Williams S. Burroughs, a Man Within

This is a wonderful documentary about a very important yet difficult figure of the art word, William S. Burroughs. As John Water commented he was the first person to become famous for all the wrong things. The Documentary covers both his art and scandals of his life like his drug use and the shooting of his wife Joan.

It covered a lot I didn't know about the man. There was a lot of interviews with his boyfriends and artists who had come to know him. I didn't know for example that he was something of a gun nut. Footage of him in his eighties stalking around outside with a gun was somewhat unnerving. It was like looking at a predatory turkey.

I owe a lot to William S. Burroughs. I use his cut up technique often to generate new ideas. I also have to say I have always enjoyed his public persona. His voice was always so measured, calm, yet penetrating. He was an amazing man who invented new ways to write, who broke taboos to write about, and lived to tell the tale. Certainly, anyone interested in the arts should watch this.