MAIN | DISCOGRAPHY | SONGLIST | COVERS | CHRONOLOGY | VIDEOGRAPHY

The World's Greatest Sinner

Released: June, 1962 (some sources claim 1958 but this is probably incorrect.)
Length: 82 minutes
Format: B&W, 35mm

Written and directed by Timothy Carey 

Cast (in alphabetical order)
Gil Bareto- Alonzo 
Timothy A Carey- Clarence "God" Hilliard
Grace De Carolis- Mother 
Victor Floming- Office boss 
Paul Frees- Voice of Satan
Gail Griffen- Betty Hilliard 
Whitey Jent- Guitar player 
Ann Josephs- Secretary 
Gene Pollock- Priest 
Betty Rowland- Edna Hilliard 
Carolina Samario- Nate 
Jenny Sanches- Old lady in church 

Produced by:
    Timothy Carey
    George E. Carey (assistant) 
    Anthony M. Lanza (assistant) 
    George E. Nahas (assistant)
Production: Frenzy Films World Sales Absolute Films,
8383 Wilshire Boulevard #360, USA-Beverly Hills, CA 91733,
Tel.: +1-818-4426454, Fax:+1-818-4426454

Cinematography by:
    Frank Grande
    Ove H. Sehested
    Robert Shelfow
    Ray Dennis Steckler                                   
Film Editing: Carl Mahakian
Assistant Director: Gene Koziol

Filming Locations:
El Monte, California, USA
Long Beach, California, USA
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Recording Locations: Chaffey College Little Theater
musicians: Pomona Valley Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Fred E. Graff
Frank Zappa- guitar
Kenny Burgen- saxophone
Doug Rost- rhythm guitar
Al Surratt- drums 

     From: J. Picagli {mirjen[at]ibm.net}
Plot Summary for World's Greatest Sinner, The (1962)
A bored insurance salesman quits his job to go into politics. He first
starts preaching about how man is greater than he thinks and that man can
live forever. He ends up forming his own political party, "The Eternal Man"
party.  He begins to be referred to as "God". Then he starts having doubts
about the eternalness of man. 

     From: unknown
The World's Greatest Sinner. The story of a dissatisfied insurance clerk
who quits his job and goes on the road to become a Rock 'n' Roll star/
preacher/politician, gathering an odd mixture of dedicated followers who
call him God.  His progress to what is almost a success and then to the
realization of being greater than any human can conceive proceeds amid wild
scenes of mass-hysteria. 

     From: Lux Interior of the Cramps
"You won't believe his performances. He just starts shaking and his hair
falls down...He must have watched Jerry Lee Lewis or something. He starts
rolling around on the stage, he's just shaking all over. It's a live
performance and he's just smashing his guitar, he's really beating on it
real loud. This is one of the greatest rockabilliy movies ever made. If you
get a chance to see it, it'll just change your life. Wow!" (Lux Interior)

     From: Patrick Neve (splat[at]darkwing.uoregon.edu)
The music to this film is quite good if you like Zappa's orchestral music.
(And, who doesn't')  It starts off with a rock 'n roll theme of the same
title, which appears on the album "Cucamonga Years", among others.
There is plenty of original music, some of which includes an embryonic
version of what would later become 'Semi-Fraudulent/Direct-from-Hollywood
Overture' from 200 Motels, and also bits of "Holiday In Berlin".   An edited
12 minute section of the soundtrack was released on various bootlegs,
including "Apocrypha".  Look over there for a transcription of that selection.
When I first saw this first saw this film I thought it was kind of cheesy 
and bad, but compared to Run Home Slow it's a fucking masterpiece.
Actually, after one or two viewings I found it pretty entertaining in its
own right.  I've shown it to non-Zappa people who also enjoyed it.
I give it a "thumbs up."

     From: ebay seller "sweetback"
This is the great Timothey Carey's wonderous creation of underground, lo-fi
film magic. It's the story of a man who wakes up one day and decides he's
God. He starts his own church, preaching his gospel using NO WAVE rock n'
roll. He makes a deal with satan, forces a man to commit suicide, has sex
with an 80 year old woman and a 14 year old girl, wears flashy suits with
cuffs that say GOD in gold, runs for president and battles the real God to
the death!! The music for this amazing film is by a young Frank Zappa,
including the great theme song.  This is a must have film for any Tim Carey,
Frank Zappa or underground film fan!  Join the Fanatical Cult of the World's
Greatest Sinner!!!!!!! 

