a teenager here, just kind of lurking around the edges of the frame. She sings, obviously, and it’s the only part where the movie actually stops being a total mess for a few minutes.
The whole premise is that these coaches, Slug and Bessie, find a guy named Amos who can throw a pumpkin like a cannon. They take him to the Yale Bowl because… well, because it's a movie, I guess.
The pacing is all over the place. One second we're in the mountains, the next we're at a posh university, and there’s always someone yelling. It reminds me a bit of the frantic, slightly disjointed energy you see in older shorts like Kapten Grogg har blivit fet, though this has way more song and dance.
There’s this bit where they’re trying to teach the hillbilly team how to act like Yale students. It goes on for way too long. The silence in the room was louder than the dialogue.
There's a weird lack of tension. You know exactly what’s going to happen, so the movie just kind of cruises along on pure charm and bad jokes. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s strangely endearing.
If you're looking for something that feels like a dusty old radio broadcast brought to life, give it a shot. Just don't expect to learn anything about the actual sport of football. You'd probably find more technical accuracy in The Devilish Romeo, honestly.
I’m still thinking about that one dance number. Why were they all wearing those hats? I don't know. The movie didn't tell me, and I didn't care to ask. 🎩
