Greaser's Palace is a 1972 American cult film directed by underground filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr. A parable based on the life of Christ, it is full of references about the destruction of the world. Greaser's Palace follows Jesse , a Christ-like figure in a zoot-suit, on his way to Jerusalem to find work as a singer-dancer-actor. In a run-down Western town, he runs afoul of the local boss, Seeweedhead Greaser , until he brings Greaser's son Lamy back from the dead. Greaser's Palace, which was shot on location in New Mexico, was produced by Cyma Rubin, a neophyte Broadway producer who gave... Downey a million dollars to make the film. Rubin would later run into legal problems, unrelated to this film, for which she would serve jail time. Downey had previously made the cult hit Putney Swope as well as lesser-known films such as Pound , Babo 73 and Chafed Elbows . Although Time's Jay Cocks said it was Downey's "funniest, most accomplished and most audacious film yet," adding that it was "the most adventurous American movie so far this year", in general, Greaser's Palace did not receive good critical reviews.
more