     From: Tom Troccoli (ttrocc7007[at]aol.com)
The World's Greatest is commercially available OFFICIALLY from
Tim Carey's son. Try a web search. they were advertising regularly in Film
Threat as well. It's a bit pricey though. At last check he was asking for I
believe $50.00US.

     From: splat[at]darkwing.uoregon.edu
Currently the place to get this video is from www.absolutefilms.net.
They are selling a video which includes an interview with Timothy Carey 
and theatrical trailers, as well as posters and t-shirts emblazened with
the "Carey-as-a-rattlesnake" graphic, at this location:
http://www.absolutefilms.net/videosale.html

This review is from: http://members.aol.com/shockcin/sinner.html
THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER (1963).
Run, do not walk, to check out this movie! Timothy Carey, the character
actor fave who appeared in everything from Kubrick's THE KILLING to The
Monkees' HEAD, spent several years directing, writing and financing this
below-low budget blast. One of the most bizarre movies ever made, and over
three decades later, it's STILL ahead of its time! A grotesque parable
that's as innovative and subversive as any film ever made. Carey sticks
himself in the lead as Clarence Hilliard, a middle-aged insurance agent
who goes nutzo and decides to become a rockabilly messiah. Abandoning his
normal life, he changes his name to "God" and stands on street corners,
handing out flyers, recruiting white-trash greasers to his fire 'n'
brimstone "Life is Hell" doctrine. To raise money for his cause, he
seduces old ladies for cash, and performs in an Elvis-like silver-lame
suit. He even starts his own "Eternal Man" political party, which promises
to make everyone a "superhuman being" (their motto: "There's only one God,
and that's Man."). This is seriously whacked stuff, folks, and Carey pulls
off one of the most intense, overwrought performances of all time (putting
novice scenery-chewers like Dennis Hopper to shame)--ranting, crying,
dancing, and looking wasted, his eyelids at half-mast throughout.
Eventually, Clarence's followers begin rioting and vandalizing, but that
type of social upheaval has to be expected when a new God
emerges--especially one promising "No Death". When the political machines
get wind of his rock'n'roll charisma, they run him as an independent
candidate for president, but Clarence is corrupted when his dogma takes on
fascist overtones and he starts seducing cute, 14-year-old volunteers.
Though lacking in little things like coherency, Carey packs this volatile
tale with venom toward modern politics, the media, dried-up religion, and
the entire sorry state of the human race. It's even narrated by The Devil,
represented by a snake! Carey is dead serious with all this craziness
(even the heavily religious finale) and his outrageous direction is beyond
belief! Most of the extras seem like they were simply pulled off the
streets, and the score was provided by a young musician named Frank Zappa.
Even its theme song is hilariously unforgettable: "As a sinner he's a
winner/ Honey, he's no beginner/ He's rotten to the core/ Daddy, you can't
say no more/ He's the world's greatest sinner." Complete with cinematography
by Ray Dennis Steckler (RAT PHINK A BOO BOO), this is a work of warped
genius.
 
     From: Román (donlope[at]distrito.com) 
Is the version (of TWGS) from "Cucamonga" the same that was recorded in
November, 1961 for the movie? Did Ray sing there then or not?

"Zappa began composing for the film last June. (...) A small rock-n-roll
group -- eight musicians -- recorded last November. In early December a
20-piece chamber ensemble recorded. The 55-piece orchestra recorded Dec.
17, putting in a 12-hour stint at Chaffey auditorium."
     Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, Calif.
     Friday Evening, March 9, 1962


     From: David Blumenstein (david[at]comeracing.com)
     Subject: 'World's Greatest Sinner' screening in Hollywood
http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=7017

Sunday, September 24, 2000
MISS MOLLY Introduces THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

How do you even begin to describe a spy like Miss Molly'
She's a film whore, first of all. She works a piece of sidewalk
right outside the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, which is
where I met her the other night while it was raining. Her
makeup was running, her wig was on sideways, but she still
made me stop and let loose a stunned, "Good Golly!" when I
saw her. We talked for a few minutes, and I ended up giving
her my umbrella before heading inside. She was so grateful
that she said she's going to start writing in from time to time.
Imagine my surprise when I found this message in my e-mail
box this morning. Sounds like I've got someplace to be in
early November...

