Maidstone

Maidstone was a film made in 1970, directed by, written by, and starring Norman Mailer. Famous film director Norman Kingsley (Norman Mailer) runs for President while working on his latest film project. His brother Raoul (Rip Torn) continues to cling to him for his money. The film is now famous for the improvised fight between Norman Mailer and Rip Torn. As the camera rolled, Torn struck Mailer in the head with a hammer, intending to "kill his cha... more

Maidstone was a film made in 1970, directed by, written by, and starring Norman Mailer. Famous film director Norman Kingsley (Norman Mailer) runs for President while working on his latest film project. His brother Raoul (Rip Torn) continues to cling to him for his money. The film is now famous for the improvised fight between Norman Mailer and Rip Torn. As the camera rolled, Torn struck Mailer in the head with a hammer, intending to "kill his character." Mailer's scalp opened up, and a vicious fight ensued. With the camera still rolling, Torn energetically strangled Mailer until the fight was broken up by Mailer's wife Beverly and Mailer's wailing children. During the melee, Mailer bit off a small chunk of Rip Torn's ear. The fight, in which the actors called each other by their real names, made it into the film, and the segment has proven very popular on the Internet in recent years. less