Editing Dynamite Chicken (section)

{{Short description|1971 film by Ernest Pintoff}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Dynamite Chicken
| image = Dynamite chicken dvd cover.jpg
| caption = dvd cover for ''Dynamite Chicken''
| director = [[Ernest Pintoff]]
| producer = Ernest Pintoff
| writer = Ernest Pintoff
| starring = [[Richard Pryor]]<br/>[[Ace Trucking Company]]<br/>[[Paul Krassner]]
| music =
| studio = Dynamite Productions
| distributor = [[Walter Reade#The Walter Reade Organization|Walter Reade Organization]]
| released = {{Film date|1971|1|20}}
| runtime = 76 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = 
}}

'''''Dynamite Chicken''''' is a 1971 American [[comedy film]].<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Dynamite Chicken (1970) 'Dynamite Chicken' Is Aimed at the Young|first=A. H.|last=Weiler|date=January 4, 1972|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9800EFDE1138EF34BC4C53DFB7668389669EDE}}</ref> Described in its opening credits as "an electronic magazine of American pop culture", it presents a series of interviews, stand-up comedy, countercultural sketches, documentary segments, and agitprop relating to the [[peace movement]], based around a [[Stream of consciousness|stream-of-consciousness]] [[Free-form radio|free-form]] format.

Inspired by his experience making the TV documentary ''This is Marshall McLuhan'' for [[NBC]], director [[Ernest Pintoff]] envisioned ''Dynamite Chicken'' as a collage to capture the hot-button issues of the moment. "I became interested in McLuhan and his theories of bombarding the audience with images...it seems to me the best way to impart a maximum of information to people."

The original segments involving Richard Pryor, Paul Krassner, the comedy group [[Ace Trucking Company]] and other figures were shot in 1969 and mostly improvised. Archival footage of other major celebrities of the day and repurposed film trailers is peppered throughout. The total budget for the production was $225,000.

He would state, "There's no message in the film, except for my point of view when I was making it."<ref name="newspapers/120124059"/> In another interview, he explained the title by saying, "I overheard someone say, 'I make dynamite chicken.' I liked it. You know, a chicken seems so little and the other so explosive. It's a silly title that doesn't mean too much. The film doesn't mean too much either. I hope people will respond. I had fun making it."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/287960900/?terms=%22dynamite%20chicken%22&match=1 | title=The Post-Crescent 28 Feb 1971, page 109 }}</ref>