The Eyelid-Droop, The Mop, and the Rictus

Timothy Carey, 'The World's Greatest Sinner'

If you have any sense, you'll go to the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard
on Saturday, November 4th and Sunday the 5th. If you DON'T have any sense, you'll
probably be there already. 

For two nights the American Cinematheque is screening Timothy Carery's ultra-rare
THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER (1962). I first caught this flick back in January of
1996, when it got screened once at The New Beverly Cinema. Someone told me it was
John Cassavettes' favorite flick. Maybe they meant 'favorite comedy', since this
is one of the strangest moviegoing experiences I've ever had. I felt like the
be-wigged gentry, paying a few shillings to view the maniacs at St. Guy's back in
the 17th century. 

The film concerns Clarence Hilliard (Carey), an insurance salesman who decides
he's 'God' (he makes a shirt with the word 'GOD' stitched onto the sleeves) and
forms a rock band/religion/political movement. It reportedly took Carey FOUR years
of off-and-on piecemeal filming to complete the project. The closing credits alone
are a testament to this, and worth the price of admission. You'll see what I mean,
guaranteed. But never has the idea of written/directed/starring/edited/filmed been
more lovingly illustrated. 

The plot could politely be called 'episodic', unraveling like a vaguely sinister
acid trip, only you're laughing too hard to start clawing your eyeballs out. The
soundtrack is by Frank Zappa (billed in the credits as 'ZAPPA') and it churns along
like a forgotten garage rock band recorded in an echo-ey sewer ' and that's a
compliment! The scenes of Hilliard performing in 'concert' make the Shaggs look
like Rush. The band basically bangs and crashes and farts out this proto-punk spew,
then stops dead silent so Hilliard can yawp, 'Please, please PLEASE take my HAND!'
Then the band starts up again, with Hilliard doing this creepy/hilarious shimmy
dance, jangling around in his weird silk blouse/shirt. 

Of course, these scenes pale in comparison to the scene where he seduces a 70
year-old widow for her cash, and the final, climactic 'miracle'. Trust me, you
HAVE to go see this flick. 

It's also nice to see the burgeoning DVD 'bonus goodies' mentality starting to
infect live screenings.  Saturday night's screening (6pm) is introduced by Romeo
Carey, who's showing a 30-minute work-in-progress documentary about his father.
Then, at 9, they're showing THE KILLING (1956) and THE OUTFIT (1973). 

Sunday's screening (7:45 pm) is followed by TWEET'S LADIES OF PASADENA (1972),
Timothy Carey's attempt at a late night TV series. Rumor has it he turned down a
part in THE GODFATHER so he could finish TWEET'S a one-hour show about the only
male member of a Pasadena sewing circle (Carey) who find clothes for nude animals.
TWEET'S is followed by CINEMA JUSTICE, a 6-minute outtake from Steve DeJarnatt's
TARZANA, where Carey sustains an unscripted rant as a crazed Korean War vet. I've
never seen either one, but you can bet your death-rictus I'll be there!  Whew! 

OC Weekly
FILM | REVIEW  Vol. 6 No. 09 November 3 - 9, 2000  
Head Trips: The Worlds Greatest Sinner review by Manohla Dargis
From: http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/01/09/film-dargis.shtml
Informant: R. Kane (caltrops4[at]newsguy.com)  

In the seemingly boundless realm of Hollywood vanity projects, few are as
genuinely eccentric as The Worlds Greatest Sinner, an independent movie
written, directed, produced and starring character actor Timothy Carey and
released in 1962. Instantly recognizable from his basset-hound mug and
lachrymose Brooklyn whine, Carey, who died in 1994, is probably best known
as the sharpshooter who takes out the racehorse in Stanley Kubricks The
Killing (1956). A year later, Kubrick cast the actor as one of the
soldiers condemned to the firing squad in Paths of GloryCareys Private
Ferol is the one sobbing, comically, horribly, unrelentingly, alongside
the priest during one of that films bravura tracking shots.
 
Carey began acting in the early 1950s and lucked out with bit parts in
films such as Crime Wave and East of Eden before securing a kind of
immortality with the two Kubrick films. Although he would go on to appear
in One-Eyed Jacks, Careys subsequent run would have remained essentially
unremarkable if John Cassavetes hadnt given him meaty supporting roles in
Minnie and Moskowitz and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. While these two
films along with the pair he made with Kubrick would be enough to sustain
Careys memory, the existence of The Worlds Greatest Sinner gives that
memory a certain something extra. Carey embarked on the project in 1958,
finishing it three years later. "I play an atheist who gets peoples
attention by playing music," he once said of his role. "I graduated from a
rock & roller to a politician. . . . He ran for president with God written
on his cuffs. I played the part of God Hilliard. I had this cult." And
then someThe Worlds Greatest Sinner has since gone on to accrue its own
small following, and there are enough moments of touching weirdness in the
film to explain why.
 
Carey plays an insurance salesman named Clarence Hilliard who becomes a
rock & roll singer-cum-crusader whose wiggles, lam suit and oil-slick hair
are inspired by Elvis Presley and whose jive is an incoherent pastiche of
street-corner huckster evangelism. ("You like a job following me?" "To
where?" "To eternal life.") The dialogue, the acting, the cinematography,
the editing and the sound are as crude as the story is nonsensical. The
film is narrated by a stentorian-voiced boa constrictor, and the music is
by Zappa (going by his last name only). Still, despite its technical
shortcomings, and despite too many passages that simply stall outmoments
during which it feels as if Carey himself had lost focusThe Worlds
Greatest Sinner is more often enjoyable than not. Some of the pleasure is
of the sort that fills magazines such as Psychotronic Video (Issue 6 has a
nice rambling interview with Carey by Mike Murphy and Johnny Legend), but
theres more to the film than its camp fizz, namely real passion. It may be
terrible, but at least its not dishonest.
 
The Worlds Greatest Sinner! A Tribute to Timothy Carey. Now playing at the 
Egyptian Theater, Hollywood.

     From: Squawsatch (squawsatch[at]yahoo.com)
Last night The Sundance Channel broadcast the film, The Cockettes,
about a 1960s & '70s acid-gobbling theatrical troupe from San
Francisco. During some onscreen commentary by John Waters, he stated
that the first time he was ever in San Francisco for the showing of
one of his early films, he got to watch 'The World's Greatest Sinner'
at the Palace Theater. The way he stated the comment made it seem like
he really appreciated the movie; as if it were right up his alley in
entertainment value.
The Cockettes website:
http://grandelusion.com/



     From: Boyeece (boyce) (October 1, 2000)
apparently my dad played saxophone on the soundtrack to "the world's greatest
sinner." i'm trying to find more information about it but i can't pin down very
much. i got the internet movie database entry about it, and i've read some
poorly organized pages about it. i got the hint that tracks from the soundtrack
were included on some sort of official release. it would be really cool to have
these, does anyone know which album these tracks were included on? or if that's
wrong does anyone know anything about the availability of bootlegs of the
soundtrack or the movie itself? thanks.


     From: Boyeece (October 3, 2000)
No, my dad's name is William Upholt. I haven't gotten a good chance to sit down
with him yet, but I showed him the page and he gave me a little bit of
information. He was a Pomona College when he did the recording, where he was in
the band. A friend of his contacted him and asked him if he wanted a gig
playing on a soundtrack so he took it.
He said it was definently made in 1962, not 1958. The recording location listed
isn't where he recorded, but there were probably multiple recordings going on.
At one point you quote a newspaper:
"Zappa began composing for the film last June . . . A small rock-n-roll
group--eight musicians--recorded last November. In early December a 20-piece
chamber ensemble recorded. The 55-piece orchestra recorded Dec. 17, putting in
a 12-hour stint at Chaffey auditorium."
He said he was probably part of that eight piece group, since he knows he was
in the chamber ensemble or the orchestra. That would work out, since you don't
have all eight musicians listed, except for the part about the recording studio
. . .
He also said he might still have his contract from Frenzy Films somewhere, he's
going to look for it.
Oh yes, the musicians in the film were different than the musicians on the
soundtrack.

TOP | MAIN | DISCOGRAPHY | SONGLIST | COVERS | CHRONOLOGY | VIDEOGRAPHY